Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

98 reviews

wynplus1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Grady Hendrix has a habit of writing the most engaging, unique stories with the most insufferable characters. At least in this case, those insufferable characters weren't the main characters for once! Just everybody else around them. 
I had a lot of fun with this book though. I think the relationship between Abby and Gretchen is really the backbone of this story and if you don't care about them as a bond, it doesn't really work out. But it works for me and I loved it and while I was infuriated at parts (mostly because of the adult characters - seriously, why do Grady Hendrix's adults suck?), it was a fun read 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Animal death

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

b00murded's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

felt like watching a movie in my head. Soundtrack and all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death and Bullying

ootoom's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted fast-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

4.0

What do Phil Collins, a 6 year old can of Coka-Cola, and Jesus Christ have in common? Guess you'll have to read the book to find out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Body horror

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, and Blood

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Drug use

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

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

eeemacarena's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.75

AND HISTORIANS WILL CALL THEM....!!!!
 

To be honest with y'all... this was the first time, after a very, very long time, that I tossed my book away and needed a moment.

Also, I did skip like two pages because I knew that there was a scene that would fuck me up (and not in a good way) but lowering my ranking because of it seems silly? She was possessed by a demon. Of course, she's going to do some fucked up shit. Do I think it was absolutely necessary to include that part? Hell nah. But did it fit the story? Yeah. It's not the author's fault that I can't stomach these things. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Body horror, and Animal death

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

ninubean's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.75

There were some really corny moments, but sometimes the 80's are corny. I've been reading some duds lately and this book made me realize those books have bad editing/writing. Gary Hendrix made me feel like I was watching an entire movie and by the third act, I couldn't put it down. I'm a big fan of 80's/90's horror movies and you could probably spot the tropes a mile away if you are too; it never took away my enjoyment of this book, though! Hendrix's blending of horror and teen drama tropes of the time kept me totally hooked.

Many bizarre characters and moments had me laughing out loud. At the same time, many moments felt so real that they made me teary - Abby's helpless discovery that the world is unfair and, despite it all, doing all she could to fight against it, not for herself but for her best friend. Some of Abby's panicked, misguided decisions had me cringing, but then I thought to myself 'What else could she do?' 

It's everything I want in a horror comedy - absurd, tummy-twisting, and just enough heart to bring it home.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Animal death, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Gun violence

fromtheyellowchair's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Death, Animal death, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Child abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Gun violence, and Religious bigotry

disguisedposer's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Torture, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Minor: Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Alcohol, Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Mass/school shootings, Rape, and Terminal illness