Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

6 reviews

disguisedposer's review

dark funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Torture, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Minor: Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Alcohol, Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Mass/school shootings, Rape, and Terminal illness

themissyreads's review

dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

This one Creeped me OUT. Made me CRY. Had genuine social commentary and did a spin on an old story in a way that felt New and Different. 5/5 would reccomend. Check the TW/CWs tho. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Body horror, Torture, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Kidnapping, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Classism, Mental illness, Self harm, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Animal death

Minor: Terminal illness, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, and Forced institutionalization

Restrictive dieting, parental neglect, discussion/referenced Satanic Panic, referenced divorce, Institutional violence, powerlessness,

Main Character Death (but not the way you think)

kurumipanda'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Eating disorder, Chronic illness, Classism, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Death, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Mental illness

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Body shaming, Terminal illness, Infidelity, Rape, and Forced institutionalization

nikogatts's review

dark emotional hopeful tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Vomit, Eating disorder, Animal death, Self harm, Murder, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, Bullying, Car accident, Grief, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexism, Alcohol, Classism, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, and Physical abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Forced institutionalization, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, and Terminal illness

anger566's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Eating disorder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Drug use, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Terminal illness

It's a story about a character getting possessed and the chaos that occurs as a result so theres lots of violence/horror surrounding that. Book takes place in the 80's in the southern US, so there are some racist/bigoted school activities (during spirit week they have slave/owner day where one student "owns" another for the day and can make them do whatever they want; one character briefly mentions being in blackface while performing a "We Are The World" type performance during a school concert)

Students take LSD at the beginning of the book (drug use). Characters attend a religious (Christian) private high school, so religion is used to influence the kids (while describing sexual assault a teacher says something along the lines of 'you don't want God's gift (virginity) to be taken away bc you can't get it back'; Satanism is talked about a lot by the students and teachers). Possessed character is really sick at first, and mentions having her period for 2 weeks (descriptions of bloody pads in the trash). While possessed she goes on to trick one of her friends into eating tapeworms (they become really sick as a result- vomiting, body horror), writes fake letters to have another friend fall in love with the school chaplain (adult/minor relationship), and bullies her best friend. She shoots and kills her pet dog as well. At first her best friend thinks she may have been raped by a classmate, so sexual assault is focused on in a couple of chapters. After exorcising the demon, the formerly possessed character describes a suicide attempt. At the end of the novel they describe the course of their lives and mention parents dying, and one of the characters ends up dying of a terminal illness at the end.

jenny_d's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• 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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit