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The Exorcist
Four decades after it first shook the nation, then the world, William Peter Blatty's thrilling masterwork of faith and demonic possession returns in an even more powerful form. Raw and profane, shocking and blood-chilling, it remains a modern parable of good and evil and perhaps the most terrifying novel ever written.
Paperback, 40th Anniversary Edition, 400 pages
Published
October 4th 2011
by Harper Paperbacks
(first published 1971)
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This is a really chilling and frightening story.
There is nothing more powerful and engrossing than a story about a persons battle with their state of mind and Demons. In this frightening story you have a mother and her 12 year old daughters bond shaken, faced with a state of mayhem immersed in a struggle for survival and triumph over adversity, you just feel for them immensely and love for their solitude to prevail. The Jesuit priest also had a love for his deceased mother and guilt of not put...more
A masterpiece...unqualified, unadulterated and unequaled.
How better to describe the definitive, 40th Anniversary edition of one of THE classic horror novels of the 20th century...rendered in audio format and narrated with passion, verve and pitch-perfect delivery by William P. Blatty himself.
I’ve seen both the original and extended, remastered versions of The Exorcist several times and believe it ranks among the finest horror films ever made. Until this week, I had never read the source novel....more
”In our sleep, pain, which cannot forget, falls
drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own
despair, against our will, come wisdom
through the awful grace of God.
--Aeschylus
I get a wild hair every so often and recently I decided that I needed to go on a 1970s blockbuster horror novel extravaganza tour. It all started with shifted some books around and finding thisratty well loved copy of The Exorcist that inexplicably found its way into my book collection. I’d swear it was stolen from one of K...more
drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own
despair, against our will, come wisdom
through the awful grace of God.
--Aeschylus
I get a wild hair every so often and recently I decided that I needed to go on a 1970s blockbuster horror novel extravaganza tour. It all started with shifted some books around and finding this
Jan 24, 2011
jzhunagev
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to jzhunagev by:
the "Voice"
In the Grip of Evil
(A Book Review of William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist
Inspired by a reported case of exorcism of a child in 1949, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, published in 1971, is a novel about demonic terror, a modern-day spiritual warfare that pits good against evil for possession of a soul and examines the question of evil.
Being the book that paved the way for the popularity of this horror sub genre, The Exorcist tells the now-famous plotline of demonic possession of a simplistic...more
Having recently seen a film called The Last Exorcism, I decided it was finally time to read the first exorcism, the one which made masses of people interested in demonic posessions, scared the beejesus out of readers and was made into one of the best films ever.
I've seen the film several times, though I've never read the book. I always assumed that it was a cheap potboiler, heavy on shock value (who can forget the green vomit?) and thin on everything else. I was totally wrong. The Exorcist is a...more
I've seen the film several times, though I've never read the book. I always assumed that it was a cheap potboiler, heavy on shock value (who can forget the green vomit?) and thin on everything else. I was totally wrong. The Exorcist is a...more
It's funny how revisiting a book later in life can be so rewarding. My main reason for choosing to read this again was to refresh myself with the back story of Lieutenant Kinderman as I am about to read Legion for the first time. Having read the Exorcist in my teens, i vividly remember the focus of this book to be on the actual exorcism when, in fact, the exorcism almost plays as a menial event in the story. How did I forget the struggles of Father Karras in attempting to play the events of Rega...more
Aug 30, 2011
Debra
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
horror fans
Shelves:
horror-supernatural
Stephen King said in Danse Macabre (1981): "... two novels of the Humorless, Thudding Tract School of horror writing are Damon, by C. Terry Cline, and The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty – Cline has since improved as a writer, and Blatty has fallen silent... forever, if we are lucky."
However, S.T. Joshi stated in his The Modern Weird Tale : A Critique of Horror Fiction that Stephen King went up to Blatty and said: "You know, in a way, you're my father."
Not sure whether to add this book to my...more
However, S.T. Joshi stated in his The Modern Weird Tale : A Critique of Horror Fiction that Stephen King went up to Blatty and said: "You know, in a way, you're my father."
Not sure whether to add this book to my...more
The film adaptation of this novel is one of my all-time favorite movies.
I hesitate to say the book is even better, but this is a fantastic book. Fans of the "The Exorcist" onscreen will find deeper explorations of the characters and the story's theological underpinnings.
While the movie "The Exorcist" doesn't delve as deeply into philosophy, I consider it the equal of this novel in quality. Director William Friedkin and co. tweak every minute element of sight and sound to deliver maximum suspens...more
I hesitate to say the book is even better, but this is a fantastic book. Fans of the "The Exorcist" onscreen will find deeper explorations of the characters and the story's theological underpinnings.
While the movie "The Exorcist" doesn't delve as deeply into philosophy, I consider it the equal of this novel in quality. Director William Friedkin and co. tweak every minute element of sight and sound to deliver maximum suspens...more
I'm sorry, but talk about a stylistic mismatch: William Peter Blatty is not particularly "literary," and I don't know why he felt he needed to be for THIS book. This is one of those rare cases where I actually do prefer the film. You don't have to read the film.
(Side note of interest: Blatty's sons attended the same Catholic school as my younger brother, and I ate dinner with a teacher who swore he had firsthand evidence that this book was true. I'm an atheistic-leaning agnostic/apatheist. It wa...more
(Side note of interest: Blatty's sons attended the same Catholic school as my younger brother, and I ate dinner with a teacher who swore he had firsthand evidence that this book was true. I'm an atheistic-leaning agnostic/apatheist. It wa...more
Revisiting my childhood with this. Well, early adolescence. This was, I believe, the first "adult" novel I read, when I was 12 or 13. (It was either this or Jaws.) My family was visiting my grandparents and I found this on the shelf. While they had boring conversation in the other room, I, as usual, was escaping into a good book. I probably didn't understand everything in it, and I'm sure I learnt a few new words, but I enjoyed it enough that I finished the entire novel that evening. They let me...more
when i was younger my mum wouldnt let me watch the movie as she said it would give me nightmares so i cunningly got my older brother to get this from the library so i could read it. i read it in one night mainly as i was too scared to go to sleep so i just kept reading! this was the first horror book ive ever read and it started a whole love of horror books for me. subsequently i watched the movie a few years later and i must say the book is much better, whilst the movie can illistrate the seque...more
Jan 27, 2013
Luis
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
120-libros-antes-de-morir
¡¡¡Bonito día para un exorcismo!!!
Nos encontramos ante novela fascinante, atrapante de inicio a fin, escrita de forma muy inteligente, fluida como pocas, y clara como el agua.
Se nota a leguas cuando un escritor dedica gran parte de sus estudios o incluso su vida para escribir algo decente y bien documentado.
El exorcista es uno de esos líbros, puede que este muy sobrevalorado para muchos y mas en esta era, puede que para los escépticos en el tema religioso, como en mi caso, sea inverosímil e impo...more
Nos encontramos ante novela fascinante, atrapante de inicio a fin, escrita de forma muy inteligente, fluida como pocas, y clara como el agua.
Se nota a leguas cuando un escritor dedica gran parte de sus estudios o incluso su vida para escribir algo decente y bien documentado.
El exorcista es uno de esos líbros, puede que este muy sobrevalorado para muchos y mas en esta era, puede que para los escépticos en el tema religioso, como en mi caso, sea inverosímil e impo...more
![[el exorcista (13)[2].gif]](http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xxCk4QMvziE/Sr6_ltqP3XI/AAAAAAAAd00/14Kev3dw8Aw/s1600/el+exorcista+(13)%5B2%5D.gif)
In several of my reviews at my website I tend to whine about being a relatively slow reader. I'd like to retract that statement once and for all. Like the adrenaline rush triggering superhuman agility when a bull charges you (yes this happened to me once), there is nothing like the
uneasiness of a story like this to flood the words into your mind. No horror review page would be complete with out a review of this classic, and a good friend of mine loaned me his old, jacket-less first edition copy....more
uneasiness of a story like this to flood the words into your mind. No horror review page would be complete with out a review of this classic, and a good friend of mine loaned me his old, jacket-less first edition copy....more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Satin laughs !
Or do you prefer Saten ?
Satan..well, c'mon.
Or do you prefer Saten ?
Satan..well, c'mon.
The Exorcist film (in particular, the director's cut) is almost a carbon copy of Blatty's book, with a few exceptions. There is a lot more medical and psychological ground work in the book, more information on what drives key characters and a sub plot involving servants of the MacNeil family. The style of writing is punchy and fast paced, and the conversations between Father Karras and the demon are well written. They don't focus on trying to be scary as in the film, and Father Karras's attempts...more
Absolutely, positively THE scariest book EVER! I saw the movie before I read the book when I was 16 in the basement of the old creaky house where I grew up, and I couldn't sleep for 3 days. I read the book 5 years later, and it scared the pants off me even worse. I think one of the reasons it's so scary is because it's of such high quality that it gets into your head and, at least to me, becomes completely believable. I have a thing about possession, though, in that it almost guarantees a scare...more
After many years of complaint from my mother I finally got around to cleaning out my old room at her house over the Christmas. What I found was a room full of books on shelves, in boxes and piled high in the closet. After almost a full day (I procrastinated a little and reminisced a lot) I managed to get rid of most of them (very painful process but the second hand bookshop can give them a new life). Must to my husband's dismay, I still come home with a box full of books I just couldn't part wit...more
I really love the ending. The first half or so of the book did not impress me with either the quality of writing or a very interesting plot. This is partly my own fault as I started reading the book almost immediately after seeing the movie, so the characters and major plot points were already fresh in my mind. As for the quality of writing, I understand that this 40th anniversary edition was heavily edited and somewhat reworked by Mr. Blatty, having had little time to edit before the original p...more
Loved it.... again.
An elderly Jesuit priest named Father Lankester Merrin is leading an archaeological dig in northern Iraq and is studying ancient relics. Following the discovery of a small statue of the demon Pazuzu (an actual ancient Assyrian demigod) and a modern-day St. Joseph medal curiously juxtaposed together at the site, a series of omens alerts him to a pending confrontation with a powerful evil, which, unknown to the reader at this point, he has battled before in an exorcism in Afric...more
An elderly Jesuit priest named Father Lankester Merrin is leading an archaeological dig in northern Iraq and is studying ancient relics. Following the discovery of a small statue of the demon Pazuzu (an actual ancient Assyrian demigod) and a modern-day St. Joseph medal curiously juxtaposed together at the site, a series of omens alerts him to a pending confrontation with a powerful evil, which, unknown to the reader at this point, he has battled before in an exorcism in Afric...more
Chris MacNeil is an actress filming on location in Georgetown. She lives in a rented home with her daughter Regan, housekeepers Karl and Willie, and Regan's tutor/Chris's secretary Sharon. This book also introduces us to a Jesuit, Father Damien Karras, who believes he is losing his faith.
I had avoided watching the movie for many years because I didn't want to be scared. When I finally watched the movie, I realized that it was more disturbing than frightening. The same is true for the book. I wa...more
I had avoided watching the movie for many years because I didn't want to be scared. When I finally watched the movie, I realized that it was more disturbing than frightening. The same is true for the book. I wa...more
This is perhaps one of the best books I've ever read. With that said, it scared the crap out of me. I was so sure that, having no literal belief in the devil or demons, I couldn't possibly be frightened by "the most terrifying book of all time."
Boy, was I wrong.
I had nightmares several nights after I finished reading it. Also, I viivdly remember, one evening after I had been reading it for a while, I had to run out and do some errands. I was jumpy and startled at any loud noise or quick movement...more
Boy, was I wrong.
I had nightmares several nights after I finished reading it. Also, I viivdly remember, one evening after I had been reading it for a while, I had to run out and do some errands. I was jumpy and startled at any loud noise or quick movement...more
The Excorcist is a brilliant book and should be read by everyone. What makes it so unique is one single reason. The plot. You are never quite sure whether the girl is faking it to be possessed or not.
She starts to behave in a strange way and the doctors come in with an explanation of a disease that affects her. One day the book which the mother was reading on excorcism dissapears and then Reagan starts to behaven in an excact way like it was descriped in the book. This creates a powerful story...more
She starts to behave in a strange way and the doctors come in with an explanation of a disease that affects her. One day the book which the mother was reading on excorcism dissapears and then Reagan starts to behaven in an excact way like it was descriped in the book. This creates a powerful story...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Nov 02, 2012
Phillip
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
horror,
religious-commentary
It is always so hard for me to rate books like The Exorcist, whose film is such a cultural touchstone. It is hard to divorce the thoughts and impressions of the film from those of the book. This is particularly true for The Exorcist in which the film so closely follows the book. This is only to be expected since William Peter Blatty wrote the script for and produced the film.
I picked this book up a few days ago wanting something scary to read for the Halloween season and I was not disappointed....more
I picked this book up a few days ago wanting something scary to read for the Halloween season and I was not disappointed....more
Having seen the movie first, which by the way, scared the living shit out of me, the book was not nearly as scary or disturbing. However, I am very impressed with the movie for following the book so well. I give kudos to the team who made the movie. It's not often that you can say the film is as good as, if not better than, the book. And while, I don't necessarily think the movie was better, as it is a different medium, it had a much greater impact on me. Perhaps it was seeing the actual images...more
I know we all have our Exorcist movie experiences. The movie came out my senior year in high school and even Time Magazine gave it a huge exposé and for years most of us think of it as a mortifyingly realistic horror story. It is much, much more than this.
This book is a masterpiece of tragedy and mystery. My favorite character is Kinderman, the old, Columbo type detective. He provides the comic relief during the horror, reminding us there is a normal world carrying on during the possession.
I li...more
This book is a masterpiece of tragedy and mystery. My favorite character is Kinderman, the old, Columbo type detective. He provides the comic relief during the horror, reminding us there is a normal world carrying on during the possession.
I li...more
Peccato aver già visto il film decine di volte
Naturalmente, prima di leggere il romanzo ho visto il film decine di volte. Posso dire di non aver mai visto una trasposizione cinematografica così fedele, non solo letteralmente: anche letterariamente, nel profondo.
In più il regista ha la dote di sintetizzare in poche -potentissime- immagini ciò che lo scrittore sviluppa in pagine e pagine.
Parlando del romanzo: la cosa che più mi affascina è l'innesto di un orrore così ancestrale in un mondo moderno...more
Naturalmente, prima di leggere il romanzo ho visto il film decine di volte. Posso dire di non aver mai visto una trasposizione cinematografica così fedele, non solo letteralmente: anche letterariamente, nel profondo.
In più il regista ha la dote di sintetizzare in poche -potentissime- immagini ciò che lo scrittore sviluppa in pagine e pagine.
Parlando del romanzo: la cosa che più mi affascina è l'innesto di un orrore così ancestrale in un mondo moderno...more
Always perplexing to see how many people rate this as such a heartstoppingly terrifying affair. When I read it at the lily-livered age of 15, I felt it was a lot of panting hoo-ha over very little. Even then, despite enjoying it on its own terms, it was far less of a scarefest than all the clamour suggested. About 18 months later, I watched the film and the same thought occurred to me. No big deal. Actually, just between the two of us, there are parts that are a bit dull. When Regan finally heli...more
I've long wanted to read this book, having seen the movie and, more recently, the stage play. I was disappointed. The story is still great but what surprised me was how poorly written the novel is. This is the only book by Blatty I've ready but based on this outing I'd have to say his ability is pretty dismal. The plot drags on and on and bounces between truly horrific and becoming a mere mystery novel. Unfortunately, the reader already knows the solution to the mystery so there is little reason...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen King disses this book?!?!?! | 13 | 137 | May 15, 2013 11:07am | |
| horror novels | 6 | 42 | Apr 01, 2013 11:01am | |
| The Crucifix Scene---Too Much? | 6 | 72 | Mar 22, 2013 02:00am | |
| What is the Scariest Book you've ever read? | 91 | 467 | Jan 17, 2013 01:36pm | |
| Books to keep you up at night | 15 | 79 | Jan 16, 2013 01:40pm | |
| SCARY? | 11 | 82 | Nov 29, 2012 02:37am | |
| Halloween mystery novels | 1 | 14 | Oct 30, 2012 06:46am |
William Peter Blatty is an American writer and filmmaker. He wrote the novel The Exorcist (1971) and the subsequent screenplay version for which he won an Academy Award.
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“Perhaps evil is the crucible of goodness... and perhaps even Satan - Satan, in spite of himself - somehow serves to work out the will of God.”
—
33 people liked it
“God never talks. But the devil keeps advertising, Father. The devil does a lot of commercials.”
—
23 people liked it
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Oct 01, 2011 10:12am
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