Reviews tagging 'Violence'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

192 reviews

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

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!

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

chinomi's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-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 and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

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

librosdeunamestiza's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Este libro muy fuera de mi zona de comfort me sorprendió totalmente. 
La historia se ubica en la década de los 80s en un pueblito estadounidense bastante conservador e hipócrita, del tipo que esconde los desastres debajo de la alfombra y nunca más los menciona.
Las pistas de patinaje, los peinados y maquillajes, la música y el pánico religioso/satánico ochentero no faltaron.
Cada capítulo tiene el nombre de una canción famosa de la década y me pareció una excelente idea, muy bien pensados. No son ni largos ni cortos, pero se leen volando, al igual que todo el libro.

La narración en primera persona de Abby es muy atrapante y adictiva. 
Me gustó como protagonista. Empaticé un montón con ella y sentí que realmente llevó la trama sobre su espalda con sus decisiones y acciones.
La representación de las amistades y de transitar la adolescencia en el colegio secundario me pareció acertada en muchas cosas.

Los eventos que ocurren son muy perturbadores, repulsivos y traumáticos, me pusieron nerviosa y asqueada, pero nunca me sentí con miedo, así que diría que es un terror ligero.
El terror se va desarrollando de a poco, una cosa horrible a la vez. La trama me sorprendió constantemente, dando giros inesperados y desesperantes. 
Realmente lo recomendaría.

Trigger warnings: violencia, abuso sexual, trastornos alimenticios, consumo de drogas, violaciones, muerte, asesinatos, tortura, muerte de animales, descripciones gráficas, racismo y homofobia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

themichellegray's review

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

I wasn't anticipating a book paying homage to the 80's while being inundated with body horror, religious bigotry, and racism to make me cry but here we are.

Grady Hendrix's writing gripped me from the first page and each multi-faceted character intrigued me until the very end. While I was waiting for a big twist for the majority of this story, I appreciated the ending so much more than anything my imagination could conjure up.

At the end of the day, this was a story about the strength of genuine friendship and how it can stand the test of time. If you can tolerate the trigger warnings I highly recommend picking this up during the spooky season!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Drug use and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

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

quabbityash's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Toxic friendship