Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Der Exorzist

I knew a lot about the story when I started reading the book due to the movie. I saw that when I was young, and was overwhelmed by the evil entity that invaded Regan. What I did not know or expect of the book was the poetry. The language used while narrating this horribly fascinating story was alive with beauty and depth. I suppose I expected something a bit more gutteral and base.

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bearystarry's review against another edition

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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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laird_br0wn3's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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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kyra_joy's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I had high expectations this book and it didn’t really disappoint, it was a great story on exorcisms, I didn’t find it very scary personally but I am a pretty avid horror fan so for someone less use to horror I could see it being quite creepy. More than scary for me it had some more disturbing parts, and in general was paced pretty well you could feel the building tension of the possession. I loved almost all the characters who seemed very real, and overall had a wonderful reading experience!

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andrea_95's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Extremely gripping read. The story catches you and doesn’t let you go again. The author's style, however, especially the way he writes conversations, took some time getting used to, thus I won’t give a full five stars. Nevertheless, the author did lots of research for this, medical and religious alike, which is impressive.

Father Karras, or Damien, as he is lovingly called by Merrin, is my personal favorite character.

The struggle with his faith against his medical and scientific knowledge is compelling and well-written, his triumph over the demon as he becomes the titular Exorcist, even in his own death, feels satisfying and appropriate. Even though there are only a few references to it in texts, like when the demon taunts Karras as homosexual, I personally read him as homosexual from the beginning, which may have been another reason for him to struggle with his faith. His close relationship with Father Dyer as well as Kinderman repeatedly inviting him to the movies seemed to be indicators of Karras' homosexuality. A very nice touch was the story ending with Kinderman and Dyer, walking off arm in arm, after Kinderman invites Dyer to the movies, both reminiscing about Karras, but also healing from the horrors that happened.

The possession of Regan as well as Chris' struggle to help her daughter were hard to read, especially Chris' helplessness as she employed doctor after doctor, all of who seemed unable to help Regan, let alone figure out what exactly was wrong in the first place. Chris' extremely close relationship to her secretary Sharon Spencer, who simultaneously acts as a tutor/nanny for Regan and thus even as a kind of mother figure to the girl, reads again like homosexual relationship between the two women, who, throughout all of the horrors, support each other emotionally and provide a shoulder to lean on.

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looneysoysauce's review against another edition

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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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nieva098's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

I really liked it. Almost couldn’t put it down. A bit unsattisfying end but other then that i enjoyed it! Would recommend checking trigger warnings though.

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