Reviews with content warning for Vomit - The Exorcist

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The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

91 reviews

krysophylax's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

Perhaps I’m just not a big horror fan, but I found this to be slow, boring and dated. Decent writing and it is fairly scary, but a lot of pointless and uneventful parts took away from the unsettling climax. The time spent with the mental health aspect and the cop stressing about the case was boring and pointless. The ending was great, but it was such a drag to get there.

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lexkazokas's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

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fac11's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

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biobeetle's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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coyotesoul's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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esterie's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

i was expecting this book to be boring, frankly. i saw the movie when i was around 10-11 years old and thought, "nah, it's not gonna get to me!" and WELL. there are a fair few disturbing scenes, even by today standards. like, my jaw was hanging.

liked (referencing the pages in my edition specifically):

-281: Karras pondering on the feeling of cold hands on the back of his neck, the demon responds "That was me."
-316: the back and forth between the demon & karras in latin at first, then in other languages
-324: the revelation that the demon (through regan) had been speaking in reverse english, NOWONMAI = I AM NO ONE, DOGMORFMOCION = I COME FROM GOD, MARIN = Lankester Merrin
-329: the spontaneous dermatographia being written in Regan's own handwriting
-342: Chris telling Karras about Regan, then sadly saying "You've never met her". Made me tear up.
-351: Merrin going to see Regan, the demon & he staring at each other and the demon simply saying "This time, you're going to lose." ohhhhhhh the chills!!!!! the unspoken history!!!!!
-multiple times Karras' death is foreshadowed with the mention of him feeling cold hands on the back of his neck, but also on page 350 Merrin tells him a story about a priest who took care of lepers & eventually succumbed to it himself.
-i thought at first that the detective segments would bore me, but i quite liked them in the end. the conclusion that the paint from Regan's arts and crafts was the same paint used in one of the church desecration, that she was the likely culprit....... wow.

disliked

-i found Chris to be a deeply unlikable person early on. her internal monologue/thoughts was completely unparsable to me, and at one moment she wanly says she's taken a vow of poverty all because her financial advisor advised her to not buy a brand new sports car. massive eye roll.
-my only major criticism/frustration is that Karras is 100% certain and believes that mind reading and telekinesis is just.... normally accepted and documented incidences in psychiatry. this is a determined fact that cannot be disputed and has no other causes. it just. happens, i guess. like...... "oh no, regan opening a dresser drawer while being strapped to the bed, or knowing how to answer a question asked in latin/french/german from reading my mind is not proof of possession". ??? gtfo!!!!!! its so frustrating!!!!!! in the 70s did psychiatrists literally believe mind reading and telekinesis were real things!!!! what!!!!!! (pg 301 for ref)

questions

-why did one of the demon's personas sound like Dennings? just because it killed him?
-what happened to the demon at the end, was it sent back to hell because Karras died with it inside him? possession needs an invitation and no one was around?
-why did the demon just..... not untie Regan? it could clearly move objects & people. was it just using its control & fear over the people in the house, gaining pleasure from that? at one point Kinderman sees a figure move in front of Regan's window, but i can't recall if she was restrained at that time.

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the_gob's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A fast-paced, occasionally info-heavy, great read. It has realistic humour, cold hatred, compassion, ignorance, faith, lost faith and sadness all composed in a really believable way (accepting certain beliefs and possibilities of course). Great characters and you can smell, hear, taste certain scenes and I tell you, you do not want to. What I would recommend you do, however, is read it. Unless you are squeamish or easily offended, then do not.

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