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(More customer reviews)William Peter Blatty's seminal novel of demonic possession took the nation and much of the world by storm when it was published in 1971, and the movie adaptation of The Exorcist ranks as one of the most famous horror movies of all time. Many, many readers over the years have described it as a quite unsettling if not frightening read; I envy these people because I didn't find the book at all shocking or scary. I was actually more affected by the inner turmoil of Father Karras than anything else. His doubts over his own faith, the horrible guilt he feels for having left his aged mother alone when he became a Jesuit priest, and some of his scattered sad childhood memories make of him a philosophical, sentimental character who serves as the main liaison between the reader and the events of the novel. What we see through Father Karras' eyes is a complex, troubling vision of life and death, a conduit of our own philosophical and religious struggles.
The plot of the The Exorcist is well-known to just about everyone. Chris MacNeil and her daughter are living in Georgetown while Chris is filming a new movie. The energetic and happy child, Regan, suddenly begins to change. Strange things begin to happen in the house - rustling noises are heard at night, objects seem to disappear and reappear in strange places, and Regan begins to complain about her bed shaking at night. When Regan's state of mind begins to deteriorate, Chris seeks medical help for her daughter, but the doctors, after a series of complete, agonizing tests, can find no evidence to support their theories of a condition brought about by a lesion in the temporal lobe of the brain. Regan continues to worsen, making wild animal noises, struggling with her caretakers with superhuman strength, cursing like a drunk pirate, speaking with several different voices, projectile vomiting a nasty green substance, claiming to be the devil himself, and - in what is probably the most shocking image of all - hideously violating herself with a religious icon. She eventually has to be strapped into bed for the protection of her as well as those around her. Desperately, the nonreligious Chris turns to the Jesuit priesthood for help, asking for an exorcism to be performed on her daughter. Father Karras studies the case, attempting to find a medical explanation for Regan's behavior even after he witnesses some extraordinary things in Regan's room and converses with the demon claiming to reside within her. In the end, Father Merrin, whom we met in a highly symbolic scene at the beginning of the book, comes to perform an exorcism, engaging once again in battle a demon he had defeated years earlier. The book concludes in a particularly strong, dramatic, and satisfying way.
The descriptions of Regan's behavior and increasingly disturbing actions are laid out in quite open and impacting ways here, but I think this aspect of the story is expressed much more effectively in the movie. It's one thing to read about projectile vomiting, a head spinning completely around, and the other physical manifestations of Regan's condition, but it's something else to actually watch it presented visually onscreen. The book's main strength, in my opinion, comes in the form of the character of Father Karras. The novel provides much deeper access into the mind and soul of this tragically troubled character, and herein is to be found the true heart of the book. The exorcism itself does not take center stage the way it does in the film. Despite all of its religious and demonic attributes, I believe Peter William Blatty's novel is a deep look inside the heart of man as he attempts to make sense and keep the faith in the face of the sometimes revolting human condition.
Those who have seen the movie will benefit greatly from a reading of Blatty's novel. There are a number of sub-plots covered only in these pages, and much of the symbolic and quite subtle aspects of the harrowing drama are not captured in the film at all (or are awkwardly included in the form of symbology that the casual viewer may not notice or recognize). It is interesting for me to ponder why so many find The Exorcist a truly frightening reading experience while I really do not. Perhaps those who are not religious have never really examined pure evil as straightforwardly as they are forced to in the form of this possessed child. In any event, I believe the horror many feel at this undeniably gripping and disturbing story comes not from a vision of the events so vividly described herein, but rather from a consciousness of the changes and perhaps fears wrought upon their own heart and soul by the implications of the experience.
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