gorey gooey details: the southern book club's guide to slaying vampires
- paigenherbooks
- Jan 7, 2022
- 7 min read
Rating: 5/5
Grady Hendrix deserves an award. I picked this book up at work at around 10 a.m. and finished it the next day at around 3:30. I am and was obsessed. Hendrix's writing was something I simply could not get enough of. I was dying for more. Like a zombie, I was literally attached to this book.
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires was a book I am so glad I decided to pick up and one I know I'll re-visit soon.
Synopsis: 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 think keeping her sane is her book club, a close knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. Then James Harris walks into her life during the summer of 1993. He makes her feel things she hasn't felt in years, but when children on the other side of town go missing, Patricia wonders if he's connected. Is he a Brad Pitt, a Bundy, or something much worse?
*Small disclaimer: on the blog the reviews will NOT be spoiler free!! On my instagram @paigenherbooks, (https://www.instagram.com/paigenherbooks/) I will give a brief review that has 0 spoilers! SO please!! If you haven't read and want to, journey no further!
ALSO, my reviews are not always going to be summary based, I'll give the synopsis and then I'm honestly just going to write on what I liked or didn't or things I found interesting! Enjoy!
Trigger warning: topics of rape, murder, suicide in the book.
Where to honestly begin! So, to begin, the book is beautiful. The cover art has SUCH big symbolism with the book, which I honestly wasn't expecting. The black out pages inserted throughout the book to show time passing or a new section starting was *chef's kiss*. ALSO the back has a MAP and other cool odds and ends that just made it all come together so nicely. I gave the book a solid 5/5 because I was addicted.
I couldn't consume the words fast enough. The way that Hendrix writes was so well crafted that there wasn't a time when I was bored or felt that any unnecessary details were inserted. Everything had meaning. Reading this book felt like I was there with Patricia and all of the other Charleston mom's trying to balance work, kids, and figuring out what the hell is going on. In the author's note Hendrix writes "I wanted to pit Dracula agains my mom, as you'll see it's not a fair fight".
You read mostly from Patricia Campbells point of view and I loved her. She's a mom of two kids (Korey and Blue) and married to Carter (ew...) who basically treats her like it's still the 1950's and is "always at work" (Carter we all know you're not at work). But the story starts off pretty normally right? Patricia and her friends who are all neighbors and friends have a book club. They all get together and read these morbid true crime series.
James Harris then comes into the picture. A man whose caring for his sick aunt. This aunt then randomly attacks Patricia outside of her house and literally tries to eat her. TO EAT HER. This part was so random and sprung on that I honestly forgot I was reading a book with some kind of dark mystery to it. This snapped me back to reality. The aunt dies in the hospital and after eating a part of Patricia's ear... this is when Patricia decides to go and meet this James Harris. I'll be honest...I liked James. He's this good ol' boy southern man with no ties and a bleeding kind heart. But oh, I forgot to mention the first time Patricia meets him, she thinks he's dead and starts performing CPR, but he's not dead and he screams at her..........embarrassing. But after that excursion James Harris is so kind. He has every manner that a girl could want and is so nice to Patricia's family. Until he's invited to dinner and her mother in law who is very sick (a little crazy) starts screaming at him about how he's a man from her past...sixty years ago. Everyone brushes her off because what the hell. BUT this pricked my ears. I was like okay Mr. Harris who are you...
After this one of the scenes where we learn why there are bloody peaches on the cover. Miss. Mary (the slightly insane mother in law they have to take care of) tells Patricia a story about this man (Hoyt Pickens) and how he came to her town when she was a kid. Helped her Dad and the town out and then a tragic event happens and a body is buried under the peach tree in the yard...poising the land. (I LOVED THAT THIS WAS A CONNECTION).
also...
Turns out James Harris is a freaking vampire. You know the whole time that he's something weird. You're aware he most likely is a vampire but you don't want to assume because he seems so normal? But the word vampire isn't said until almost the end of the book. First, he's classified as a child molester, than a drug dealer, finally a vampire. (No Edward and Bella weird "say it" "vampire" scene sadly)
The whole mystery of James Harris was so intoxicating. You the reader knew something was up and Patricia our main girl out here KNEW this man was freaking up to something. But literally no one believes her. Every single person tells her she's crazy and making it up. The men in the town literally embarrass her and the other women so many times (this pissed me off, like sir it's literally like the 90's) But Patricia, bless her heart, keeps it up. She sticks to her guns, because she loves her children. She would do anything for them.
Patricia's character was one I enjoyed following along with. She was funny and very very smart but a little nervous to rock the boat due to her position as stay at home mom. She was r e l a t a b l e. Hendrix does a good job of writing from the perspective of a woman without making her or the rest of them nauseatingly not accurate. I felt connected to Patricia. I was rooting for her and was so happy when everyone else finally understood what the hell was going on.
Which again brings me to James Harris. So James Harris is a very interesting vampire. I've read a LOT of vampire books and this is the first one where the characteristics are very normalized in a way. As in James Harris is humanized to a point that it makes full sense why he acts and gets along scot free for so long. He has an "eye" condition that makes him super sensitive to light. No worries there because he just starts working through the night for people. He has a lot of money, no worries because he literally goes around and helps every single family, including Patricia's, get everything they could want and more. He's a good ol boy!!!
Yeah right. He's a villainous, devious, man...person...thing??
To be real, he's weird.
He's the weirdest vampire I've ever read about. He isn't even sparkly. He does have some weird unhinged jaw when he's feeding that slithers in and out of his throat (I was struggling so hard to visualize that and I refuse to look it up) He also sucks the blood from his victims from their thighs. This results in a very sexual air to the action that I wasn't really prepared for. Also, theres a track record of him doing this to woman and especially children. (I have a slight rant on this later).
James Harris though...is interesting.
I'll admit it.
I wanted to know what he was doing, why he was doing it. I wanted him to tell Patricia and the rest of them his sob story that I know he had lurking in the back of his throat. BUT we didn't get any of that. Honestly, that was the only downfall of the book. We got a glimpse into Jame's past with Miss. Mary but other than that, he only details out his hunger and that he has been around for hundreds of years. I have a feeling that the author did this on purpose. To showcase that the vampire character has only one purpose to eat and eat and eat. Their backstories mean nothing. But I still wanted to know...just a bit.
Finally, I think Hendrix brought to light a lot of very big topics that need to be discussed within society. The violence towards women and children is something that is often overlooked into today society. Especially children in low income or children of color (a lot of the missing children were low income). This book showcased how economic class and race can effect heavily the resources that are available to you in your time of need. Also Hendrix brought to light the "role of the woman". He showcases that all of the women seemingly love their jobs as care takers of the house but they are much more. They are funny, and witty. Intelligent and independent. They make the world go around in this community. Hendrix draws this into perspective on how women are often pushed into this "role"and then critiqued when they essentially "speak up" or "act up".
Patricia is categorized as insane multiple times for trying to warn her husband and others about the threat of James Harris. Women are often thrown into this sector of being "crazy" or "unstable" when it comes to saying things that are outside of what men or others in society deem that they should. Patricia said "screw that" and kept at it, for the love and safety of her children and everyone else's. I loved that this book showcased so much that could be related to real life. That as the book progressed we saw a lot of the women, especially Patricia, outgrow these bounds and become great!
As someone who was raised in the South, I felt right at home with the women, drinking sweet tea and gossiping :)
Again, Grady Hendrix did such a great job of crafting a story that had Dracula and I sipping sweet tea on the front porch watching the events go down. A book with mystery, vampires, feminism, and witty female protagonists?
Y E S!
happy reading!!
xoxo,
paige :)
don't forget to check out the booksta!! (https://www.instagram.com/paigenherbooks/)
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