Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

45 reviews

lostfoxtrail's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book is solid. Could definitely benefit from being a lot shorter. When it’s exciting it’s really exciting, but the majority of the book has a sense of deja vu. A lot of repeating events and overlapping discussions which became tedious. I think it’s a landmark book, but not one I’d read again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Excrement, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

gnraud's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Very, very good book. It's very intense and it's a lot more graphic than the movie in a lot more ways. If it were a direct movie it would be NC-17.

Read it when you have plenty of time to put the book down and process what you just read; in a place where no one can glance over your shoulder and see obscenities; and nowhere near mealtimes. 

I recommend reading an ebook instead of paper, if you can. This has some pretty intense vocabulary ("inchoate presentiment", anyone?) and it would have been very helpful to be able to define them quickly. There are also some snippets of other languages (ie, Latin during liturgy) and I'm sure it would be much easier to translate in an ebook! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Deportation

devynrj's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A heavy and immaculate slow burn. It was honestly a bit hard to get into at first, the writing and voice of the characters is very specific in a way that was a bit hard for me to read before I got used to it.
I love the realistic build up and interpretation of Regan’s symptoms. It really kept me hooked. We all have a pretty good idea of what’s going to go down based on the prologue, title, and popularity of the film, but it was still very engaging and interesting to read exactly how it would play out. 
Because of the slow burn nature, there were some points where it felt like we were just treading water and the story sort of plateaus, but it really does pay off eventually.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Alcoholism and Homophobia

essiie's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Self harm, Torture, Blood, and Vomit

alex2691's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Self harm, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

coffeemugs's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

cadigana's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

genuinely creeped out in many parts, down right disgusted in others.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, and Vomit

stobblin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

There's a reason why this is a classic and it showed by how easy it read and how compelling it was.

However, it very much is a product of its time and while I generally appreciate darker themes and shocking scenes in novels, some parts felt shocking just for the sake of shock. 

I'm glad I've read it at almost 30 and not at the first time I picked it up when I was 19.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Alcohol

chale19's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Murder

grapes666's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I was surprised by my love for this. The author is a fantastic storyteller 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Dementia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

There’s an infamous scene where a child is forced to inflict a pretty upsetting act and it’s basically impossible to appropriately and accurately describe in trigger warnings. So, WARNING WARNING WARNING