Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Exorcist: 40th Anniversary Edition by William Peter Blatty

5 reviews

blacksphinx's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

My feelings are complicated. I cannot possibly assign a star rating to this book.

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.

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Content Warnings

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!

bearystarry's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Very similar to the movie, which isn't a bad thing. The antisemitism was ... gratuitous and unneeded. Other than that and a few other brief things I enjoyed this a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Racism

socialpsysteph's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Given how creepy and iconic The Exorcist movie is, I was excited to pick this one up in October as part of my spooky reads. This is definitely not the norm for me, but I would 100% recommend the movie over the book. There were large chunks of the book that felt totally unnecessary and drawn out (I would even go so far as to say it was boring in parts). The main part of the story is exactly as depicted in the movie just without the boring parts so it's definitely the way to go here. Not much else to say because if you've seen the movie, you know exactly what happens in the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Cursing

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Drug abuse and Racism

bibliophilecrocodile's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A very trigger heavy, disturbing read. Well written, creepy and unforgettable. Lots of cursing, obscenities and gore. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

theremightbecupcakes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Abandonment