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biobeetle's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide and Blood
Minor: Blood and Stalking
fettup77's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Death, Self harm, Violence, Excrement, and Murder
myllahmarie's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
the_gob's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Cursing, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Dysphoria
Moderate: Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, and Grief
Minor: Drug abuse
The movie closely follows this book.sjsantilli19's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Cursing, Self harm, Sexual violence, Excrement, and Vomit
louiepotterbook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
drewanslee's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Body horror, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, and Drug abuse
blacksphinx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
The book itself reads more like a modern thriller than a horror, moving at a quick pace with constant swerves. The dialogue is quick and often witty. I had seen the movie a couple of times but I had forgotten what a long and winding path there is to the iconic scene chosen for the movie's poster. The language in this book astounds me. Blatty has some amazing turns of phrase, and the way he writes when following the third-person perspective of Father Marrin was exquisite. It's a true page turner to this day. It's not perfect: the character of Dennings is completely absurd, having our doubting priest character be ethnically Jewish sure is a Choice, and the ending is jarringly abrupt. I'd like to read another novel like it.
And yet... Like how Psycho and Silence of the Lambs both explicitly state that the serial killers in the movies are not trans, and yet still fed into and reinforced narratives of bigotry about trans women, I can't help but think about this book in relation to the Satanic Panic. This book was published nine years before Michelle Remembers acted as the torch igniting the pyre of that horrid moment in history, but I can't shake the feeling that it was one of many logs present in that fire. The characters in this novel are absolutely convinced that the Black Mass exists, that blood libel is on some level real, and that in the moment it was published there were groups out there doing ritual sacrifice. Did you know when put under the highly suggestive state of hypnosis to "recall repressed memories", many people actually wind up recalling movies they've seen? How many people were convinced they were abused by a satanic cult when they were actually remembering scenes from the movie adaptation of this book? Is that the fault of the book, or the society the book was published in? I don't know and I can't stop thinking about it.
Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, and Abandonment
Lots of misogynistic slurs. I didn't know you could be racist against Germans but this book proved you could!rashelg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
beanformation's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail