My Best Friend's Exorcism
Ratings321
Average rating3.9
So much fun and so much heart. I liked it and then I started to love it and then it gutted me and I loved it more.
2.5–it really didn't work and I thought we would have a lot more time in the present instead of just going over what happened in the past.
Well, now I have ‘I Think We're Alone Now' stuck in my head.
My Best Friend's Exorcism isn't about demons, or spooky nightmares, or gore, or violence, or milkshakes. It has those things, but those things are just pillars to hold up the real point. This book is about the power of friendship, and its harsh realities. It's also about the really horrible parts of the 80's, from the Satanic Panic to the War on Drugs, rampant classism and poisonous interpretations of Christianity. And all of those aspects are used to augment the real point: Friendship, how it lasts, its realities, its pains, what can hurt it and what can hold it up.
Recommended to me - I enjoyed reading it. It took me away from life's insanities.
Set in the 80s - written in the pulp horror of the times. It has a funny level that I didn't expect. If you like horror - Stephen King, you would like this book.
“It was a terrible plan, but Abby was all out of clever.” (pg 263)The effort to read books from my own shelves in August continue with an arc I picked up at BEA forever ago. My copy looks like a high school yearbook and Grady signed it, “Kristie, Only the Most Hardcore Librarians work the county system. Rock on! Grady”My apologies to Mr. Hendrix in how long it took me to sit down and read this heavy brick of awesomesauce. I loved it. It wasn't just the 80's references, it was the way he nailed the relationship of two young best friends. All of the horror (and it's pretty horrifying) is just icing on this cupcake. I was all in. I was also laughing so hard at some points coffee shot out my nose, but that's to be expected from Hendrix. I love his work and Quirk books sooooo much. I recommend [b:Horrorstör 13129925 Horrorstör Grady Hendrix https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1414314217l/13129925.SX50.jpg 18306052] constantly. This ended up being a perfect summer read too. Much of the action takes place in the summer, and the early days of fall. So, my lateness is not personal, Grady. I've been really trying to focus for the past couple of years on diversifying my authors. I bet this would have been an awesome audio book to listen to!
Tense, disturbing, and surprisingly sweet? It's an excellent 80's-set horror story, with some memorable and scary scenes, but the core of the story is the friendship between Abby and Gretchen. It definitely elevates this from just entertaining pulp horror to something that's more interesting than you'd expect. Really good stuff!
My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix is a funny, creepy, and also heartwarming take on an exorcism story. When Gretchen begins acting strangely, her best friend Abby is determined to discover the cause. Little does she know it may be more than she imagined. This book has everything. From the expected demonic possession elements to a comedic faith and fitness show to 80s music and more. Hendrix does a great job blending campy comedy with genuinely scary stuff (while still having tenderness and warmth present in the book). Personally I think he does a better job here of blending these elements than in some of his more recent books, but that's just personal taste. The paperback edition has awesome art on the front and back of the book. This book is followed by a spiritual successor, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, which is set in the same town years later but focuses on a new cast of characters. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was pretty fun. Picked it up at a used book store because I loves the retro cover, worth a read for the 80s nostalgia and horror vibes. Wish it had pushed further into the darker elements, there were a couple of plotlines that seemed like they were really going dark only to veer away at the last moment, which was not really what I was expecting in a horror novel.
There is a very annoying thing that happens when some people realize that they have unwittingly enjoyed a piece of horror fiction - they try to convince themselves and everyone else that it's not really horror. “It's really about a family struggling!” “It's about mental illness!” “It's about friendship!” It's horror. Those things are all horror. Like every genre, horror is the backdrop on to which a variety of different kinds of stories are told. However, horror is uniquely equipped to talk explicitly and ferociously about one thing in particular - what scares us. It's where we unabashedly explore the terror, violence and agony of family, friendships, technology, strangers, love, loss, trauma, you name it. And yes, high school is terrifying. Loving your best friend more than you've loved anything on earth is terrifying. And being a girl who dares to see things as they are, not as she's been told to, is quite possibly the most horrifying thing in this world.
Abby and Gretchen have been inseparable since the day Abby had a birthday party and Gretchen was the only one who showed up. It is the eighties, Satanic Panic and Reaganomics are the ever present background radiation of their world, and they are the upper crust of an elite Southern Catholic school. Abby is the poor scholarship kid and Gretchen the rich girl with uber religious parents, while their two other friends, Margaret and Glee, round out their high-achieving preppy girl squad. And then an experiment with LSD goes wrong. And then Gretchen begins dissolving and lashing out, and then changes entirely and then Abby is suddenly standing on the outside as her life as things begin spiraling out of control. Abby's only care in the world, outside of her social status and her own image, has been Gretchen Lang, and she finally realizes that she may have to give up everything to save her best friend from what has clearly taken control of her - a demon.
I am a big fan of demonic possession stories, but they typically fall into a particular pattern. This is because they depend heavily on certain mythology - that there are sentient, evil supernatural creatures that can take control of one's body against one's will, and that the only way to cast them out is by calling on a higher power. There's usually a lot of shouting involved. Exorcism movies often remind me of action films that inevitably end with muscly guys throwing buildings at each other. Like, is this the best we can do in the face of evil? Make loud noises and throw things? How come the best exorcism I ever saw on screen was in the opening scene of Constantine, and I have never seen anything like that again?
Without giving too much away, I can say that My Best Friend's Exorcism uses those known tropes while also drastically subverting them in exactly the way I wanted to see. The way Hendrix takes the idea of the exorcist and the hip youth pastor and smooshes them together into a Jesus-talking pop culture abomination that also serves also an commentary on religious institutions and toxic masculinity? Goddamn. And the moment Abby realizes the power she individually has to save Gretchen? It's perfect. It's absolutely on point. Because an exorcism is not just a religious rite - it's a spell. And as any witch will tell you - you can charge a spell any way you want. Even with The Go-Gos.
My Best Friends' Exorcism is not relatable teen content for teens (it's too hyperaware of what kind of people teenagers really are to really be appropriate, I mean I'm sure some will enjoy it, but I think it will mean more to adults), nor is it pure 80s nostalgia cash grab. It's an exploration of the horror of being a teenage girl. It puts a magnifying glass to our youth, our insecurities, the things we allowed ourselves to believe and turns it all into a paranormal nightmare. The pacing is so good its almost precise. I knew that when I sat down on my lunch break I would be able to read two chapters in twenty minutes and those two chapters would be barn burners. It takes the tropes of a horror movie - ticking off hapless teens until there is a final girl left - and again twists it. Instead of centering the narrative around a single person at a time, you are with Abby as she helplessly watches the systematic destruction of the people around her. Hendrix uses body horror, psychological horror, and straight up spooky demon shit to create a suffocating atmosphere that is pure genre. Yes, this book has pink details on the cover and 80s references and satirical humor, but it is scary as shit, make no mistake. It's scary because it does not look away. It does not look away from a body wasting a way, from a mind violated, from the oppression of not being believed, from having your life distorted to meet someone else's ends, from being in love and afraid you're going to fail.
I loved this. It's probably the best October selection I've made in years, and I'm glad I ignored the reviews that said “it isn't really horror.” This book is colorful and satirical and deeply touching, but yes it is horror. It is the definition of horror.
“By the power of Phil Collins, I rebuke you!” she said. “By the power of Phil Collins, who knows that you coming back to me is against all odds, in his name I command you to leave this servant of Genesis alone.”
Great quote.
For a long time I thought this would be a three star read for me, it didn't have as much of the 80s cheesy horror (slight let down) I was hoping for but maybe that was me expecting something I shouldn't have.
However, the really well written story of friendship and amazing main character Abby means this has to be a four star read for me. It's more of a friendship story than a campy horror story but you know what, it was worth every page.
There was so much I loved about this book. The nostalgia seriously rocked my world, and though I didn't get all of the music references (not much of a music buff), it all reminded me of my early childhood days. Landline phones, mix tapes, summer lakes and creepy stories. Yes, my friends and I played with ouija boards. .
.
Back to the book. It had terror, nostalgia, comedy and sadness. My heart strings were seriously pulled at times and I loved how much I cared for the characters. I was terrified for them, and I would definitely recommend this to any child of the 80's or 90's. I really hope to see more like this from the author!
I picked up this book for the 80s references and the campiness of the cover and premise. It delivered on both fronts. If you're looking for the next Great American Novel, this isn't the one for you. Also, allowed me to reminisce the great adventures of myself and my best girlfriends growing up...with a little exorcism on the side.
So. Much. Fun.
Excellent pacing - maybe I'm the exact perfect age for this book, because it was like a big ball of fun/scary nostalgia. And yeah, I cried at the end.
Fabulous 80's nostalgia, which was the biggest draw for me to this book! There were a lot of things I enjoyed about Abby and Gretchen's story, especially because their friendship started out so realistic. However as the book went on, and the possession came into play, things started going downhill for me. This book isn't really scary, so much as it is mildly gross at times. I NEVER forgave them for the sacrifice this book made towards the end. Plus, the ending itself was just too perfect for my tastes. So I settled this at 3 stars, and I'm happy with that.
Compulsively readable, suspenseful, disturbing, ultimately touching, and on a couple memorable occasions, absolutely disgusting. So, great horror novel!
I'm not sure if this will resonate with everyone as much as it did with me. It was pretty much a bulls-eye as far as my nostalgia target goes - girl friendship set against high school in the late '80s. But the characters are drawn so well, and the relationship set up so poignantly and believably, I think anyone could get invested in this story.
If the supernatural story doesn't quite hang together for me, I have to say the allegory remains rock-solid: when you're friends in grade school, sometimes the changes that hit during middle and high school can seem like your friend is suddenly possessed. The exaggerated and fictionalized story of actual demon possession cleverly mines the more mundane realities of teen friendships and their challenges.
And as far as the face-value story, Hendrix kept me guessing throughout the climax. I really couldn't imagine how he was going to wrap things up, and ultimately I like how he handled it.
I'll have to let the nonfiction Paperbacks from Hell satisfy my craving for more Hendrix for now, but the next novel he publishes will be at the top of my reading list for sure!
I am proclaiming October the (unintentional) month of Grady Hendrix since I ended up borrowing this novel from the library, after having loved both versions of the cover for a while, as well as having started another book by him last week, and never mentally putting the 2 books together as having the same author. (One version is the yearbook page, with the girl turned away, and the other looks like an old videotape cover.)And every time I did focus on the author name I thought it sounded familiar. I finally realized I'd reviewed a book by him years ago for a site I used to work for. The book was a satirical novel called [b:Satan Loves You 11261906 Satan Loves You Grady Hendrix https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1333896441s/11261906.jpg 16188715], and I loved it, with it's feel of Good Omens and Christopher Moore. So, it really makes sense that I loved My Best Friend's Exorcism, with the fun covers, and the mock ups of 80s ads, news articles, etc. The book was schlocky, funny, and creepy, but the characters weren't sacrificial as they often are in horror, and by that I mean they were real, fleshed out characters as opposed to bags of blood to sacrifice for gross outs and scares. The friendship of Abby and Gretchen, from its beginning on, felt real. The 80s references were deep and on point. And if you happened to be a teen girl back then, it feels like you're transported back to that time. Okay, I'll admit I cried at the end. The end of the occasionally schlocky horror novel. Because, yeah. Lastly, there's a dog in the book. The horror novel. You know where this is going. The dog dies, like they almost always do in horror, and often we get to imagine the dog's feelings of confusion as the person they love betrays them. I respect the effectiveness of this in horror novels -- the demon/serial killer/vampire means business. But at the point when the reader knows with 98% accuracy this will happen when there is a pet in the book, it might be time to do something else. Call me a nutbag animal lover, but as much as I love horror, this trope is the #1 reason I read so little of it. And, yeah, I know I need to take this up with a therapist. Anyhow, Grady Hendricks is a very good writer, as I found out and then forgot years ago, and I can't wait to really delve into [b:Paperbacks from Hell: A History of Horror Fiction from the '70s and '80s 33670466 Paperbacks from Hell A History of Horror Fiction from the '70s and '80s Grady Hendrix https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1504436657s/33670466.jpg 54542087]!
(Full review to be posted on my book blog.)
Overall meh. There are some really compelling parts and the writing is good, but the casual homophobia was super off-putting and I'm sick to death of the catty teenage girl trope.
Maybe around a 3.5 star book.
I devoured this book. It's such a quick read. It's fun. It's even a little amusing. I will write a review later, since I have to take it back to the library now.
This is an excellent tale of teenage friendship and demonic possession. As young girls, Abby and Gretchen become fast friends. As they hit their mid teens, Gretchen begins to change, sparked by a night of youthful experimentation that goes wrong. As you might expect, it takes a while for Abby to realise that her best friend has been possessed by a demon, but once the satanic penny finally drops, she becomes caught up in an all consuming struggle for Gretchen's soul.
A lot of other reviews mention the 80s nostalgia of the settting, and they're not wrong, but this also has a lot of the flavour of classic 70s religious horror movies like The Exorcist and The Omen. It's a fast moving engrossing book that kept me turning the pages. I really cared about whether or not Gretchen could be saved, and I found the portrayal of the all encompassing friendship between the girls quite moving. Other highlights of the book include a phone call that is genuinely spooky, a climax that is over the top in all the right ways, and a poignant final chapter. A special shout for the depiction of Charleston - Hendrix evokes a decaying swampy atmosphere that fits the narrative perfectly.