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A review by deadchupacabra
My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.
Author is a creep, and it shows in the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Medical trauma, and Pedophilia
The author is a creep. I was fully intending on finishing but the further in I got, the less I could stomach it. The author begins the story following the two main characters when they are little girls (grade school age), and he proceeds to write some very concerning scenes.
One involves the two girls finding a porn tape belonging to one of their dads, another involves a detailed description of the girls pinching each other’s crotches under the table after seeing Flashdance. (They are still elementary-middle schoolers at this point, I should mention).
When the book reaches their high school years, a very disturbing scene involving the characters deciding to go skinny dipping, one of them goes missing for the entire night, and when she is found, the author seems to go out of his way to make sure we know she is naked.
Later in the book, when she begins to show signs of possession, it is heavily alluded to that when she went missing she was raped. She tells her friends that her parents forced her to go to the doctor so he could “test if she was a virgin” and describes the very invasive test.
There are many ways to write a possession story, and a good one, without excessively exploiting and objectifying underage girls.
Don’t waste your time, read another book.
And for all you sexist dicks out there who love calling women out for being “overly sensitive”, I got news for you,
I am a 20 year old man, I have never experienced sexual assault, sexism, objectification, or anything else women experience on the daily, and this book was still too much in my eyes.