Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

33 reviews

mickraine's review

adventurous dark lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Classism, Body horror, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Violence, Gaslighting, Confinement, and Animal death

Moderate: Excrement, Medical content, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Abortion, Torture, Gore, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, and Bullying

Minor: Rape, War, Blood, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

melliedm's review

dark funny fast-paced

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

3.5

A gross, fast-paced, campy story of friendship in the face of growing up (and demons). 

Felt like the sapphic undertones were purposeful (lampshades! Lampshades everywhere!), but completely unfulfilled. How you can go from DBNQ to DAQ and then tell me how they ended and miss the chance to complete the sentence is a disappointment. But it was a fun read despite that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Vomit, Body horror, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Animal death, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, and Mental illness

Moderate: Car accident, Alcohol, Racism, Mass/school shootings, Racial slurs, Classism, Cultural appropriation, and Gun violence

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Slavery

maddox22's review

dark tense 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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Sexual assault, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Vomit, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Gore, Self harm, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

seawarrior's review

4.0

I have mixed feelings about this book, mostly because I hate the ideas usually put forth in exorcism stories. However, Hendrix worked to subvert the expectations of what exorcism entails, and was critical about the satanic panic that was popular during the era in which this book was set. His exploration of how young women are not believed when making accusations of harm were decent, yet I feel that he muddies his own message since the allegations Abby made on Gretchen's behalf were mostly, yet inadvertently, false. Hendrix's quick mentions of time-period "appropriate" racism were also jarring, given how they seemed almost thrown into the work to represent how vile people could be at this time, although he did not provide this subject with the seriousness it deserved before moving on. I did think Hendrix excelled at creating "gross-out" scenes that almost felt antagonistic, and that the resolution of the book was rewarding. After watching the movie, Hendrix's original work almost seems genius in comparison. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy stories that use typical horror conventions to make social critiques, even though I do feel its messages could have been sharpened. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, and Vomit

Minor: Racism and Rape

mallory10100's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0

based on the cover, i expected this to be a campy fun horror, but it was actually quite disturbing. pay attention to content warnings!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Excrement, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Ableism, and Gun violence

Minor: Death of parent, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Infertility, War, Confinement, Racism, Medical trauma, Classism, Child abuse, and Bullying

i recommend this for spooky season!!

honeywine's review

adventurous dark sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

Loved this book, but it’s definitely not for the faint of heart.

The story trucked along and was somewhere between medium and fast paced. There weren’t many lulls throughout the book which made it an easy read to get lost in. 

Great demonic possession story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Vomit, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Gore, Alcohol, Body shaming, Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Religious bigotry, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Torture, Slavery, and Gaslighting

readrelatable's review

dark funny sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I’m not really sure how to feel about this book. Some aspects I loved, the last two chapters made me smile and the overall story was good. There were some scenes I didn’t understand why they were there. In the beginning I got confused and felt like I was missing something. I probably won’t read it again, but would recommend it to some of my friends. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Body horror, Kidnapping, and Blood

Minor: Animal death

jessthanthree's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Confinement, Animal death, Gore, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Bullying, Suicide attempt, Racism, Classism, Drug use, and Kidnapping

Minor: Rape and Adult/minor relationship

_chelseachelsea's review

dark emotional funny tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

After being pretty disappointed by The Final Girls Support Group, I’m happy to say this Hendrix novel was a winner. My Best Friend’s Exorcism is delightfully twisted, darkly funny, and surprisingly moving. It’s a nice blend of retro horror and coming-of-age flick that highlights Hendrix’s surprising talent for getting inside the heads of teenage girls.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Gore, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Homophobia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, and Forced institutionalization

brookey8888's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

This was really fun and kind of creepy. I do have to say most of the characters are annoying especially the main character in the beginning,but I’m sensing that’s a theme with him. They did start to grow on me and once the story picked up I didn’t care. Also it takes place I. The 80s to me being a 90s baby that didn’t matter, but that might be enjoyable to some.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Violence, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Animal death, Child abuse, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Gaslighting, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Torture, Alcohol, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts