Time for some more horror of the supernatural bent, my dear Obscurists. Make sure to read this review late at night and in a dark room because we’re talking about “The Exorcist” by William Peter Blatty.
***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***
What I love about this book:
I’m a sucker for any horror story, and “The Exorcist” is one of those arch horror stories that stick in people’s minds. This novel has a threatening atmosphere that just keeps ratcheting higher and higher. The fact that this is all happening to an innocent little girl makes it all the scarier, especially when the body horror starts.
Despite being a book about religious terror and demon possession, it feels grounded in reality—mostly. The characters’ concerns and doubts are all authentic, which is nice. If everyone was too quick to jump to “must be demons in that little girl,” it would cheapen the story.
The consequences are real and tragic in this story. Despite this being a story of faith vs. a demonic presence, Blatty never resorts to deus ex machina.
What I don’t love about this book:
It presents things like telekinesis and telepathy as being known and real phenomena. I get that it’s fiction, so why not? But the thing is, since the rest of the story tries to make itself feel grounded in reality, it goes out of its way actually, but when it comes to the more fantastical elements, its messaging is very “well, maybe?” But no, not maybe, people don’t move things with their minds. That’s a clever magic trick.
Shifting gears dramatically on this point, I’m also annoyed by Father Karras’s reticence about accepting that Regan is possessed by a demon. Blatty overcommits to this idea that Karras can be just as skeptical as any scientist, which, yeah, sure, I appreciated at first. But there comes the point when the evidence is so overwhelming that it becomes ridiculous to still be holding out on the idea that there has to be a rational explanation for what is happening. I don’t disbelieve in magic and whatnot in my day-to-day life because I want to; I’ve just never been convinced to the contrary with what I would consider verifiable, repeatable, testable evidence. It’s always someone telling me their anecdotal story, which the furthest I will accept with that is that person believes in what they’re saying. But if a girl’s head goes all the way around, then she does clearly other magical shit right in front of me, then yeah, I’d change my mind.
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***The Spoiler part of this review***
***Ye be warned to turn back now***
The quick and dirty synopsis:
The novel opens with a short vignette of an old priest, Father Merrin, The Exorcist, returning to the United States from an archeological dig in Iraq. Before he concluded his business, he had discovered a small statue of a demon known as Pazuzu.