The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

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Fabulous dialogue. “Between us we’ve been cleaning houses for eighty years,” says one woman to another as they contemplate cleaning up an extravagant bloody crime scene. “I think we’re up to the challenge.” Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. Obnoxious In-Laws: Patricia's brothers-in-law and her husband were supposed to take turns watching the senile Miss Mary, but when Caleb takes the first visit, they refuse to take her, meaning Patricia has to take care of her full time, and her senility makes her very rude and difficult to deal with. Later subverted with Miss Mary, who gives Patricia a warning from beyond the grave and watches over her after they finally defeat James. Patricia knew how they looked, a bunch of silly Southern women yakking about books over white wine. A bunch of carpool drivers, skinned-knee kissers, errand runners, secret Santas and part-time tooth fairies, with their practical jeans and their festive sweaters.

Delightful read that reads like Dracula set in the ’90s American South….Perfect for fans of horror and real-life crime alike.”— Good HousekeepingI don’t have answers to these questions but here’s some non-spoilery context. As is traditional in vampire lore, the consuming of people has sexual overtones. In this book, instead of being portrayed as sexy seduction, the feeding is portrayed as the rape of both adults and children, including grooming children and, in a sense, using drugs to sedate and control rape victims. I appreciated the fact that these rape scenes are not glamorized. However, they are very graphic. I’ve written more about the problem I have with graphic rape scenes in my post “Mad Max: Fury Road Makes Your Rape Arguments Invalid.” In this book, the purpose of these scenes is just to horrify, and I truly can’t decide whether this is problematic or not. They sure succeeded in horrifying me, but honestly I was horrified enough without them. In 1988, George H. W. Bush had just won the presidential election by inviting everyone to read his lips while Michael Dukakis lost it by riding in a tank. Dr. Huxtable was America’s dad, Kate & Allie were America’s moms, The Golden Girls were America’s grandmoms, McDonald’s announced it was opening its first restaurant in the Soviet Union, everyone bought Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time and didn’t read it, Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway, and Patricia Campbell got ready to die.

Mammy: Mrs. Greene is one, and it's one of the most polarizing elements of the story. Is she a deconstruction because she's supposed to show how out of touch the wealthy white women are from her deprived "ghetto" life, or is she actually a reconstruction because she still forgives them and shows the mammy's caring for upper-class white society along with her extreme competence?I really enjoyed the first 1/3 of Grady Hendrix's The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. It does a great job of setting up our cast of southern mothers who live these complacent, boring lives and decide to spice it up by organizing a book club that reads a mix of murder mysteries, romance, and thrillers. Driven to Suicide: James Harris feeds off children and the effect is devastating to their young minds over time, eventually causing them to kill themselves in violent ways. Discuss the dynamics of the neighborhood. What are the pros and cons of living in a suburban community like Mt. Pleasant in the 1990s? Do these vary depending on gender, race, or social status? A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.