A review by andrea_95
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

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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