My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Published 2016 · 85,000 words · about 6 hours at an average pace · Horror
How hard is My Best Friend's Exorcism to read?
My Best Friend's Exorcism scores 26 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 25 out of 100
- Conversational teen-girl voice with 1980s slang and brand names. Hendrix writes for accessibility and emotional immediacy. No literary pretension.
- Sentence structure: 22 out of 100
- Abstraction: 20 out of 100
- Entirely concrete—social dynamics, physical transformation, friendship rituals. Hendrix works through emotion and specificity, not abstraction.
- Information density: 35 out of 100
- Moderate density. Rich with period detail and cultural references, but the narrative moves briskly. Character and horror develop in parallel.
- Narrative indirection: 25 out of 100
- Straightforward first-person narration from Abby's perspective. The reader sees what Abby sees and shares her confusion and determination.
- Symbolic density: 35 out of 100
- Mix tapes, friendship bracelets, and 80s consumer culture function as symbols for connection. The possession inverts these symbols of intimacy.
- Ironic distance: 30 out of 100
- Hendrix's 80s nostalgia is affectionate rather than ironic. The humor creates tonal distance from the horror, but the emotional core is played straight.
- Resolution withholding: 20 out of 100
- Clear, decisive resolution. The exorcism succeeds through friendship's power. Hendrix delivers catharsis and closure.
- Structural complexity: 20 out of 100
- Linear narrative with chapter-song titles. Simple structure that lets the friendship and horror develop in parallel without interruption.
How My Best Friend's Exorcism is regarded
My Best Friend's Exorcism holds a literary regard score of 34 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.