My Best Friend's Exorcism (Hendrix)
(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)
This was a Book Club selection. it was also a it of an odyssey in finding a copy of the book. The novel has been made into a movie, so copies are hard to come by. I was told by two libraries that the estimated wait time would to 10-12 weeks for a copy .
As a result, I started to use the Internet Archive, which had a copy, but I was only able to borrow it for one hour at a time, until a 14-day copy became available. Adding to the insanity, the Internet Archive is, naturally on the Internet. I couldn't download anything to read on the subway. As a result, before getting on the train, I needed to buffer the next dozen pages or so to read until I got somewhere I could buffer more. And I couldn't launch any other apps that might've cleared memory.
And it was a quick read, so I flew through chapters faster than I expected to.
So the story ... It takes place in the 90s and a lot of 80s reference are sprinkled throughout the text, some of them carefully placed with a sledgehammer. I lived through the 80s, and it wasn't all that 80s-ish that much all the time. Basically, it's product placement with 80s refs instead of actual ads. The chapter titles are 80s songs, which usually fit the chapters thematically, so it's occasionally a stretch. The funny thing about this is that the book reads like one of those 80s "TV Movies of the Week" that the networks would use to fill out their schedules. The fact that it's a current movie is a little more boggling.
When Abby was 10, she had a birthday party, but only Gretchen came because Margaret announces her party on the same day and its at a horse-riding ranch. None of their classmates make it back, but Gretchen didn't go because Abby asked first. References to E.T. abound.
Fast-forward a bunch of years and they are in high school. Abby's father is out of work, so they live in the poor part of town in a scary-looking house, but Abby has a scholarship to her private school. She's still friends with Gretchen, along with Margaret and another girl Glee. They're popular.
While at Margaret's lake house, the girls try LSD. Gretchen goes skinny dipping in the dark and disappears. The others look for her in the woods, and Abby finds a creepy cabin and runs off. They find Gretchen the next day.
Over time, it's obvious that the experience changed her, but Abby starts to believe that Gretchen is possessed by a demon thanks to a cult in the building. And, in fact, she was. At first, she creepy, but suddenly she seems fine and normal, and Abby is the one on the outs. Demon Gretchen is set on destroying the girls' futures and almost succeeds.
The fancy prep school has many assemblies, and one of them is a family of exorcists. One of the sons recognizes the demon within Gretchen. At some point after, Abby contacts him about saving Gretchen. This should be the strongest part of the book, given the title, but it becomes the goofiest. Christian doesn't bring his father because he doesn't believe his father is strong enough to do this any more. But Christian has performed an exorcism and he has lots of notes (which turn out to be useful to Abby). His attempts to force the demon out would result in serious harm to and the possible death of the host, and he has to be forced to back it down a little. Before it's over, he abandons the girls, leaving Abby to save Gretchen before the police arrive.
This is where it get really over-the-top Movie of the Week. When viewed in that light, it makes up for the less than stellar exorcism scene. However, it doesn't end there, as the movie might have. It tells us what happens for the rest of their lives and how the two friends drift apart. (The other two girls will never be the same again.) None of that is necessary except to comment how difficult it is to stay from forever, particularly if someone moves away and put physical as well as emotional distance between them.
So this wasn't scary, and it wasn't funny. It was pretty much straight-forward about the girls and fitting in, especially with Abby suddenly being poor.
The book wasn't terrible, which doesn't sound like much, but I had a sense of dread going into it because I didn't know what kind of graphic demonic possession would be in the forefront. That part wasn't so bad. Parts of it were clever, but I won't spoil those.
I've been told my several members of the book club that the movie is awful an I should skip it.
Note: I didn't use the "Teen" tag, because even though the characters are teens, I wouldn't recommend this book for teens. They wouldn't appreciate all the 80s references anyway. At least when I watch Happy Days, the 50s were only 20 years earlier.
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