The Exorcist

A Novel

By: William Peter Blatty

Narrated by: William Peter Blatty, Eliana Shaskan

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2011 William Peter Blatty (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers

Engrossingly hard to put down.

The possibility of possession by a demon or demons while thought to be simply manifestations of a disturbed or sick mind, this story none the less is developed and presented in such a way that one can feel or believe they might really exist.

Excellent

Story and narration excellent! Vivid pictures entered my mind as I listened. Enjoyed every minute.

great book.

great story characters and captivating reader. william did his book justice. i will listen to other books by this author

Classic

The Exorcist is one of my favorite movies, but this was my first time reading the book. Most of my thoughts are in regards to the similarities and differences between the novel and the film.

The author actually narrates the book himself. I was actually a little bit disappointed in this at first, but I realized that Blatty would be reading it exactly the way it was supposed to be read. Still, he’s not a professional narrator, so there were limitations.

The first half of the book is remarkably similar to the movie. At times the dialogue is exactly the same, word for word. This wasn’t too surprising because I knew that Blatty had helped with the film.

The second half of the book is quite different. Really beginning with the scene in which Regan is hypnotized, the book becomes a different story from the movie.

One thing that anyone who has seen the movie will notice is that the demon personality is different from the one we see in the film. In the movie, the demon personality is almost always abusive; in the book, the demon talks more like an actual person. The demon often uses a fancy, old-fashioned style of speaking, which is missing from the movie. It makes references to different historical figures and seems to know the inner secrets of all of the members of the household. In addition, the personality of the dead British film director has many more lines in the book. In the movie he really only has the one famous line when the head turns around. In the novel, the Dennings personality will take over for long periods of time.

Some of the other key differences are in plot and theme. In the movie version, there really is no focus other than the horrors going on in the MacNeil house. The homicide detective is a great character in the movie, but he really only adds to the suspense and spookiness of Regan’s situation. In the book there is this running conflict of the detective trying to figure out who killed Dennings and how. That’s not really a part of the movie. Yes, we feel Chris being extremely nervous when the detective comes to visit, but we don’t spend much time at all thinking, “oh gosh are they going to arrest Regan?” In fact, the book explains that part of the reason Chris does not want Regan committed is that she thinks it will be discovered that she killed Dennings, and will be put away for good.

The character of Karl, the manservant, is much more important in the book. In the movie, the various servants and assistants are almost prop pieces. These characters are much more fleshed out in the book, particularly Karl. In the book, Karl has a drug addict daughter who he gives money and prescription pills to. This is entirely missing from the movie.

I feel like the film version of the Exorcist is a lot like the film version of the Shining. Both films include small snippets of themes or scenes from the book, without explaining their meaning, and this ends up adding to the overall spookiness and mysteriousness of the film. For example, in the Shining, Stanley Kubrick included the old woman in the bedroom and had a shot of the guy dressed up like a dog. These were stories that were explained in the novel, but in the movie they are sort of random. There are a few similar things in the Exorcist. Throughout the film, we are never really sure whether it’s a mental disorder or whether Regan really is possessed. However, for the most part we don’t think much about it, and just go along with the idea that she really is possessed. In the book, much more is made of things like Regan not being able to do things on command, or say the name of Karras’ mother. In the film, Regan reacts violently to the water, which is actually not holy water. This also happens in the book, but later there is reason to believe that the demon did that only to confuse Karras.

In the movie, Karras basically goes from not believing that Regan is really possessed to asking for an exorcism in a quick change. One of the biggest themes of the novel is Karras trying to convince himself that Regan is possessed, not just so he can ask for the exorcism, but because this would also help to restore his own faith, which he has lost. His loss of faith is certainly covered in the movie, but not to the extent that it is in the novel.

One interesting thing is that in the novel, things such as Regan moving objects with her mind or being able to read other people’s thoughts is not considered to be supernatural. Karras talks about how those sorts of things have been proven to occur, so it won’t help to prove that this is an authentic possession. In the film that is really never discussed. The mind reading and moving objects around seem like proof that the possession is real.

One of the parts of the movie that I always found strange and unexplained is the desecration that occurs in the church. Bizarrely, the novel tells us that the fingerprints of both Regan and Karras are found on the note card left at the scene. This really only makes it all the more mysterious. It’s actually one of my least favorite aspects of the entire story. For some reason, I just have a hard time imagining Regan going over to the church and doing a bunch of vandalism. That may seem strange to say considering that the story includes things like possession, ESP, telepathy, and a person turning their head around 360 degrees. I just don’t really see it.

Overall, this book is very enjoyable. It wasn’t quite as scary as I had hoped, but it was perhaps better than I expected in a number of other ways.

So much fun!

I liked the movie but the book was so much fun to listen to. The author as the reader was perfect. His voice just enhanced everything. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the book even if at times I had to stop because it got too late at night and too creepy to listen to.

Perfectly Profound

Great book made into a great movie. Great job with narrations, made me feel like I was there in the room confronting the demon myself.

Narrator!

Any additional comments?

The narrator on this book deserves a promotion. His ability to jump between characters in the book is outstanding and added greatly to the listening experience. Even if you don't like this genre of book, his performance is worth listening to

Really enjoyed this book!

This is a very interesting book. I found the characters to be believable and the story slow logical progression to be a lot of fun. I just might start it again.

Loved it!

I love the movie, and this was even better. William Peter Blatty's voice is perfect for this.

great performance

Great narrator, scarier than the movie. Outstanding performance. Glad I got it and have already recommended to a friend.