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A review by versmonesprit
My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
I’d like to insist you think of this book in two parts, one perfect and the other such a letdown, because whatever issues I’ve had with the second part should not deter anyone from enjoying this lovely kitschy 80s’ B-movie inspired novel.
In the beginning, there was kitsch. In the beginning, there was a story so touching, so compelling, so loving, I was annoyed I had a daily life full of responsibilities that interrupted My Best Friend’s Exorcism. I was blown away by how realistically Hendrix nailed the complexity of female friendships. I saw something of me and my childhood friendships in Abby and Gretchen’s, and that something almost broke me apart. I loved Abby and Gretchen with all my heart. I loved My Best Friend’s Exorcism with all my heart.
The atmosphere, the tension, the heartbreak were all amazingly written, I was properly enchanted until after Gretchen’s possession. Then things started going downhill.
I started feeling as if the cover carried the atmosphere from then on, the insistence on the kitschy 80s pop culture felt like it suddenly deflated into something generic, and then everything began relying on Abby acting like an idiot. That was narrative sin number one: dumbing down a character that wasn’t previously a total imbecile, just so the story could hinge on that, instead of giving real structure and a dimension of real danger and high stakes to it.
Nothing actually terrible happens until narrative sin number two: the killing of an animal, when no humans are really harmed, which is simply for the shock factor. It’s the cheapest trick in horror, and I was disappointed an author as capable and talented as Grady Hendrix would resort to it. A friend told me Hendrix listened to the backlash on this, and did not do something similar in his books again, and that made me really really like Hendrix. It wasn’t enough to erase my frustration that the book did not choose to do anything really worthy of a horror book to the humans, but still targeted a dog.
Not having any high stakes in the story made the eventual exorcism nothing but anticlimactic for me, so even the kitsch twist to it did not land for me… and I might well be the number one fan and defender of kitsch…
The final narrative sin came at the end, when Hendrix couldn’t stop himself from writing out the entire lives of the characters. That unbelievably cheapened the book for me. It should’ve ended with the exorcism. Another reason for this is that the book starts with Abby at the present time seeing news that make her remember what happened in the 80s, but then it ends with Abby living out her entire life in the past tense… Am I too dumb to see some sort of deeper reason? Because I do not understand that choice at all.
My frustrations about the “second part” of the book were enough to tarnish my overall experience, but My Best Friend’s Exorcism is the kind of story that never leaves you. I still tear up thinking back to the love and bond between Gretchen and Abby, and I think that says a lot. This is still a novel I recommend, though go into it expecting nothing but low stakes to avoid the disappointment I found myself falling victim to.
In the beginning, there was kitsch. In the beginning, there was a story so touching, so compelling, so loving, I was annoyed I had a daily life full of responsibilities that interrupted My Best Friend’s Exorcism. I was blown away by how realistically Hendrix nailed the complexity of female friendships. I saw something of me and my childhood friendships in Abby and Gretchen’s, and that something almost broke me apart. I loved Abby and Gretchen with all my heart. I loved My Best Friend’s Exorcism with all my heart.
The atmosphere, the tension, the heartbreak were all amazingly written, I was properly enchanted until after Gretchen’s possession. Then things started going downhill.
I started feeling as if the cover carried the atmosphere from then on, the insistence on the kitschy 80s pop culture felt like it suddenly deflated into something generic, and then everything began relying on Abby acting like an idiot. That was narrative sin number one: dumbing down a character that wasn’t previously a total imbecile, just so the story could hinge on that, instead of giving real structure and a dimension of real danger and high stakes to it.
Nothing actually terrible happens until narrative sin number two: the killing of an animal, when no humans are really harmed, which is simply for the shock factor. It’s the cheapest trick in horror, and I was disappointed an author as capable and talented as Grady Hendrix would resort to it. A friend told me Hendrix listened to the backlash on this, and did not do something similar in his books again, and that made me really really like Hendrix. It wasn’t enough to erase my frustration that the book did not choose to do anything really worthy of a horror book to the humans, but still targeted a dog.
Not having any high stakes in the story made the eventual exorcism nothing but anticlimactic for me, so even the kitsch twist to it did not land for me… and I might well be the number one fan and defender of kitsch…
The final narrative sin came at the end, when Hendrix couldn’t stop himself from writing out the entire lives of the characters. That unbelievably cheapened the book for me. It should’ve ended with the exorcism. Another reason for this is that the book starts with Abby at the present time seeing news that make her remember what happened in the 80s, but then it ends with Abby living out her entire life in the past tense… Am I too dumb to see some sort of deeper reason? Because I do not understand that choice at all.
My frustrations about the “second part” of the book were enough to tarnish my overall experience, but My Best Friend’s Exorcism is the kind of story that never leaves you. I still tear up thinking back to the love and bond between Gretchen and Abby, and I think that says a lot. This is still a novel I recommend, though go into it expecting nothing but low stakes to avoid the disappointment I found myself falling victim to.