Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

8 reviews

erika_winters's review

dark emotional sad 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

4.25

This book was definitely everything the blurbs on the front and back covers said it was; The Exorcist meets Heathers for sure! It brought us into the 80’s and showed us teen life during that decade of big hair and pop music. The time period itself acted as a character; living throughout the text as the characters sing to the likes of Madonna and Phil Collins, which Hendrix cleverly includes as each chapter’s title. The roller rink, the bright makeup, the patterns; all of this added to the texture of the time period and made it easy to visualize the atmosphere of a 1980’s horror film. I loved the friendship that Abby and Gretchen have; the inside jokes, the fake lyrics they come up with, the times spent together almost every day of the week that end in nightly phone calls. This is the kind of friendship all of us want and crave. Their bond eventually weakens when Gretchen gets possessed by a demon, which is truly such a disheartening thing to happen. It really broke my heart to see how Abby tries to save her friend and has to come to terms with her new reality while Gretchen suffers to find herself in the midst of demonic possession. It’s sad, slightly scary, grotesque, vile, and bloody, so stay cautious of that while reading, but overall, it was a great read! My only hang up in the book is that it didn’t start to take off and become engrossing until around page 100 (for me). I understand the foundation Hendrix wanted to lay down, and respect that, but the action builds up to that point (page 100) and then keeps getting more interesting from there! The ending made me sob as I read the last few pages under lamp light before heading to bed to start a new week, so I thank Hendrix for the beautiful and relentless female friendship he wrote into this book; it was truly special to see that kind of bond go through so much and make it out on the other side of things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Please be aware of the above content warnings. This book is chock full of triggers for many folks, and can be very graphic at times when describing bodily harm and fluids!

erinreadstoomuch's review

adventurous dark tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

This hit right in my sweet spot of classique horror, enough manipulation, and a little bit of demonic possession. There are real glimpses into the life they lived of 82’ (and yes I’m referring to the horrific school event day because to pretend that didn’t happen IRL is an insult to the truth of how racist the south is). Either way I’m a huge fan of Grady Hendrix and happy to have read it 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Slavery

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Minor: Body shaming, Infidelity, Rape, Terminal illness, 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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Eating disorder, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Toxic friendship

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

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

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

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

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

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, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Kidnapping