The Exorcist: 25th Anniversary Signed Limited Edition

It's a shame that the film version has in many ways overshadowed this excellent novel. That's not to say that he movie wasn't faithful, indeed the novel reads itself much like a screen play and many scenes are rendered still by still in accordance with the book, however I fear many will have passed

this by having either seen the film or worse still only heard of the hype.

Not being a fan of the horror genre I would normally have steered clear myself, but happening to see an early edition in my favourite charity book store for the princely sum of 60p. From the first line I was hooked. I read the 300 odd pages in a couple of days, me being a slow reader with little time for the pursuit this is a mark of honour.

What I found was one the best explorations of faith in a popular novel I have read thus far. Themes of faith, guilt and death, which could so easily turned sour, think Dan Brown, are cleverly explored with a unique, if frequently repellent device. Much of this was in the film, but it is far more explicit here. Inevitably the medical science is a little dated but other than that it's remains an outstanding novel and well worth a try.

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LibraryThing member TheScrappyCat

Far and away one of the most frightening books ever written. Brought the term 'demonic possession' into the modern lexicon. Excellent book and highly recommended for horror fans.

LibraryThing member jmchshannon

I don't know what it says about me but I did not find William Peter Blatty's bestseller to be all that frightening. Perhaps it is because I was listening to it in short increments of time. Perhaps it is because even though I have never seen the movie, I knew the story and how it ended. Perhaps it

had something to do with the author's voice; as narrator he makes for an excellent demon but his voice is too low and gravelly for feminine voices. I was disturbed at times, especially with what the demon forces Regan to do and say, but I was never frightened. I think I am getting jaded.

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LibraryThing member lapomelzi

So boring I had to stop reading. Maybe will try later.

LibraryThing member diamondignite

This book is excellent, because it is one of the scariest books that I have ever read. It is in the Top 5 for scaring me.

LibraryThing member Borg-mx5

Compelloing and frightening. Maybe it is the Catholic in me, but I was drawn to this novel. It made me ponder the role of good and evil in our lives. Are there demons? This novel leaves the question open to specualtion and faith.

LibraryThing member coralsiren

This is one of the most engaging books I've read in a long time. I was already familiar with the story thanks to the movie version, but there was a lot more depth to the book and I couldn't put it down.

LibraryThing member Joybee

Great book, quick read, and a good scare. I saw the movie before I read the book, so I knew what to expect. However I was still a little creeped out. I think this is a must read for horror fans.

LibraryThing member silenceiseverything

I bought The Exorcist early this year for fifty cents at a friends of the library sale. I picked it up with the sole intention to read it for the month of October. And the book did not disappoint.

I had first seen the movie version of The Exorcist when I was twelve years old. I know the exact age I

was because when I saw the movie, what scared me the most was that this terrible thing happened to a girl of my age. Anyway, needless to say the movie absolutely terrified me. It didn't make me run from the room, screaming (like The Amityville Horror did, but I was eight when my family tried to get me to see that one and once I heard the creepy song and saw the sort-of pumpkin shaped house with it's creepy eyes/windows, I just ran from the room), but that was mostly because I was too scared to move. This movie traumatized me so much that I became scared that I was going to get possessed and would sometimes think that my bed was shaking at night (over-active imagination much?) Ever since then, I feared anything to do with possession. That didn't stop me from watching horror movies about it, though.

With this deep-ingrained fear, I still picked up The Exorcist four days ago. You see, I thought I was over my fear and felt that I could brave reading it. And I could. As long as it was bright as hell outside and it was in a campus full of other relaxation deprived co-eds. I absolutely refused to pick it up when it was dark out. And I did try. But then I started thinking about the movie and how the really truly scary parts hadn't come up yet and did I really want it to come up when everyone in the house was asleep and yet I was awake and prone to prowling the house at all hours of the night? The answer to that was a definitive no.

So, the actual novel, terrifying. Granted, I thought it wasn't as terrifying as the movie, but that's just because I'm a visual person. One part of the book that had me getting goosebumps on my arms was the part where the demon yells "Merrin" automatically knowing that he's there. I did have a deeper connection to the characters while reading the book, though, as opposed to watching the movie. I felt myself caring for Father Karras and Chris and especially Reagan. I was a little disappointed that you really didn't get to know anything about Father Merrin. I knew this in the movie, but assumed that the book would have a bit of a backstory on him. So, that was the one teeny-tiny, miniscule thing that I was bothered by.

Anyway, if you're a huge fan of the movie, I would definitely suggest that you pick up The Exorcist. It's well worth the read and it is deeply disturbing. I'm disturbed just thinking about it again. I don't think I'll be prowling tonight.

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LibraryThing member SlySionnach

I have to say, the book was a bit creepier than the movie for me. Though I won't deny that seeing the crab-walk backward down the stairs will forever stain my mind, reading about her following an assistant in that way made my back shiver.

I read this on a plane, on my way down to New Orleans. It

didn't keep me up at night, but it did make me sit and think during the landing. The way it was written is truly dark, and Blaty has a way of shaking a person from the inside out.

I would recommend this to any horror fan if not just to know the original story behind the best-selling movie.

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LibraryThing member JEldredge

I originally read this book 20 years ago - back in 7th Grade, when others were still browsing Babysitter's Club and comic books. I became an instant fan of William Peter Blatty's dark style and the movie still holds very high marks. The book, just like the movie, is my gauge for what a great horror

novel must contain.

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LibraryThing member stefano

I saw the movie in 1981 and it never occurred to me to read the book until my daughter asked for it. The book was a very pleasant surprise because it is extremely well written and vastly more subtle than the movie. It is perhaps a symptom of incipient middle age that it struck me as pointing at an

interpretation that I simply could not have grasped in 1981. I was struck, for example, by how, after witnessing the first serious episode of her daughter Regan, Chris is nonetheless still distracted by thoughts about her financial arrangements and the movie she has been asked to direct. The intriguing possibility is that in the contrast between what is happening (her child is behaving very strangely indeed) and what occupies her thoughts (money, work) Chris herself is depicted by Blatty as being possessed. Her demons are very low intensity compared to Regan's but just as out of control. If this is what's happening Blatty is really beautifully painting with all shades of gray. And I think he is, because this is a pattern visible in other aspects of the book: the private tragedy of the Swiss butler Karl (which in the movie has been completely removed, if I recall correctly) coexists with the much deeper horror of the possession and with the lighter horror still of father Damien's unresolved issues with his mother. Also interesting (and absent from the movie) the treatment of Burke, who, as the story develops, is hinted to be far less harmless than just a drunk lout (for example, why does he hate Karl so much? what really happened when he was left alone with Regan? did Regan attack him or viceversa?) Anyway, all in all a really fulfilling novel, where things are much more nuanced and multi-level than they appear at first. The most incredible thing in the book, however, is the ease with which one could obtain medical appointments with specialists (even house calls!) and immediate intervention from ecclesiastic authorities.

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LibraryThing member kitana

One of the best horror books that I've ever read! A must read for anyone who really enjoys a good horror story. Creepy and classic!

LibraryThing member hermit_9

This is simply one of the best horror books of all time. It ranks with Dracula.

LibraryThing member arleblanc6

I have no words for this book. It makes me wonder about what is in the mind of Mr. William Peter Blatty.

LibraryThing member estellen

If you read the preface and understand the context in which it was written, it adds to the value of this book, which created the awareness of so-called demon possession today. Very few people knew what an exorcist was, it was limited to obscure satanic volumes in new age bookshops. The author

tackled this subject in a wonderful way, and was quite brave to do so. Sadly, if you grew up after the movie was made, it may leave you disappointed.

Having said that, this book genuinely scared me at times, especially the interaction with the demons.

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LibraryThing member tuckerresearch

Of course, having been born eight years after the book's publication and six years after the film's release, my first introduction to The Exorcist was in my teens and through Friedkin's excellent film. I heartily enjoyed the film, and do believe, with others, that it is a classic. The movie works

because it treats evil as a real possibility, the characters are sympathetic, and, even in the special effects/horror gluttoned 1990s and 2000s (think of gore movies like Hostel and special effect extravaganzas like The Matrix) the film looks good. You are actually worried, thinking that this innocent little girl is possessed.

Now to the book. I've usually advocated that you see a film (if you like it), then read the book. The book provides extra information, ties up loose ends, adds sub-plots, and et cetera. In this case, my rule succeeds. Blatty's build up to the exorcism is brilliant and full of tension. Karras's crisis of faith is more ably described, as is his relationship with Father Dyer. Merrin comes across almost as a prophet, and a decidedly spiritual intellectual. The sub-plots with the Engstroms added a bit of mystery. Finally, Detective Kinderman is given a larger role. All in all, excellent. The fact that Karras is still not convinced of the reality of Regan's possession until the end adds an air of drama. Regan's descent into evil is much more fully disclosed in the book - more cussing, more lewdness, and the like.

The only place the movie tops the book is in the actual scenes of the exorcism. In the book, family members keep coming in and out - which is annoying; the exorcism takes place over several hours through two days; and the drama is thus dispersed as Karras leaves, goes to his room, showers, etc. In the movie, the exorcism scene is much more dramatic, the exorcism is packed full of shakings, cussing, and levitations; the prayers are shouted, Karras's face and Merrin's are full of passion; the whole "the power of Christ compels you" bit is sheer perfection - missing in toto from the book.

All in all, get the book, it is good. Blatty treats evil as a reality and if you do, the book is a psychological thriller. The writing is as good as 1970s popular fiction can be, the story is a classic, and it will be enjoyed, especially if you are a fan of the film. Disturbing, not horror.

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LibraryThing member marcLeroux84

When I first read this book (1976 ish) I thought it was great. I picked it up and re-read it this past weekend. I found that it didn't hold up over time.

LibraryThing member theidiot

good book but, it's one of the few books that have been made into a decent movie by staying close to the book. if i were you i would just watch the movie and spend more time on something more like Les Miserables.

LibraryThing member theeclecticreview

If you want to read a book that will keep you up at night, this is the one.

LibraryThing member JGolomb

"Incidentally, what an excellent day for an exorcism."

Sometimes I wish there weren't so many amazing books to read. Because every once in a while I come across a book so intricate, so subtle and so intense, that without a second, slower, read, I know that there was zero chance that I captured a

true understanding the book in its' entirety.

William Peter Blatty's "The Exorcist" is that kind of a book. It's creepy, crude and scary. On more than one evening while reading in bed, I found myself half jumping across the room only to find the cat poking his head through the door to see if it was breakfast time. One morning on my bus ride into work, I almost elbowed a poor woman in the head, so throughout engrossed I was in Blatty's deeply affecting novel.

"The child was slender as fleeting hope."

Blatty's novel, which he converted into the screenplay of the well-known film, is about an actress living in Washington, D.C., finishing the filming of a movie. Living on the doorstep of Georgetown University, several mysteries surround an undiagnosed illness of the actress' daughter, Regan. Her condition grows worse, and its' manifestations become more and more bizarre. I don't think I'm giving much away when I 'reveal' that the girl starts to show signs of a split personality - one of which is less than fully human.

"What looked like morning was the beginning of endless night."

"The Exorcist" is rife with turbulent foreboding. Some elements of the horror are subtle, but Blatty's expectation-setting is not so much: "Like the brief doomed flare of exploding suns that registers dimly on blind men's eyes, the beginning of the horror passed almost unnoticed."

I love this kind of deep, rich, relentlessly hammering melodrama. Another terrific line provides exposition while Chris MacNeil broods over her ever-sickening daughter: "...the Potomac's deceptively placid surface, offered no hint of the perilously swift and powerful currents that surged underneath...In the soft, smoothing light of evening, the river, with its seeming dead calm and stillness, suddenly struck her as something that was planning. And waiting."

As with all great horror, the physicality of the frights is less imposing than the psychology that precedes it. The real story that orbits Regan MacNeil's seeming possession is one of faith. The plot's passion is driven by Father Damien Karras, a Jesuit priest and trained psychologist teaching at Georgetown. Blatty slowly serves Karras' back-story like a delectable appetizer before the main course.

Father Karras seeks the truth of Regan's condition - all signs point to demonic possession, but Karras' faith, an innate and deeply embedded belief that he felt in his youth, has dissipated through the grim realities of life. He very much feels the realities of Regan's possession, but cannot escape his secular education and experiences, and Blatty masterfully teases out doubt through thoughtful and genuine psychological analyses.

In a scene leading into the demon-exorcising finale, Karras enters Regan's bedroom where she's strapped tightly to her bed. It's been days since the personality of the girl has made even the briefest of appearances. Blatty writes that Karras "felt something in the room congealing"; the atmosphere is thick and heavy. That description terrifically sums up the mood of the book; there's a darkness that is more than just an absence of light, but something more material with real weight and depth.

I really loved this book and couldn't recommend it more highly. It's scary and it's disturbing, but also deep and literate.

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LibraryThing member elizabeth.b.bevins

This was so scary I couldn't finish it!

LibraryThing member Lizparker

The book that the more famous movie is based on. I first listened to the audiobook narrated by the author, and found it scared me more than the aforementioned movie! Regan and her mother,Chris are living in a brownstone in Georgetown whilst working on a movie. Bored with her mother working all the

time, reagen finds a ouija board and unwittingly invites in a demon. Faced with her daughters gradual and complete personality change, Chris consults doctor after doctor, finally turning in despair to the church after the murder of her director. Enter Father Damien Karras who is having a crisis of faith, and has to be convinced of the nature of Regans possession. When the church gives permission for the exorcism Father Merrin is called in having previously battled with the same entity.

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LibraryThing member TheTwoDs

There is a subtle difference between the horrific and the truly dreadful. The ability to combine a sense of creeping dread with scenes of ghastly horror is an art form that few contemporary horror writers master. William Peter Blatty managed this harrowing combination with this 1971 classic, now

eclipsed in the popular imagination by the nearly equally disturbing film.

Beyond the shocking visuals and the torment the demon puts young Regan through lies a complelling discourse on the nature of faith best exemplified by three of the main characters. Chris Regan, Hollywood star actress, is a bonafide non-believer; in her world there is no room for a higher power. Detective Lieutenant Kinderman believes in his own abilities to solve crimes no matter how baffling they may appear to be; in the process, his obsession with them has alienated him from his wife. Father Karras begins to doubt his faith after the death of his poverty-stricken mother; perhaps becoming a Jesuit priest, whose order disavows material wealth, was unfair to his mother as he is unable to support her financially. Each of these characters is explored in depth as they struggle with their faith and assumptions in the face of mind-numbing horror. Their conversations as they explore these struggles illuminate the dark heart of the novel - the possibility that demons do exist and can exert complete control over a possessed individual, rendering the person psychologically unrecognizable to her loved ones. It is this threat of loathsome evil that powers the novel in its ability to wrap its tendrils around the minds of the reader and provoke intense disturbances in the psyche.

If you're only familiar with the film, which is itself an almost faithful adapation by Blatty himself and one of the masterpieces of horror cinema, you owe it to yourself to read the novel. In a dark house. Alone. Pray your bed does not begin to shiver.

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LibraryThing member moonshineandrosefire

Regan MacNeil is a young girl who is living with her famous actress mother, Chris, when Regan becomes inexplicably ill and she becomes the target of poltergeist activity. As time goes on, Regan becomes fully demonically possessed and in desperation her mother takes her to a Catholic priest who

deals with psychiatric issues. Father Damien Karras has recently lost his mother and starts out not truly believing that Regan is actually demonically possessed.

Suffering from a crisis of faith, it only takes a couple of visits with young Regan for Father Karras to begin to suspect possible possession. In trying to get the Catholic Church to perform an exorcism of Regan, Karras turns to a local bishop who initially refuses the exorcism unless Father Karras can contact Father Lankester Merrin to be primary exorcist of Regan.

The doubt-ridden Father Karras contacts Father Merrin, currently on an archaeological dig in Iraq but who has begun to feel that in time, he will face an immense spiritual battle. Father Merrin returns to the United States and both priests prepare themselves physically, mentally and spiritually for the upcoming battle with something that will drain them almost to the point of death. I really enjoyed reading this book again and give it an A+!

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