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    The Exorcist: A Novel
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    The Exorcist: A Novel
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    The Exorcist: A Novel
    Ebook420 pages6 hours

    The Exorcist: A Novel

    By William Peter Blatty

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    "A horror story for all midnights." — The Boston Globe

    Inspired by the shockingly true story of a child’s demonic possession in the 1940s, William Peter Blatty's iconic novel focuses on Regan, the eleven-year-old daughter of a movie actress residing in Washington, D.C. When sweet Regan's behavior turns sinister, a small group of overwhelmed yet determined individuals take it upon themselves to rescue the poor girl from her unspeakable fate. Timeless and terrifying, The Exorcist is a story that has gripped the public zeitgeist for more than half a century.

    Originally published in 1971, it remains one of the most controversial novels ever written. A literary phenomenon soon after its release, it spent fifty-seven weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, seventeen consecutively at number one. It also became a wildly popular motion picture, garnering ten Academy Award nominations. On the opening day of the film, lines of fans stretched around city blocks. In Chicago, frustrated moviegoers used a battering ram to gain entry through the double side doors of a theater. In Kansas City, police used tear gas to disperse an impatient crowd who tried to force their way into a cinema. The three major television networks carried footage of these events, and CBS’s Walter Cronkite devoted almost ten minutes to the story. The Exorcist was, and is, more than just a novel and a film: it is a true landmark of American culture. . . and a reflection of our innermost fears.

    Purposefully raw and profane, The Exorcist continues to engross and disturb readers. It remains an unforgettable reading experience that will continue to shock and frighten new generations of readers.

    Editor's Note

    Growing psychosis…

    What the book does better than the film is capture the interiors of its characters. The fear creeps in, slowly, so that when the time comes to decide between life and death, you too are left with your core beliefs shaken up.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 4, 2011
    ISBN9780062094377
    Author

    William Peter Blatty

    William Peter Blatty (1928-2017) was the bestselling author of The Exorcist, which he turned into an Academy Award–winning screenplay. The son of immigrant parents, he was a comic novelist before embarking on a four-decade career as a successful Hollywood writer. Blatty died on January 12, 2017, in Bethesda, Maryland.

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    Reviews for The Exorcist

    4.5/5

    235 ratings79 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I enjoyed The Exorcist but I liked the movie more. The movie was so much more fun.
    • 5/5
      The film was cheesy and mediocre - the book is fantastic. Blatty is a master in the horror genre.
    • 4/5
      An easy, fun read. Good and scary, even better than the movie.
    • 5/5
      Great book which stands on it's own without the film......but I highly suggest reading all three books in this Trilogy. The 9th Configuration.....The Exorcist and Legion. Even though the stories are not really connected, the ideology behind them comes across and ties the elements together. The Astronaut in the 9th Configuration is the same astronaut in the Exorcist. Little things like that give the reader a nod. Blatty wants you to connect with the contents and he does it very well.
    • 3/5
      I can't say it's the worst thing i've ever read, but i was bitterly disappointed. I came to this novel because of it consistently sitting at the top of the scariest novels ever written. I can't support that notion. I can't even recommend this book in good faith.
    • 5/5
      9/10
      A mother desperately trying to rid her daughters sickness using realistic approaches, thorough investigations, and unexpected turns & twists within the story.
    • 5/5
      The book is amazing, loved it better than the movie!
    • 2/5
      There's not much I can say about this book that hasn't been said many times over. I remember seeing the movie and being freaked out. However, the book didn't scare me (though I will admit I'm tough to scare). In fact, the book mostly plods along until the exorcism gets started. The last quarter of the book is great, the first three quarters, not so much...
    • 4/5
      Surprisingly good. Chilling. Couldn't stop reading
    • 5/5
      If you want to read a book that will keep you up at night, this is the one.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      fair
    • 4/5
      Finally read this classic, still haven't seen the movie. I did like that Lankester Merrin had a pet duck named Clancy. They also drank a lot of coffee ... with liquor.
    • 5/5
      Great book which stands on it's own without the film......but I highly suggest reading all three books in this Trilogy. The 9th Configuration.....The Exorcist and Legion. Even though the stories are not really connected, the ideology behind them comes across and ties the elements together. The Astronaut in the 9th Configuration is the same astronaut in the Exorcist. Little things like that give the reader a nod. Blatty wants you to connect with the contents and he does it very well.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I’ve been a fan of horror since I was a kid and The Exorcist was always one of my favorite movies. Since I wasn’t a reader when I was younger, I had no idea it was based on a book. I have been trying to find a copy for the last few years and recently while spending the morning at Goodwill with my mom and cousin, I stumbled across one. I was so happy that I think I might have actually jumped up and down. I just remember being super excited and my cousin looking at me like I was a complete freak.Now that I’ve read it, I’m not exactly sure how I feel about it. I think I would have loved it if I hadn’t already seen the movie hundreds of times. They are just so much alike. I think that was my problem and why it took me so long to get through the book (2 months!). It was a great read and while reading it I was thoroughly enjoying it, but there were no surprises. It was creepy and well written but I knew everything that was going to happen. Usually when they turn a book into a movie they leave some stuff out. One thing I did really like was that you get to know the characters a bit more. I found that interesting.I’m giving it four stars because I feel like if I hadn’t seen the movie, I would have absolutely loved this book. It would have been a five star read for me. I know it’s not the author or the books fault that I grew up on horror movies, and I did really enjoy reading it, so I can’t give it anything less than four stars.If you haven’t seen the movie, or it’s been awhile since you watched it, please give this book a read. Even if you have seen the movie a hundred times like I have and you are interested in reading it, give it a shot. Just make sure you go into it knowing that it is pretty much exactly the same as the movie.
    • 4/5
      After having enjoyed the iconic horror of the landmark film for many years, I decided to delve into the novel on which it’s based. And while I’m an ardent believer that the book is always better than the movie (in almost all cases), in this case, it’s impossible to state unequivocally which is the superior work of art. The film is, of course, a classic. I need make no argument for that here. The novel? Probably less so. It is, however, noteworthy for a number of elements that the film seems to lack. In the film, the most memorable scenes are those of the possessed Regan spewing out obscenities and vomit while levitating her bed and telekinetically moving furniture. These scenes create comparable horror in the novel, yet the climactic event itself—the exorcism—lasts just 30 pages or so. The novel also offers greater development of Damien Karras, the young Jesuit whose professional interest in Regan’s case troubles him and challenges his faith. Through him, we learn more about the history of demonic possession. Furthermore, minor characters like Kinderman, the police detective, and Karl and Winnie, the McNeil household staff, are more fully developed through subplots. Blatty’s prose style is rather pedestrian and unremarkable, but it serves the story adequately. The artistry of this novel does not lie in its use of the language but in its power to portray the terror of the supernatural.
    • 4/5
      Und zu meiner Überraschung hat es mir ganz gut gefallen. Es war nicht so explizit als im Film. Szenen mit Regan sind rar und es wird sich mehr auf die Mutter Chris sowie ihre Mitstreiter konzentriert. Ob Regan wirklich von einem Dämonen besessen ist oder eine psychische Störung hat wird nie festgestellt. Der Auslegung des Lesers wird Spielraum gelassen.

      Manchmal bin ich über eine Passage gestolpert. Zum Beispiel als Chris, die Schauspielerin, nicht wusste, dass Menschen unterschiedlich reden. Hallo? Erstens verdient sie ja wohl mit solchen Dingen ihre Haushälter und zum anderen hört man das doch einfach. Ich weiß, dass diese Erklärung für den Leser dienen sollte, aber nu ja. Vielleicht ist das auch nur am Alter des Buches geschuldet und ich bin mit Serien wie Criminal Minds die regelmäßig Wissenschaft benutzen verwöhnt worden. Das andere was mich halbwegs gewurmt hat, war, dass soweit ich beurteilen konnte alle wissenschaflichen und religiösen Themen richtig recherchiert waren… nur um den schweizer Haushältern einen schwedischen Nachnamen zu geben. Gut, das ist jetzt nicht unmöglich, aber es war als deutscher Leser doch sehr seltsam.

      Dafür habe ich die Erklärungen religiöser Geschichten und Bewandnisse dankbar aufgenommen. Ich kenne mich da nur rudimentär aus, vor allem bei den Katholiken/Jesuiten.

      Zum anderen fand ich die Darstellung der Priester toll. Mal keine Allwissenden in sich ruhenden Freaks. Die noch obendrauf Arschlöcher sind denen man die Nase am liebsten in ihrer Bibel einklemmen möchte. Nein, diese hier waren menschlich, witzig, mit Fehlern. Diese hier waren besser als die letzten 5 Loveinterests von denen ich gelesen habe. Gut, das ist nicht schwer, aber die Priester waren echt sympathisch.

      Auch gut fand ich den Schreibstil. Der Horror wird nicht mit dem Holzhammer vermittelt. Teilweise gab es Szenen da brauchte es ein paar Sekunden bis man verinnerlicht hatte, was da gerade passiert war.
    • 4/5
      I finished it in one sitting because I was afraid to go to sleep. My roommate was working (bar tending) so she wasn't expected home until about 3:30a. I made our dog sit at my feet (he was not normally allowed in the living room and he was very hesitant to stay with me) ... in fact I wanted him actually touching me ... if he got up to go get a drink from his bowl in the kitchen, I went with him.
    • 5/5
      Even non-believers get scared by this story of evil rising in the form of a child. Not recommended for late-night reading.
    • 2/5
      Yah, no. Sorry. This book is beyond dated. I can't be scared by something when I'm laughing and rolling my eyes at the dialogue.
    • 3/5
      Definitely enjoyed this more than the movie. Much more interesting and the author makes an awesome narrator too. He's got a great voice to make things seem spooky.
    • 5/5
      Strange as it may seem, I hadn't watched the film version of ''The Exorcist'' until last summer. I know, shame on me, but you see, I thought I wouldn't be able to take it seriously. I don't believe in possessions or devils or any of these things, although I love to read about them. Of course, I knew of Blatty's novel and I was aware of the cutie little green Pazuzu-face of young Regan, but since I don't believe in the main theme of the story, I knew I wouldn't be able to appreciate the film, right? Wrong! I admit I should have watched it sooner. I wasn't scared, however, only a little bit disgusted, but it was unsettling and full of interesting underlying information about psychology and the mentality behind the cases where exorcisms sounded as the best solution. Not to mention Max Von Sydow's formidable presence. Therefore, I eagerly searched for the novel and stared reading to appreciate the story under a new light.

      So, just as I believed, the novel is very, very good. Better than the film, its impact was felt immediately, and I must confess that I avoided reading it when I was alone in my house. I don't know why, but it made me nervous in a way the movie never did. To watch Regan's trip down to Hell, to anticipate the beginning of the child's ordeal was trully, trully agonizing. Naturally, this was possible due to the power of the author's writing. Blatty uses short sentences and everyday speech and the narration becomes much more immediate and the images more powerful. Certain infamous scenes of the film are a lot more graphic and highly disturbing in the book.

      As in the film, my favourite character was Father Karras. I have a soft spot for him- partly due to him being Greek- but I feel that he represents the heart of the story. The struggle to seek the answers to his questions, the doubts over his faith and the agony to help in the name of God, the insecurity and lack of faith to himself and his abilities as a priest and as a doctor, are issues that are daily relevant to a significant number of people. On the other hand, I never warmed to the character of Chris, Regan's mother. I admired the fact that she was down to earth and close to her daughter as much as possible, given her demanding profession, but for some reason, I consider her rather naive and a bit stupid, to be honest. Perhaps I am a little harsher than I should, but her interactions with Regan's doctors and with Karras didn't exactly make her look like the sharpest knife in the drawer.

      So, a great book that would have been a success even if the film had never come to pass. A loud applause to the producers who allowed Blatty to handle his own book and transfer it to the big screen, and the results are obvious in a well-made film that opened new paths to the Horror genre, Of course, on a personal note, it still can't hold a candle to ''The Omen''. Oh, and that sceneYes, the spider-walk...It's in the book, obviously, and may I say, it is even creepier than in the film. I had nightmares with this...

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      A Book That Scares YouNo, it didn't. The movie might. I've never wanted to see it; after reading the book I want to see it less.I have to admire whoever read this book and saw a blockbuster movie in it. The writing is truly awful. Choppy and at times incoherent. The plot is strictly dime-store novel. And there's a detective who reads like a poor spoof of Columbo. The Exorcist is a cultural relic best left in the past.
    • 4/5
      Holy crap. That was definitely a book. I didn’t know what exactly to expect but it wasn’t all of that. It’s utterly gross, utterly shocking, and utterly absorbing. It gets four stars for keeping me glued to the page no matter what which has been difficult to do recently.
    • 4/5
      I read this when it was first published in paperback, and I was surprised to receive her copy from my aunt. My mom's family was staunch Irish Catholic, and it never occurred to me that any of them would read this book. I found the experience quite disturbing. Not because of any religious beliefs, which I surely never possessed, but just because of the level of human misery and the exquisite development of terror.

      I have a feeling that I liked the original version of the book better, but I haven't had a chance to dig out my hardcover and read some of it over.

      Blatty's literate style and gift for both narrative and character development lift his books far above the average thriller or horror offering.

      I am sorry that the publisher has not seen fit to offer "Legion" as well. To me, it is actually part of "The Exorcist," as police Detective William F. Kinderman continues his journey through the mysteries of mental illness, demonic posession and the depths of human depravity in search of the same killer.
    • 5/5
      A great read!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      It took me a long time to get around to watching the movie for the first time. I think I imagined that it would dwell more on the blasphemous than it actually did, and as a Christian (who happens to like horror...) I really did not like that idea. But, as a horror fan, my curiosity got the better of me and I finally watched the movie, and loved it. I think the book is kind of the same way. I kind of dreaded it more on its reputation that what the book actually contains. This book is not about the demon all that much. Really, it is about faith, or lack thereof in people's lives, especially that of Father Karras. It is about how people can come to faith, or not, and about how that can change throughout their lives. It really is a fascinating book, and I highly recommend it.
    • 4/5
      The movie seems to miss out on some of the scariest aspects of the novel. The novel is written in the mind of a human being who know what a human should do and some things Regan begins to do are - not human.
    • 4/5
      “What looked like morning was the beginning of endless night”
      ― William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist

      After reading 'Rosemary's Baby' I was on quite the horror kick and wanted to read something that was just as unsettling, after finding a copy of 'The Exorcist' on my favourite second-hand website I thought to myself "What an excellent day for an exorcism." It's a horror classic that's always been on my to-read list and after it's prompt delivery, I devoured it in a couple of sittings. I'm not going to lie, it deeply unsettled me, I had some pretty awful nightmares and sleepless nights but to evoke this type of emotion takes some pretty damn good writing!

      Horror is a real escape for me, I'm easily engrossed in a well-told haunted tale and 'The Exorcist' is one of the greats, I'm so glad to have finally read it but also so glad it's over! I might actually give horror a little break for a while.
    • 4/5
      A young girl exhibits a radical change in behavior. Is it supernatural possession, psychosis or brain damage? A Catholic priest with problems of faith is called by the mother to determine the cause and to assist the child. If you are hesitant to read the book because you have seen the movie, I would recommend that you read the book since it provides more detail omitted by the movie. It is much better than the movie because the book unfolds in your mind which can be scarier than any movie.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Still one of the most amazing novels I have ever read. The re-write is excellent. The changes were minimal, actually. Definitely one of my favorite novels of all time... still.