Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

248 reviews

maunanoiln's review

dark funny tense fast-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

4.75

This is my second time reading this book. I love it so much. Grady Hendrix really captures what it was like in the 80s: both the good and the bad. The heart of the story is the friendship between the two main girls. There are quiet a number of content warnings though so please check them before proceeding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault

It is not mentioned in graphic detail but a dog is shot and killed

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

emileeandherbooks's review

dark

3.75

Intense, stressful, gross, very 80s, and a wee bit scary. 

I was on the edge of my seat for a lot of the book! Grady is a totally tubular writer. I hate the word tubular. It makes me think of tubes. And noodles. And worms…which reminds me of what I’d like to mention next. 

THIS BOOK HAS BODY HORROR. If that kind of crap makes you ill or damages your brain, DO NOT PARTAKE! Surprisingly I was okay, but wooweee, that was a lot of grossness in one book.  

I really enjoyed getting to know Gretchen and Abby and their friendship. The ending had me all up in my feelings. 

I do have a few gripes. The 80s references were so over-the-top for the first-half of the book. It was obnoxious. SHOW me you’re in the 80s, don’t tell me. Annoying! 

Most of the friendships in this suck so bad and I really don’t like that. It’s exhausting. 

The adults are extremely disappointing throughout the whole book. 

It does take a while to get to the good stuff. But I didn’t mind the buildup. 

Overall a good, exciting time!!!! Very intense and engaging. And even sometimes a little funny. Sometimes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death and Suicidal thoughts

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

veganmermaidsera's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book kept me gripped from pages 100 to the end. I couldn’t put it down, which is not something that happens to me often.
If you’re looking for a perfect spooky read that is scary and slightly gory, but also silly and campy, and is a true testament to friendship (and don’t forget all the 80’s song references), then you must read this!!!
I teared up at the end.
My first Grady Hendrix read and I shall be reading more!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Minor: Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

erynelle's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.75

- only docking points because of some small editing errors

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, and Toxic friendship

janetsuzanne's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Gore, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

maxximus's review

4.25

I can get past some of the unseemly things since it is very accurate to the time period. The thing that saved this from being 3 stars was the last 25%. what a ride that was

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Vomit, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Fatphobia

lizziemarie01's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Alcohol