Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - My Best Friend's Exorcism

I absolutely love (most of) this book. It’s campy and fun for the first half then gets seriously nuts in the second half. Like I almost forgot I signed up for a horror book.
It was giving very much campy teen horror movie think Jennifers Body x Stranger Things. The chapter titles being songs was a hugely welcomed addition I was getting songs stuck in my head left and right.
The half star reduction was for that one scene near the end

most books where the dog dies gets a reduction im a strong believer that the author could have made their point in another way rip max you were loved

but besides that I had no other major qualms with this book.
I was a bit bothered at first by the way the author wrote and portrayed female friendships in teenagers but after a bit it definitely started to come off as a caricature and like it was being purposefully exaggerated not just a case of men writing women poorly. I was even able to relate to the girls and their friendships a lot although sometimes it did go a little far.
And lastly who said it was ok to make me cry at the end of a horror? That ending hit so much harder than I was expecting.
Would recommend if you are into the supernatural, 80’s, female friendships, coming of age.
Would not recommend if you are looking for a straight up horror with no deeper meaning.

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nessafurtado's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense 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

If I could give 10 stars I would. I finished it in one sitting; I could not stop reading I needed to know what happened - “will Gretchen be ok? I can not believe Abby made such a rookie mistake omfg!!! IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING? “ were some of the things I caught myself saying while immerse in this story. I highly recommend this book; made me feel nostalgic for a time I wasn’t even born (80s), made me feel happy, confused, sad and a longing to have a friendship like Abby and Gretchen.
Ps. It’s about demonic possession - the demon does some crazy not family friend stuff so be aware there’s may be something triggering for you.

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skylarkblue1's review against another edition

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dark tense 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? It's complicated

1.75

Content Warnings: Racism, Ableism, Homophobia, Gore, Body Horror, Vomiting, Blood, Sexual Assault, Animal Death, Suicide Attempt/Thoughts, Drugs/Drugging, Violence, Death, Misogyny, Virginity Tests, Child Abuse

This was a conflicting read for me. On one hand, I love Grady’s other works and really enjoy his writing. On the other hand….. Were these many slurs needed (*literally*) constantly? I get it’s the 80s, but everyone knows those slurs and bigotry went unchecked heavily back then and it’s included in this book as just throwaway jokes and not really any commentary about that of the time.

This book is essentially the story of someone’s best friend being slowly possessed more and more as time goes by and everyone around them just seems to.. Not care. She’s trying to kill others and being seriously down-right evil but no it’s everyone around her who’s the problem - including the main character.

This book is incredibly slow, the odd moments happening here and there and like 85% of the book is just the main character trying to get *anyone* to believe their - what seems to be - insane story.

I loved Horrorstör so when I saw this one was another of his highly acclaimed books I needed to read it. But now I’m just kinda… confused? The horror wasn’t overly good and I didn’t really feel like there was any tension there. The only parts I reacted to was the

tape worm scene

just because of the graphic description rather than any actual horror or tension that was built up.

The ending was certainly a mixed bag. Badly timed attempts at comedy in the middle of what should have been tense and emotional, even more slurs randomly thrown in, abuse and then a very emotional bittersweet ending slightly ruined by the fact they’re “just” best friends (very minor spoiler on this topic:

despite literally saying this exact phrase in a serious way “I love you queerly” (yes, in a slur way but still. It was written to be taken seriously)

.

I think the ending could have saved a decent chunk of this book without the slurs and the “best friend” syndrome, but with those it kinda just fell a bit flat to me.

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jbfletcher's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

It was a wonderful, wonderful ride. It's a story of friendship and love at any cost, despide all the odds. I really love Grady Hendrix stories, they usually stay with me for a long time. I also think that for my generation (i was born in the 80s), this is a more relatable representation of femal friendship than, for example, My brilliant friend. I'd just not inserted ableist and racial slurs (this just one), that for me were unnecessary, but a part from this i really loved this book.

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rachelunabridged's review against another edition

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dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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chelford's review against another edition

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Oh, boy. This isn't quite what I've come to expect from Hendrix, but it was still quite a ride. I don't know that it defied any expectations or thwarted any tropes, but I think that was the point. After

what happened to Good Dog Max

I was pretty sure I was done with this book, but the climax and denouement really stuck the landing. I can't recommend it without a warning to check triggers, but it was a solid read.

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