Reviews tagging 'Rape'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

254 reviews

yesica's review against another edition

dark funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

What I liked:

I liked the way Gretchen's parents reacted to the hearing about their daughter possibly being raped. Its a way of showing how not all parents react the same.

Thought out the story we see how much Abby cares about Gretchen's well being I also like how realistic her reactions to what was going on were. You sadly doing find a lot of realistic reactions in Horror novels.

What I didn't like:
What immediately took away 2 stars for me was

how casually the group of friends talked about one of the brothers drugging  and raping girls in the back of his car.

Overall:
Overall this book made for an okay audiobook to listen to while in the car or while doing chores but I could not bring myself to actually sit down and read the actual book.
Even though I did not always enjoy the book and reading it felt like a chore at time I will admit that it did have a very satisfying and realistic ending. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, and Vomit

Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Racism, and Gun violence

jerbarger's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

At first, MY BEST FRIENDS EXORCISM really annoyed me because it felt like a man writing about teenage girls (which it is, obviously, but there often comes this sort of tone and misunderstanding of what it is to be a teenage girl—and sometimes even this underlying dislike). 

I also didn’t appreciate all the casual racism and references to sexual assault. I see what Hendrix was trying to do and set the picture of the South, but it wasn’t ever really indicted? Like it seemed he did not approve from the tone of the main character when she mentioned these things but it was totally glossed over and also THERE WERE ONLY WHITE PEOPLE, so tell me how this improves the conversation? It doesn’t. And it almost made me stop reading the book. 

With all of that being said, it is a rather interesting and unique coming-of-age story. Her best friend is possessed by a demon, but who’s the real monster? The adults who don’t believe children? Society? Classism? The way Abby goes from feeling like a child to having the understanding that we are all truly alone in this world is devastating. And that’s what MY BEST FRIEND’S EXORCISM did best. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Cursing, Rape, Drug use, Racism, and Slavery

Minor: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Cultural appropriation, Excrement, and Racial slurs

mirandaleighhhh's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

ahhhhhh

I love you Gretchen Lang. you are my reflection and my shadow and i will not let you go. we are bound together forever and ever!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Vomit, Physical abuse, Rape, and Body horror

aspiringvilliagewitch's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Vomit, and Animal death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Body horror, Blood, Rape, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Death, Death of parent, and Cursing

intentional murder of a dog

gwensweb's review

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

reading this felt like a chore at times and i almost didn’t finish it. the only thing i enjoyed was the last few pages but i wouldn’t recommend reading it just for those. if it wasn’t boring it was offensive so idk. the names of the parents were also switched a couple of times in my copy which was confusing at first and annoying later on

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, and Animal death

Moderate: Rape and Eating disorder

cholton427's review against another edition

Not the right time for us to read this given some of the TW

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

roanjackal's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

I found the book good overall. It felt a little dragging in the secon third but really picked up and became wild in the last third.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Fatphobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Rape

antonebooks's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.0

Disappointed. I loved this author’s retail horror novel but this one missed the mark for me. It had interesting themes it seemed like he wanted to explore but terrible execution. 

Also there were just too many instances of racist remarks or events that were completely unnecessary  in connection to the story. Why did we, the reader, need to know about the MC’s dad having a porn fetish for black women and then have it written off as a ludicrous joke and why is there a “slave day” at the MC’s school? None of this is ever mentioned later or adds to the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Rape, Vomit, and Racism

salemwasinyouryard's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Body horror

cuprum's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Rape, Physical abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Body horror, Blood, Animal death, Pedophilia, and Racism