bearley
Written on Jul 27, 2022
“This funny and fresh take on a classic tale manages to comment on gender roles, racial disparities, and white privilege all while creeping me all the way out. So good.”—Zakiya Dalila Harris, author of The Other Black Girl
Now in paperback, Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this New York Times best-selling horror novel about a women's book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town.
Bonus features:
• Reading group guide for book clubs
• Hand-drawn map of Mt. Pleasant
• Annotated true-crime reading list by Grady Hendrix
• And more!
Patricia Campbell’s life has never felt smaller. Her husband is a workaholic, her teenage kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she’s always a step behind on her endless to-do list. The only thing keeping her sane is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. At these meetings they’re as likely to talk about the Manson family as they are about their own families.
One evening after book club, Patricia is viciously attacked by an elderly neighbor, bringing the neighbor's handsome nephew, James Harris, into her life. James is well traveled and well read, and he makes Patricia feel things she hasn’t felt in years. But when children on the other side of town go missing, their deaths written off by local police, Patricia has reason to believe James Harris is more of a Bundy than a Brad Pitt. The real problem? James is a monster of a different kind—and Patricia has already invited him in.
Little by little, James will insinuate himself into Patricia’s life and try to take everything she took for granted—including the book club—but she won’t surrender without a fight in this blood-soaked tale of neighborly kindness gone wrong.
- ISBN10 1683692519
- ISBN13 9781683692515
- Publish Date 25 May 2021 (first published 7 April 2020)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Quirk Books
- Edition Annotated edition
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 424
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781683692515
Reviews
Kim Deister
Written on Aug 3, 2021
Be prepared for a spicy opinion on this one.
I hated this book. There were moments that I did enjoy, but they weren’t enough to change my overall lack of love for this novel. However, as with any book, there are always going to be differing opinions. What I love others may hate. And conversely, while I hated this doesn’t mean you will.
But hated it I did.
In my opinion, this book was over-the-top with the misongyny and the racism. Yes, those two things were a part of the point, but the way they were treated seemed lazy and undeveloped. Almost gratuitous rather than adding anything to the story. So many thought Hendrix did a wonderful job of portraying female characters, and I’m honestly unsure of how anyone could feel that way.
Let’s talk about the issue of racism… To be fair, the book is set in the Deep South, in the 1980s through the 1990s. The issue of racism within that setting is entirely appropriate. And I’ve heard the argument that their portrayal was historically accurate. To some extent, that’s true. But there is also a vampire, so I think we can safely assume this book isn’t entirely based on reality. There’s something very wrong when the idea of a vampire is more believable about a vampire, than a Black middle-class family in that same time frame. Besides, the reality of racism was used lazily, like a flimsy excuse to not have to have any Black characters of value. Most of the Black characters were both nameless and voiceless, and all of them relegated into roles of servitude. They all lived in a poor area where the white female characters were petrified to be, in a place where the white male characters saw as unimportant. And the sole purpose of the black characters, for most of the novel, was to be killed. Mrs. Greene was the only Black character to have any voice whatsoever. And even then, it was taken away more often than not. The White Savior narrative took anything she did away, away from a Black woman to give credit to white women.
And the misogyny.. oh, my. Honestly, I felt this was used lazily, too. These are smart women, some of them well educated, yet no one of them seemed to have the ability to pick a husband that wasn’t in some way reprehensible. Their husbands often did horrible things, yet none of them did anything but make excuses for them and accept it all. At times, I felt like I was reading fiction from a much more bygone era. For God’s sake, the husband of the main female character, a shrink, medicated his wife when she didn’t act as he thought she should. It was bananas in such an over-the-top way. The presentation of the female characters as having little value beyond the toys and property of their spouses is almost dangerous.
And the nonstop Nazi content… The main female character’s son is obsessed with Nazis. There’s absolutely no commentary on why, or for the parents’ attempt to curtail that. And that was incredibly off-putting, in my opinion.
Yes, I’ve read the reviews who thoroughly disagree with me, the ones that would say I’ve missed the point. The ones that would say that I’m taking this book too seriously. The ones that say my critical thinking skills need improving. To these same people I say… you have your opinions, and I have mine. That’s the joy of reading. We each experience a book through our own lens, developed by our own thoughts and life experiences, and then we develop our own opinions. So there you have it.
The publishing industry needs to do better.
This book reminded me why I don’t generally get book FOMO when everyone around me is reading The Next Big Thing.
Bianca
Written on Mar 15, 2021
We’re a book club. What are we supposed to do? Read him to death? Use strong language?
A gory satirical horror about a women’s book club fighting against a secret vampire who has their entire town at the palm of his hand. This was mostly horror stuff, but I also really liked its underlying commentary on sexism, classism and racism. How the vampire targets the poor and black while the privileged white don’t care... how the women don’t get to make decisions for their lives and are controlled by their husbands... it’s a horror book involving a vampire but also involving the real horrors in our society.
SilverThistle
Written on Sep 3, 2020
Artemis
Written on Aug 4, 2020
Martha G
Written on Jun 27, 2020
liz089
Written on May 26, 2020
Overall I really enjoyed it. It was a bit too scary / gore for my normal taste, which made my decision to read this before bed not a smart choice XD But it was worth it. I found it very compelling and had trouble putting it down to go to sleep on multiple evenings.
I cared for the characters, and needed them to be well.
I loved how things went plotwise and can't name much downsides.
Even though it was no 5 star for me, it felt a bit slow sometimes and wanted things to move along.. I can easy imagine how it is a 5 stars for others.
Quirky Cat
Written on May 21, 2020
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is one of those books I heard about in passing, and yet immediately knew that I had to take the time to read it. Ideally, right away. Written by Grady Hendrix, this is arguably one of the most unique reading experiences you can find. Have you ever wanted to see a bunch of Southern mothers go out and hunt vampires? Well, good news!
Patricia Campbell once had a great life planned out for herself, but she gave all of that up for marriage and children. Her life has steadily become smaller, with the highlight quickly becoming the neighborhood book club she attends regularly.
That is until a strange new neighbor makes an appearance. From that moment on, nothing in the neighborhood seems to be the same. Before you know it, Patricia, alongside the rest of her book club, are opening their own investigation into what is going on. Though it seems highly unlikely that they could ever have prepared for what they actually found...
“You'd rather get stabbed forty-one times than ruin the curb appeal of your home?”
Warnings: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is a novel unafraid to dive into the more graphic elements of life. There are depictions of the elderly with dementia, which comes up several times. Additionally, there is a scene depicting animal death early on in the book. It hits hard, just to warn you.
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires was such a unique and fascinating reading experience. I went into this novel expecting something spectacular and different – and it provided. This book was everything that I hoped it would be, and I don't get to say that every day.
What I really enjoyed about this novel is that there was plenty of time to get to know Patricia and her shrinking world – well before the new guy walked into her life and flipped everything on its head. It did more than set the stage, it explained how all of this could have happened in the first place.
Despite the vampire hunting element (which in itself was fun), The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires surprised me by just how human it felt. Patricia's struggles are not uncommon, and they were portrayed in a way that really rang true. Likewise, her allies in the book club all felt like real people – albeit quirky ones.
Part of me almost wishes I had gone into this book having no idea that vampires lay ahead (though obviously the title gives that away). It would have been fun to see how long it took me to put the pieces together. You can tell Hendrix had a lot of fun merging multiple elements and genres together, as a good part of this book felt like the beginning of a true-crime novel. That is one of the many reasons I loved reading it.
This is the first book I've read by Grady Hendrix, but I have to say; I'm impressed. At some point, I'm clearly going to have to go through his backlog! In the meantime, I highly recommend The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires for anybody looking for something fun and totally different.
Check out more reviews over at Quiry Cat's Fat Stacks
alindstadtcorbeax
Written on May 2, 2020
HELL YES!! ;-)
RTC