Reviews

Crazy by William Peter Blatty

tomaind's review against another edition

2.0

Crazy was a perfect title for this book! Not at all what I expected. Certainly one of the times where the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" applies. I thought I was getting a sweet Christmas themed, childhood story. Not at all! Fortunately, this book was under 300 pages or I would have never been able to finish it. I stayed with it because I had to find out if I was right on who the character Jane really was. I don't think I have ever read a book before with so many run on sentences. I was confused through most of this story and the main character's ramblings finally started to make sense at the end of the book.

jereshkigal's review against another edition

4.0

Crazy is a pretty decent read. At first, it is rather confusing in terms of sentence structure and it is confusing trying to figure out what is going on. In this book, one sentence can take almost a whole paragraph to complete which takes a little adjustment. But once you do get adjusted to that style of writing, the book tends to flow pretty easily. The confusing nature of the story lends credibility to the fact that the main character is seen as "crazy." Of you stick with the story though, it will all come together at the end and make sense.

ninanesseth's review against another edition

3.0

This one kind of sneaks up on you. When I finished it, it was with a feeling of "meh", but in retrospect the concept of this short novel is really interesting. In the end, I think I have more appreciation for what it was trying to do than its actual execution.

If you are reading this because you adored "The Exorcist", this book couldn't be farther away in tone and theme.

charliemudd's review

1.0

I absolutely loved Blatty's The Ninth Configuration when I read it in my teens. And although Blatty seemed like he was right on the cusp of being a bad writer, that is where some great writers live -- almost like the writers' talent line is circular, with the spectrum of the really good right there next to the really bad. (I mean look at Cormac McCarthy or Orson Scott Card -- they live on that edge.) This novel proves this theory. Blatty scoots on around the spectrum to the truly awful, and writes a feel-good, over-the-top, obvious plot about God and heaven that won't even surprise the cheesiest of the holy-rollers out there. His movie quotes and actor references, laid on thick because the main character is a screenwriter, were either too much or inscrutable. Boo and yuck.