“We’re a book club,” Maryellen said. “What are we supposed to do? Read him to death? Use strong language?”
Grady Hendrix, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
Patricia feels lost in the life that she had longed for as a teenager. Day after day she runs her home and takes care of her senile mother-in-law while her husband works long hours and her children live their own lives with school and friends. She doesn’t have anything for herself except for the book club with several other Charleston women. Each week they escape their mundane lives through the fantasies and adventures of “trashy” romance stories and horrifying thrillers. Late into the evening after one of the book club’s meetings, Patty is attacked by her elderly neighbor from across the street. This freak accident leads to an introduction with a new neighbor across the road who quickly wins everyone over. It doesn’t take long until Patricia begins to notice that something strange is going on after the children begin whispering of danger in the woods and someone disappears.
This book turned out to be nothing like I expected. Despite all of the wonderful reviews that I had read about the book, I expected it to be simple and disappointing. Instead, I read a story that was a combination of Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian, Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This book sucked me in, folks…no pun intended. From the very beginning I was drawn into the southern lifestyle and toils of Patricia and all of the women featured in the story. The depictions of what it was like to be a woman and a mother were reminiscent of those in The Help by Kathryn Stockett…which is why I was surprised every time I realized that this book takes place in the 90s. (How many more references can I fit in here?)
The characters in this book are fantastic! Hendrix hit the nail on the head at giving each of the book club ladies personality and depth. Throughout the book I felt an ebb and flow of like and dislike and trust and distrust in regard to the ladies that Patricia had found a community with which is something I have seldom felt while reading. The characters are enticingly thorough. I wanted to spend all of my own time whispering about suspicious neighbors with them and plotting. Oh, I also wanted to mention that I was impressed to feel that southern connection and kinship between the women. Some of my favorite stories and movies involve that bond that feels specific to stories from the south.
The antagonist of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires is intoxicating and disturbing. Truthfully, they (for the sake of not spoiling the book) are unlike any villain that I have faced before in a book. The inspiration from the books above is there, but Hendrix managed to twist his take on a monster into something dark and something that you are never fully able to understand. It is entirely confusing but wholly enveloping.
The last thing that I will say about this book is that it is gross. There is a lot of gore, fluids, etc. In addition to the general grossness of the book there are several triggers throughout the book that you might want to be aware of before picking up this title or listening to it like I did. The gore was unexpected and jarred me a few times.
If you are brave enough, check out The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. I enjoyed it immensely and will be reading it again!
Thanks for reading.
I Literary Can't! 