Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

43 reviews

natfoster's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Alcohol

This book would be excellent if not for two specific scenes involving CSA (by the "demon") and while some may argue they're needed for the horror, I would argue that there's never a need for an adult male author to imagine a 12yo girl inserting things into her vagina against her will. And it could be argued that it was a different time but by then I'm wondering why you're arguing so hard in favor of graphic CSA scenes. It's sus.

kaela_arcuri's review against another edition

dark medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Murder

flooooo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

the demon was way more sassy than scary

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, and Alcohol

voilajean's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry

stobblin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.5

There's a reason why this is a classic and it showed by how easy it read and how compelling it was.

However, it very much is a product of its time and while I generally appreciate darker themes and shocking scenes in novels, some parts felt shocking just for the sake of shock. 

I'm glad I've read it at almost 30 and not at the first time I picked it up when I was 19.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Alcohol

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

chale19's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Murder

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

meaghanelizabook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

lin3han's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail