The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires: A Novel

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I was so thrown by the way the plot went too. I never knew what was going to happen next and I was LIVING ,for that. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires" by Grady Hendrix is a creative mix of Horror and Southern Fiction!

Even though this was harsh, bumpy, bloody reading, I enjoyed every second of it and I wished it would never end! Some of the producers should wake up and realize this book is secret gem and it is needed to be adapted into streaming series. (Especially the heart wrenching story about bitter peaches was remarkable and unforgettable part of this book!) Blood Bath: Played with. James is a vampire, but his actual blood bath comes up when the book club, and Mrs Green, get him into the bathtub and chop him up, meaning that he doesn't get into it or choose to soak into it, but he ends up there through circumstances.Stepford Suburbia: The entire neighborhood is one of these, full of smiles on the outside and spousal abuse behind closed doors. I get that Hendrix was trying to show off the Steel Magnolia thing that everyone loves. And yes, there are most definitely those women out there. The novel ends with an epilogue in which a newsletter from Marjorie Fretwell sums up the 1999 book club’s year and tells them she is looking forward to the new millennium. Mrs. Greene's character is treated so poorly it is disgusting. Nobody can convince me that Mrs. Greene isn't the true hero of this story. First of all, she had the most likable personality and the most sense out of all the women in this book. Second of all, Mrs. Green is the one who steps up and does all the dirty work at the end while Patricia is basically out of the picture.

FINALLY. I have found my first five star book of the year that wasn’t a reread or non-fiction! This book is basically Desperate Housewives set in the late 80s/early 90s and the housewives started a true crime book club, only for a vampire to move in down the street... sounds awesome, right?! Spiritual Antithesis: In the foreword, Hendrix stated that he intended it as this to another of his novels, My Best Friend's Exorcism. Both are set in Charlestown in relatively recent historical periods (the 1980s in the case of the latter, and the 1990s for this one), cover years, and show female friendship facing off against an otherworldly evil that is ultimately defeated through perseverance. However, while that book was written from a teenage point of view and presented the adults as useless, this book is told from the parents' point of view and is about them trying to protect their families. Lastly, there are glaring stereotypes in this story. Cultural overtones of the South with racially separated communities. Sexist households where the husband is the breadwinner and the wife is subservient. Patricia Campbell’s life has never felt smaller. Her ambitious husband is too busy to kiss her good-bye in the morning, her kids are wrapped up in their own lives, and she’s always a step behind on thank-you notes and endless chores. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime and suspenseful fiction. The display of racism in this book is so problematic, and I just wish this book had something powerful to say about all of this, but as it is, it just perpetuates negative stereotypes.

Success!

The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Hendrix, Grady. Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. Quirk Books, 2020. Kindle. I actually found much of this book to be so problematic that it makes me feel part flabbergasted and part infuriated at the whole thing. I'm just not seeing what so many people like about this book and my head is spinning trying to wrap itself around what I’ve just read, so I will discuss my problems with this book with the utilization of a numbered list. When a stranger, James, appears in their quiet little southern town, strange things begin happening. There are violent deaths and the children in town begin disappearing. Patricia has her suspicions about James but she has trouble getting anyone to believe her. However, Patricia is tenacious and soon she and her friends band together to rid the town of the threat. These women were a hoot. We all need friends like these. The strength of the story here is Grady Hendrix wanting "to pit Dracula against my mom," he writes. "As you'll see, it's not a fair fight." Never underestimate a Mother's magical power called love!! This book has a fun mix of satire, humor, and horror. Patricia Campbell and her friends have a classics book club but it’s stuffy and few enjoy it. When a friend gives Patricia a copy of a true crime book, a new club of ‘murderinos’ is formed who read only true crime (if you’re a fan, you will have lots of books to add to the tbr).