Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

28 reviews

paperquilt's review

dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, and Body horror

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Cursing, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Drug use

auteaandtales's review

adventurous dark funny sad 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Rape, Animal cruelty, Child death, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Misogyny

klfgasaway's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The atmosphere is 10/10. Grady Hendrix can write a compelling novel. I loved how she distilled the essence of high school without making her characters too precocious, too self assured, or too dumb and without making me feel like I was reading YA. This felt like horror not YA horror. 

I loved the music references and it was enjoyable but look at the trigger warnings. Not much gore or violence lots of gross. 

1. The title is great. It’s flashy. It’s tight. It’s objectively a fantastic title. but once we get to the exorcism it’s like oh well clearly this is the climax and it’s probably going to work otherwise why call it that? I just think a different title would have been better for the book overall. 
2. This book dropped a whole star because of good dog max dying on screen. I know it’s horror but killing a dog “on screen” better have a much better reason than this. Very subjective opinion here but yeah. Just a personal thing. 
3. Loved how religion was portrayed in the book starting with the Bible at the birthday party. And with the twist on the exorcism itself. Brilliant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Misogyny

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Excrement, Medical content, and Adult/minor relationship

owenwilsonbaby's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

"The devil is loud and brash and full of drama. God, he's like a sparrow."

This was camp and fun! I loved it. Scary enough to be a quick, compelling read but not so disturbing that it interfered with my love for the characters. Hendrix's depiction of teenage isolation and anxiety was at times painful to read but delicately amplified the wider horror plot and tropes at work. The real demon is high school!!

Not going to articulate this very well but I think this book's willingness to tackle both the joy and terror of growing up in the eighties is its primary strength. There's a romance and excitement to the setting and time period but it avoids indulging a simplified, homogenised version of the American past that Myke Bartlett identifies in media like Stranger Things. Its exploration of class, racism, ableism and rape culture works to create an uneasiness at the heart of this horror story. Abby has to face down the devil whilst also battling prejudice and a lack of understanding from her peers and the adults in her life.

I don't have many criticisms, and those that I do have I think I can put down to the fact that this book is first and foremost oriented towards young adult readers and therefore written with a different demographic in mind. I did at times wonder if the story may have benefited from the complexity of exploring queerness (hence Abby's penultimate 'dearly and queerly!' confession) but I can appreciate the centring of platonic love and female friendship when recent nostalgic outings like Stranger Things and the IT movies seemed to, at least initially, explore male friendship. All that said, I really enjoyed this book. It made for a good break from long reads, and the pacing, prose and imagery were particularly fantastic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Gore, Violence, Ableism, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Bullying, Sexual violence, Car accident, Classism, Alcohol, Self harm, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Rape, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Vomit, Death of parent, and Gun violence

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!!

kyrstin_p1989's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

A cute and creepy book about 2 teenage girls and their love for one another overpowering even the most powerful of demons. I loved that the titles of each chapter were a 80’s song title. The characters were lovable even when they were being jerks. The story, while unbelievable, was fun and lighthearted and made me think of a campy 80’s horror film. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Bullying, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, and Drug use

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

louisegraveyard's review

adventurous dark funny 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Rape, Sexual harassment, Death, Racism, Misogyny, Animal death, and Vomit

davidrb's review

challenging dark emotional funny 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

5.0

DBNQ. This means the world to me. However, even if it tries to trick you into thinking it's light on the horror side of horror-comedy: there's one scene late in the book that is going to haunt me for the rest of my life and probably everyone else who grew up with the same urban legends and creepypastas as I did. The sexual assault warnings are also no joke. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Vomit, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Classism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Alcohol, Body shaming, Mental illness, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

For the adult/minor relationship, nothing actually takes place but it's alluded to several times and these allusions are pivotal later in the book.

marillenbaum's review

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is a horror novel that plays it relatively straight, its riff on the 1980’s Satanic Panic enjoyable without really hitting the distinctiveness that would make it great. A little heavy on the pure nostalgia, but a strong sense of setting. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Racism and Misogyny