The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

This was good, though I didn't love it like I did [b:Horrorstör 13129925 Horrorstör Grady Hendrix https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1414314217l/13129925.SX50.jpg 18306052] and [b:My Best Friend's Exorcism 26118005 My Best Friend's Exorcism Grady Hendrix https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456208235l/26118005.SX50.jpg 46065002]. It didn't seem as funny - in fact, some seriously heinous all-too-realistic bad shit happens, like rape, suicide, and child abuse (seriously, big trigger warnings here). Of course icky bad stuff happened in the other books too, but this seemed more like real life and less fantastic.Now, the more serious tone fits with the metaphors and is pretty well-executed. Horrorstor dealt with 20-something employment and commercialism, and MBFE was like a pure hit of “I was a 14-year-old girl in 1987” nostalgia and dealt with how being a teenager can be like literally being possessed, from the standpoint of parents, friends, and even self. This book takes aim at misogyny, domestic abuse, sexual assault, racism, classism, and dementia. That's . . . a lot. The nostalgia angle doesn't hit me as hard with this one - I'm not (really) southern and I haven't had a circle of friends that was both enduring and close and also kind of judgy (heh - maybe I just repeated myself?) Also, my husband isn't AWFUL, as the husbands are in this story. The most sympathetic ones were kind of non-entities/checked out. I'm thankful I can't connect to the experience of feeling both at the mercy and abandoned by the person who's supposed to support you. But that said, this does hit some perfect notes about being a primary-caregiver mother: feeling pressure to perfectly control and orchestrate your children's lives to the point where they literally don't feel negative emotions; and simultaneously resenting your kids or being irritated beyond all measure with them. I was certainly nodding along a lot of the time!