A review by lilacerie
My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Did not finish book. Stopped at 1%.

I was anticipating this book for a while because I've recently become interested in horror despite how easily scared I can get but was disappointed because of the disgusting shock-value racism I'd read and that seems to only get worse the farther into the book you get. Its framed as woman-centric horror that incorporates explorations of girlhood, I have never read anything like that and was really moved by the way people spoke about that subgenre (not limited to books but also in film/tv).  I was tentative to get into something too intensely realistic like a psychological horror so I went for this book because it was marketed as being about female friendships and campy but undercut with some serious themes (think Jennifer's Body). But let me be honest, I wouldn't  have started reading it if the cover wasn't as amazing as it is, the graphic designer did an incredible job but that's where my praises end.

In one of the first few chapters Hendrix writes 'That was the moment. When Gretchen stopped lying to Abby about the Witness Protection Program, when Abby showed Gretchen her dad’s secret sex fetish for large black women, when Abby wrestled with Gretchen on her parents’ bed. Starting that night, they were best friends' right after a really bizarre gross description of a black women. The fact that the fetishization of black women is something that's made light of in a book written by a white man is sickening , I checked if there's a lot of antiblackness all throughout the book as I just had a sneaking suspicion there might be and I was 100% right. They have a 'slave day' during their school spirit week where white students 'buy' other students as slaves and a skinny character is described as looking 'Ethiopian' which is just revolting and as a black girl I simply won't put myself through this especially during black history month. 

There are also instances of sexism, ableism, homophobia, sexual violence, fatphobia, classism, disordered eating and bad handling of rape culture but I'm unsure of the extent of each as I barely read it.

Excerpt From: Grady Hendrix. “My Best Friend's Exorcism.” Apple Books. 
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