My thoughts on The exorcist

I bought a copy of the exorcist a while ago while in the middle of my read of House of Leaves. I figured I should wait till I finished HOL before reading it, but I eventually forgot until a little earlier this month. I decided now would be a good time to pick it up cause im a slow reader, and wanted to finish it by mid October, but it was such an intriguing story that I just couldn't put it down, and I ended up finishing the entire thing in a week. This book is such amazing. It is such an interesting look at the growing concern in the 60's-70's between science becoming more popular than faith, and the slow dissolution of the nuclear family. The book sends you through medical hell as Chris sees her child, Regan, suddenly exhibiting extremely unusual behavior, and being a nonbeliever spends chapters upon chapters visiting different doctors with unending speculative diagnoses while Regan turns into a "Regan like creature" slowly turning Chris towards faith rather than science. That's not to say the book is anti science or values faith over fact. The priest Chris seeks help in, despite being a holy man, is also a psychiatrist who is very skeptical of weather Regan is possessed or not, and often uses his knowledge to explain the supernatural occurrences in the book up until they become undeniably the work of some otherworldly being.

The book really plays on your heart strings. Its mysterious, terrifyingly uncomfortable, sad, and utterly hopeless while at times also making you feel the complete opposite. I didn't expect to let out genuine laughs at certain parts of this book when its probably one of, if not the most vulgar thing I have ever read. I REALLY recommend giving this book a read, but I do have to warn you that its not for the faint of heart. The book describes Regan, who is a little girl, in a lot of very adult, and compromising situations, and while I wouldn't call the book blasphemous it is about a lot of blasphemous things. Do your own research on the book beforehand cause its very heavy handed.