Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

28 reviews

sehenry20's review

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Child abuse

Moderate: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Vomit, Racism, Eating disorder, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcohol, Mass/school shootings, Ableism, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Self harm

fromtheyellowchair's review against another edition

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

sapph22's review

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Self harm, Kidnapping, Rape, Suicide attempt, Ableism, and Gore

cecinamo's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I did enjoy the book a lot, but sometimes it was a little to gory for my taste. Still it was really well written and a great book for spooky season! 🎃 

I didn’t really get how they exorcized the demon in the end? It kinda just seemed like “yay! The power of friendship saved the day” ? Idk maybe I’m being nitpick-y 
Also Abby and Gretchen were definitely more than friends ;)

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Torture, Stalking, Sexual assault, Sexism, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Racism, Religious bigotry, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Ableism

lizziaha's review against another edition

2.75

Ultimately, the focus on Abby and Gretchen’s friendship is this book’s saving grace. Some aspects of the horror were well-done as well, but I was annoyed that some things seemed to be put in for pure shock value, without ever being explained. This was also slightly more low-stakes than I expected it to be. And I disliked Hendrix’s cavalier bigotry for the sake of the “authentic” setting (the south in the 80s). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Animal death, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Self harm, Confinement, Slavery, Sexual assault, Ableism, Abortion, Child abuse, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Racism, Sexual violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, and Homophobia

skylarkblue1's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Ableism, Violence, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Physical abuse, Drug use, and Body horror

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Suicide attempt, Vomit, and Misogyny

jbfletcher's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Rape, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Eating disorder, Classism, Bullying, Body shaming, Body horror, Animal death, and Ableism

beergoddess2391's review

I have so many reasons but you can read the other 1 star reviews. Just don't. Don't give this problematic writing your time. And even if it wasn't offensive it would still be bad. The content warnings below are just what I encountered in the first 31 pages. Other reviews mention slavery, animal cruelty, and rape.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Adult/minor relationship, and Homophobia

frankieclc's review

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Animal death, Body horror, Eating disorder, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Sexism, Fatphobia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abortion, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, and Racism

_gail_'s review

0.5

I really wanted to like this book. I liked the way it was written, but unfortunately it's racist and homophobic. one of the main characters admitted to doing blackface multiple times ( which had nothing to do with the plot) they participated in a 'slave day' at school (also not important to the plot).  there were also quite a few odd interactions between the characters as children, for instance put their foots in each other's crotches ( they were 11 at the time). I like campy horror but the good parts of this book are made uncomfortable by all the unnecessary racism, homophobia, and grossness. I get it's set in the 80's but it is a work of fiction and the author came up with and chose to add those things to the book. I do not recommend this book to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Self harm, Child abuse, Body horror, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism, Eating disorder, Racism, and Kidnapping

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Child death