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

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

48 reviews

immovabletype's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

this almost feels like horror magical realism for much of the book and I love that about it. and though this didn't occur to me until I'd finished it has that element of Buffy that I love so much, where the monster is a metaphor for growing up. in this case it's specifically about female friendships, and was done so well. it felt pretty darn authentic to my experience growing up in the 80s/90s, and how those friendships could feel so fraught and so full of love at the same time. how do you know these things, Grady Hendrix, you are a man

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katertotz's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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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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jareadforfilth's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny tense fast-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? No

4.5

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eccentricutie's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

The scariest parts of this book are the racism and other isms. Black people are props for furthering the setting/story of rich white girls in stereotypical ways when actually mentioned. It could have been good if these things weren't just thrown randomly in there for no necessary reason.

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thiscryptidreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book is dripping with 80's nostalgia. Grady Hendrix is great at setting a scene and immersing you into the book. I listened to it on audiobook and all it was missing was background music fit to be played by John Cusack's boombox. I don't consider this book scary but the 1st 50% is setting the scene for the demon in this tale and really, it's simply pure teenage trauma and was hard to listen to at parts. If you have past trauma with bullying eating disorders, religious trauma or have issues with confrontations this book might be rough and once things get moving it really hurls towards the ending in a quick paced pile of events that will leave you sitting there going what the heck?

If you watched the movie 1st and are now reading the book they are not the same, the ending is completely different
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Elaborating to the trigger warnings above, the animal abuse includes the family dog, on page description of his death and the grief caused by it after. A Prominent side characters inclusion in the demons' plans included her being tricked that their pastor was in love with her and resulted in her attempted public suicide with partial nudity. During the exorcism both girls are described as being touched inappropriately by invisible "demon" hands and can be triggering for those who have suffered from past Sexual Abuse.

Content Warnings