Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

104 reviews

littlefemur's review against another edition

2.25

This book could have been amazing if it hadn’t resorted to cheap tricks like taking on the problematic language of the 80s. How unimaginative do you have to be to take us back into the past by using fucked up language? It was so hard to enjoy the story because fairly often I was jolted out of it by poor choices from a white man writing in 2016. 

 Here’s a sampling:
AIDS jokes

Weird gross sexualizing of a Black woman and making her a joke

Jokes about brain damage 

Using the r word
A retro version of “no homo”: dearly but not queerly

Queer as slur

“Spazzing” out and “spaz” - this one was everywhere 

AIDS jokes

Blackface

Sitting Indian style

Slave day

Casual fatphobia

“You look like an Ethiopian” to someone who’d lost a bunch of weight. 

 
So edgy. Wait no, I meant unimaginative and disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit

Moderate: Violence, Alcohol, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug use

Minor: Animal death, Addiction, Child abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Adult/minor relationship

mariespuna's review

dark emotional 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Gore, Self harm, Torture, Animal death, Vomit, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Drug use and Medical content

babydog420's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Gun violence

Moderate: Drug use, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Self harm

marinapaso11's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Violence, Toxic friendship, Eating disorder, and Bullying

Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Classism, and Kidnapping

jessthanthree's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Confinement, Animal death, Gore, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Bullying, Suicide attempt, Racism, Classism, Drug use, and Kidnapping

Minor: Rape and Adult/minor relationship

sylvestra's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, and Alcohol

mapscitiesandsongs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

It was a nice and entertaining read, but nothing more. I had higher expections to be honest.

I don't know how to describe it, but I didn't get the 80s atmosphere I was hoping to get. There were a lot of references but felt a bit too forced at times. I also thought that it was a horror novel with a serious undertone, but it felt more like a satire of some sorts. There was nothing scary or spooky about it. I didn't like any of the characters and didn't care about the friendship between Abby and Gretchen. This friendship was being forced down our throats the entire book, but in the end I didn't buy it. Additionally sometimes the characters were just too stupid and naive, especially Abby. I know she is young but come on. She kept making the exact same mistake very damn time.

Why did she always talk to the adults when she knew that they were not going to believe her? And when she talked to Father Morgan about the diary pages and how he wanted to go to the police and Abby was like "The Police? Why?" Of course he wants to get the police involved. That's the first thing that comes to your mind during this situation.

The ending was a bit anticlimactic and cheesy with all these references. Aside from that there were some racial slures and queer-baiting, that were just unnecesary and were only included just because the book was set in the 1980s and "that's just how it was during that time". (e.g. "I love you DBNQ - Dearly but not queerly", Slave Day, "You look like an Ethiopian.") 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Vomit, Violence, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Blood, Self harm, Gore, and Bullying

Moderate: Eating disorder, Drug use, and Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

jurxssica's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body shaming, Vomit, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, Eating disorder, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Mental illness

codexqueen's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Vomit

Moderate: Rape, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Cursing, Mass/school shootings, and Adult/minor relationship

apoppyinthewind's review

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

TW: This book has scenes with animal death, abuse, disordered eating, body horror, and suicide attempts. If those are things you don’t want to read then you may want to give this book pass.

If you enjoy horror, especially 80s horror I would recommend this book. I was sucked into this one between the nostalgia, pop culture references, and how perfectly the author captured the feel of friendships in your teen years while combining with eerie and, in some scenes, downright horrifying descriptions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Drug use, and Bullying

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, and Torture

Minor: Blood