Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Der Exorzist by William Peter Blatty

12 reviews

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

A bit of a slow burn, for a book called ‘The Exorcist’ i was surprised that only the last chapter actually dealt with an exorcism, but this was still a great book to read and definitely deserving of its horror classic title. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

gnraud's review against another edition

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

devynvictoria's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting to. I am not a fan of The Exorcist movie, but I was recommended the audiobook multiple times so I finally gave it a try. It was great and the narration by the author was amazing. I love how much he fleshed out the characters before everything starts to go down hill— it made you really care about what was happening to them. The downsides were that I absolutely couldn’t stand the officer, and the ending was just a really underwhelming ending for a book that had been so enjoyable up until then.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death

thespencerj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

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

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

looneysoysauce's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Antisemitism

thereadingdude's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, and Vomit

Moderate: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Excrement, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol

rbrtvzz's review against another edition

dark hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Mental illness, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Homophobia and Antisemitism

cinderrunner's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Brilliant example of a horror novel. Genuinely one of the best books i have yet to read in the genre. The horror isnt extremely in your face but it is still deeply unsettling. Its a bit of a slow burn. The way its written constantly challenges the notion of if Regan is truly possessed or just mentally ill, which mirror social beliefs and functions in a brilliant way. It really haunts you. The movie is, of course, iconic. But the way the book is constructed just flows and builds so much better. A must read for horro fans. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail