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

incredible!!!

I love this book. the narration done by the author is even better. I can listen to it over and over!!!

Can't get over how good this was

Honestly 100% satisfied with this. I first saw The Exorcist when I was in high school (I've always been a supernatural horror buff) and was completely terrified, but in love with the movie. I've been meaning to read the book for years and just never got around to it so I'm really happy it was on audible. It was read by the author, he did a really fantastic job telling his story and I can't picture any other voice doing it than his, it just sounded so right. I also can't believe how accurate the movie was, the director really captured the important aspects of the book. There were very small differences, but I feel that's exactly how a movie written after a book should be, but I'm not writing a review here on that now am I? LOL

great

I had chills. I read the book years ago, but the narrator brought life to the book

Beautifully read

Not as creepy as I thought it was going to be but is beautiful written and beautifully read. The addition of using a little girl to voice Ragen in the recording was haunting and perfect. Hearing it gave me chills immediately.

We all know the story

Incredible performance of a story we all know told by the author William Peter Blatty. Skeptical at first Blatty turns out to be a fine vocal performer, and this 40 years after the book first went into print. He gives a convincing voice interpretation of the characters that conveys their emotions as events unfold. The added bonus is that, voiced by the author, you know that these emotions what was originally intended.

Just seeing the film isn't enough

I'm not sure if Mr. Blatty has done any other voice work, but his performance here is truly amazing. Having seen the film multiple times, I already knew the basic plot. Listening to the novel has taken my understanding and appreciation to a higher level. This is well worth the read. Enjoy!

Excellent

Long time fan of the book. Hearing Beatty himself narrate is next level awesome. So good.

What an listening experience!

I always have been a horror fan especially with The Exorcist. Surprisingly I never read the book. Finally I decided to listen to the book instead and I wasn't disappointed. So much better than the movie of course. The story was gripping and had me listening wide eye and had me sitting in my car long after I got to my destination keeping me fixated on the story. If you are not familiar with this book or movie, shame on you hahahaha, it follows a young girl named Regan who becomes possessed by a Devil and her mother Chris seeks the help of the Church through Father Karras and Father Merrin as the age old struggle between good and evil is waged within this little girl. The story is intense and not for the easily offended as it is full of vulgarity and other dark aspects of humanity including death's. William Peter Blatty has done a wonderful job on this book!

Now as for William Peter Blatty also narrating this book himself I was exited to get started! The actual author being the narrator was bound to be an awesome experience as he should know his book and the character's. For a good part of the beginning of the book I was sadly disappointed. The author just narrated the book as if he was reading it himself and not being entertained by it. The author spoke way too quitely and quickly with out any emotion or emphases on the story. I wasn't able to tell the difference between who was talking in the book and what was happening in the description. It just all flowed together and not to mention at times the author read quite a few run on sentences accidentally. I almost.....ALMOST.......gave up as I couldn't take it anymore. Thankfully I didn't give in and kept going. Not sure what happened, but the author totally did a 180 and really improved his narration which made the book so much better. Half way through William Peter Blatty does a spectacular job with the narration.....especially with possessed Regan! With the rough voice, the growling and yelling, I was driving during my commute wide eyed and enthralled to the point when I slowly undid my seat belt, the belt hit the side of the seat and scared the daylights out of me and I jumped. At first I was only going to give the author 2 stars or 1 star on the performance, but he pulled through so I ended up giving him a 4 star rating. All in all fantastic book with a good narration!

Greatest Horror novel/movie ever!!

I loved the movie and waited years to read the novel and I'm so glad I did! Even better than the movie!!!

Excellent novel, poor narration

So I'll start off this review by saying that I've seen The Exorcist film several times. It is easily one of my favorite movies, and I've meant for quite some time to read the book that it was based on. Hearing about William Peter Blatty's death a few weeks ago, and having an Audible token to spend, I figured it was time to give it a shot.
Also, I know that this is the anniversary edition, which includes additional scenes and certain things being rewritten by Blatty. I don't know how this compares to the original edition of the book. My only subject for comparison is the movie, so I apologize if that's unfair to this version of the book.

This is also the first time where I feel like I need to talk about the narration of the book first. Blatty obviously is enthusiastic about reading his own creation and I can appreciate that enthusiasm. He also does a very good job with some of the characters like Karras, Kinderman, and the demon, but his rough gravelly, often mumbling voice is poorly suited for just about everyone else in the novel. I was confused when I saw another narrator listed when I downloaded this. I had assumed that Eliana Shaskan, was going to be doing either the female voices, or perhaps the demon, in order to distinguish it. She did neither. The only time that Shaskan's voice is used in the book is when Father Karras is listening to a recording of Reagan's voice on tape, and you hear this little girl voice come through. However, including Shaskan there is completely pointless and jarring, since Blatty had been doing Reagan's voice up until that point of the novel. It's a confusing decision. I hope the novel eventually get a remastering with a professional voice actor.

Not that it matters, but if I were going to be doing an Audible recording for The Exorcist, I would keep the whole thing to just one voice actor, except for when the demon speaks. Having a jarring, unfamiliar voice come in at a moment like that would be the perfect way to jumpscare people.

The book itself though, coming from The Exorcist film as my reference point I was actually surprised just how much of the book I was familiar with from the movie. I didn't realize it had been such a faithful adaptation. As for which one is better I'm still making up my mind in that regard. I think I might need to watch the film again to decide.

For those unfamiliar with the film or the book, the plot is that in the early 1970s, successful Hollywood actress Chris McNeill is living in a nice upscale house in Washington DC with her daughter and servants, and just generally having rich white lady problems. Then her daughter starts to develop odd health problems, and her behavior becomes oddly inconsistent and uncharacteristically aggressive and vulgar.

Of course, she takes her daughter to doctor after doctor to figure out what the problem is. Then when that fails and things get worse, she takes her to psychiatrist after psychiatrist with equal lack of success. Her daughter is posessed of course, but it takes a whole world of shit going wrong to convince her of that.

Our other main character is Father Damien Karras, the well-educated Jesuit priest who eventually helps Chris McNeill with her daughter's possession. However, Father Karras is himself incredibly skeptical about there really being a demon, and one of the main themes throughout the novel is doubt, particularly exemplified through Father Karras's doubt in God, and the existence of a demon.

There's also a small cast of side characters, but they're all pretty likeable and interesting. Maybe I'm not remembering the movie that well, but it seems to me that the novel give the detective Kinderman a much bigger role than what was shown in the movie.

It's a fascinating book but part of me feels like the movie did some things better. Like speeding up the whole process of Father Karras investigating the possibility of posession. Actually, on that note, I found it kinda crazy that Karras considered the possibilities of telepathy and telekinesis before he considered that there might actually be a demon possessing this girl. Maybe that was a more common idea in the '70s?

It works well as a horror novel, if you can handle there being a lot of buildup before the demonic stuff starts happening. Also, Blatty's strategy seems to be to make the reader feel unsettled by really laying on the gross-out imagery (also similar to the movie) Piss, shit, vomit, and spit all get mentioned repeatedly as Reagan's possession worsens throughout the novel.

It's a good book, and much more intellectual than I think a lot of people suspect or give it credit for. If you're considering picking it up I would definitely recommend it.