Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

96 reviews

sophwoph's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Eating disorder and Suicidal thoughts

fanboyriot's review

dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.0

Read For:

✓ Exorcism

✓ 80s Horror

✓ Teen Angst 

✓ Childhood Trauma 

✓ High School Setting

˗ˏˋ ★ REVIEW ★ ˎˊ˗

Had decent hope for this after watching the movie but the book was disappointing.  While there were more details in the book, it overall felt a bit lackluster.

The build up dragged out for a bit longer than I would have liked.  The set up started out good enough but when it came down to the actual plot it felt like we would always learn something we should have already known.  And of course the dog death seemed unnecessary; it added nothing to the plot and felt too much like a last minute shock factor.  Lastly, the ending was disappointing, all of that just for friends to drift away?

Spice Level: n/a

Angst Level: 💧💧

POV: Third Person

Release Date: 17, May 2016

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

apagetoturn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I am still not even sure how to write this book review… Because while it was a good read, that was very emotional, brought me to tears, made me care about these characters… I don’t necessarily think it was a good book because of the material and some of the scenes were very hard to read. The content was not always great but the way that this author writes is great….so I have very mixed feelings overall but in the end, it was an experience that I enjoyed experiencing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Vomit

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

jj_whatsherface's review

dark funny hopeful inspiring medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

any book containing the phrase "Tommy Cox, defend us in battle," is an automatic win.

And then defeating the devil with a soda can, an eighties song, and the power of love is just the cherry on top.

Beautiful book, perfect cast, made me feel both happy and a little disgusted at the same time. A beautiful encapsulation of the 80s satanic panic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Rape, Toxic relationship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Religious bigotry, and Car accident

mangofraiche's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Body horror

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Classism

jordanog4's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

jaefrie's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? No

4.25

Moments of silliness, a lot of darkness. Uses the concept of “possession of a demon” to explore themes of not trusting/believing teens and the buttoned-up culture of southern, rich, Christian folks. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

haileyhardcover's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Not my favorite Hendrix, but a really good read nonetheless. The middle of this one kind of lagged for me. Things really ramp up in the final third, though, and I really enjoyed it from that point on. It’s gruesome and sad and yet also heartwarming? I may or may not have teared up while reading the last few paragraphs (I did). 

Very happy to give this book a permanent home on my shelves! Also can we talk about the cover?! Stunning. It makes me think of IT, probably because of the balloons. I love it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

celery's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mama_turtlez's review

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, and Classism