Reviews tagging 'Violence'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

192 reviews

maunanoiln's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This is my second time reading this book. I love it so much. Grady Hendrix really captures what it was like in the 80s: both the good and the bad. The heart of the story is the friendship between the two main girls. There are quiet a number of content warnings though so please check them before proceeding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault

It is not mentioned in graphic detail but a dog is shot and killed

sophwoph's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Eating disorder and Suicidal thoughts

laura_nel13's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Classism

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Read For:

✓ Exorcism

✓ 80s Horror

✓ Teen Angst 

✓ Childhood Trauma 

✓ High School Setting

˗ˏˋ ★ REVIEW ★ ˎˊ˗

Had decent hope for this after watching the movie but the book was disappointing.  While there were more details in the book, it overall felt a bit lackluster.

The build up dragged out for a bit longer than I would have liked.  The set up started out good enough but when it came down to the actual plot it felt like we would always learn something we should have already known.  And of course the dog death seemed unnecessary; it added nothing to the plot and felt too much like a last minute shock factor.  Lastly, the ending was disappointing, all of that just for friends to drift away?

Spice Level: n/a

Angst Level: 💧💧

POV: Third Person

Release Date: 17, May 2016

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

aliciaeidsaune's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

jj_whatsherface's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

any book containing the phrase "Tommy Cox, defend us in battle," is an automatic win.

And then defeating the devil with a soda can, an eighties song, and the power of love is just the cherry on top.

Beautiful book, perfect cast, made me feel both happy and a little disgusted at the same time. A beautiful encapsulation of the 80s satanic panic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Rape, Toxic relationship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Religious bigotry, and Car accident

veganmermaidsera's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

This book kept me gripped from pages 100 to the end. I couldn’t put it down, which is not something that happens to me often.
If you’re looking for a perfect spooky read that is scary and slightly gory, but also silly and campy, and is a true testament to friendship (and don’t forget all the 80’s song references), then you must read this!!!
I teared up at the end.
My first Grady Hendrix read and I shall be reading more!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Minor: Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

The first few chapters are about how Abby and Gretchen became friends, which made for a slow start to this novel. Hendrix is always so creative though! This has a fully planned out yearbook with photos and notes to the students/quotes as if it’s a real yearbook. Plus newspaper articles, photos, cards-loved the mixed media! I also loved that the chapters are 80s song titles ☺️

Now what I didn’t like and why it’s not rated higher:

1). Very dragged out with the event that makes Gretchen possessed not happening until about 100 pages in and then only the last 100 pages have any action.
2). Overly descriptive with telling over showing at times-the book could’ve been 100 pages shorter-plus it got to be repetitive. I got to the point where any super detailed paragraphs I would skim and I couldn’t wait for this book to end 🙊
3). I finally understand when people say his female characters aren’t well written 😂 these FMCs were soo weirdly written at times and they almost don’t feel real. We get to know Gretchen but that’s it, our narrator Abby we don’t really know as well, even though we’re following her journey.
4).

Honestly with how hard core Christian Gretchen’s parents are and the fact that it’s during the Satanic Panic I don’t know how they didn’t jump to the “she’s possessed” or a satanist conclusion at all

Hendrix’s books are hit or Miss for me since I didn’t like this one very much and DNFd We Sold Our Souls, but I loved Horrostör and Final Girl Support Group. So we’ll see how I feel about his others 🙊

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, and Sexual assault

brutallybookish's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

I know so many people who love this book, and I was so excited to read it during October for a spooky read, but it was just not for me. It reads much more like a YA novel than a true horror novel, and there's nothing wrong with that - it's just not my style. While the 80's nostalgia was so well done, and the references were wonderful, that's about where my love for the story ended. I felt that the racial content was unnecessary and didn't add anything to the story, and the ending became a bit redundant. I had trouble getting through the physical book, so I switched to the Audiobook, and the narrator was great, which was helpful in keeping me from adding this to my DNF pile. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Vomit

Moderate: Violence and Blood

Minor: Sexual assault

maxximus's review against another edition

4.25

I can get past some of the unseemly things since it is very accurate to the time period. The thing that saved this from being 3 stars was the last 25%. what a ride that was

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Vomit, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Fatphobia