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160 reviews for:
The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren
Gerald Brittle
3.53 AVERAGE
160 reviews for:
The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren
Gerald Brittle
3.53 AVERAGE
Maybe it’s just me, but there’s nothing like a “Based on a true story” message at the start of a movie that drives a horror fan to Wikipedia afterwards. I’m guessing that I can’t be the only one who came to this book after watching James Wan’s The Conjuring, and the truth is that I picked up the book to be entertained -- more specifically, to be scared. (Ed Warren may argue that this makes me a more inviting candidate for demon visitation, or a more innocent spirit manifestation, but at least I have better weapons now.) The Demonologist is touted as a reference book for exorcists-in-training, and you can’t get more authoritative than that -- provided, of course, you give credence to the preternatural in the first place.
So is it scary? Oh, it is -- but only if you’re a believer. And by “believer” I don’t necessarily mean a devout and practicing Catholics like Ed Warren, I mean anyone who concedes even the slight possibility of people lingering on -- whether as spirits or as mere energy -- after death. If you believe this, then from there it’s a slippery slope -- at least if you allow yourself to be seduced by the Warrens’ lucid explanation -- to accepting the existence of malevolent entities. But it sure helps if you’re a Catholic, and I guarantee you, you’ll be good and scared.
As a book though -- and not just in terms of the stories being told -- The Demonologist is a mixed bag. The chapters are divided somewhat arbitrarily, sometimes by case, sometimes by theme, and it’s confusing. Structurally, it’s repetitive, as the same practical advice gets duplicated towards the end. Stylistically, The Demonologist is a bit of a mess, as it’s written as a series of interview transcripts by Gerald Brittle, who isn’t the most critical raconteur. Some of the cases would have been more effective in the telling had they been fully narrated in the first person by Ed Warren. (Note that Lorraine Warren, clairvoyant and Ed’s wife, is as much a part of the interviews, but there’s only one demonologist in the title.)
At certain points one wishes Brittle -- and indeed, there’s not much of him in the book, which is why The Demonologist reads more like dictation -- would interject with questions of his own. Ed Warren would interpret, with seeming authority, a demon’s utterances -- and then turn around a page later and remind the interviewer that “demons are master liars” and that nothing they say -- ostensibly the basis for Warren’s pronouncements -- should be trusted. Or Warren would expound at length on the demonic realm, for instance, then glibly provide the caveat “I’m a practicing demonologist, not a theologian.”
What makes The Demonologist particularly interesting is how it stands as a kind of template / blueprint for just about every haunted house / demon possession cultural artifact in the past few decades -- far more so, I would argue, than William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist. (I mentioned something similar in my blog entry on The Conjuring; it’s no different from previous movies, but that’s because of the source material.) Every film staple you’ve seen -- doorknobs that won’t turn, people that levitate, furniture that moves, mysterious knocks on the walls, footsteps in the middle of the night -- they’re all enumerated here as evidence of an “inhuman presence.” Even waking up the same time in the middle of the night (I felt the proverbial shiver down my spine just now, re-reading the passage below):
And yes, I woke up at three in the morning for two successive nights after reading this book.
So is it scary? Oh, it is -- but only if you’re a believer. And by “believer” I don’t necessarily mean a devout and practicing Catholics like Ed Warren, I mean anyone who concedes even the slight possibility of people lingering on -- whether as spirits or as mere energy -- after death. If you believe this, then from there it’s a slippery slope -- at least if you allow yourself to be seduced by the Warrens’ lucid explanation -- to accepting the existence of malevolent entities. But it sure helps if you’re a Catholic, and I guarantee you, you’ll be good and scared.
As a book though -- and not just in terms of the stories being told -- The Demonologist is a mixed bag. The chapters are divided somewhat arbitrarily, sometimes by case, sometimes by theme, and it’s confusing. Structurally, it’s repetitive, as the same practical advice gets duplicated towards the end. Stylistically, The Demonologist is a bit of a mess, as it’s written as a series of interview transcripts by Gerald Brittle, who isn’t the most critical raconteur. Some of the cases would have been more effective in the telling had they been fully narrated in the first person by Ed Warren. (Note that Lorraine Warren, clairvoyant and Ed’s wife, is as much a part of the interviews, but there’s only one demonologist in the title.)
At certain points one wishes Brittle -- and indeed, there’s not much of him in the book, which is why The Demonologist reads more like dictation -- would interject with questions of his own. Ed Warren would interpret, with seeming authority, a demon’s utterances -- and then turn around a page later and remind the interviewer that “demons are master liars” and that nothing they say -- ostensibly the basis for Warren’s pronouncements -- should be trusted. Or Warren would expound at length on the demonic realm, for instance, then glibly provide the caveat “I’m a practicing demonologist, not a theologian.”
What makes The Demonologist particularly interesting is how it stands as a kind of template / blueprint for just about every haunted house / demon possession cultural artifact in the past few decades -- far more so, I would argue, than William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist. (I mentioned something similar in my blog entry on The Conjuring; it’s no different from previous movies, but that’s because of the source material.) Every film staple you’ve seen -- doorknobs that won’t turn, people that levitate, furniture that moves, mysterious knocks on the walls, footsteps in the middle of the night -- they’re all enumerated here as evidence of an “inhuman presence.” Even waking up the same time in the middle of the night (I felt the proverbial shiver down my spine just now, re-reading the passage below):
Most notably, the individual in an infested environment will have an unshakeable feeling of another presence in the house. This sense of presence will develop to a point where the individual… may begin waking up at fixed times of the night, or at precisely three o’clock in the morning.
And yes, I woke up at three in the morning for two successive nights after reading this book.
Absolutely the most terrifying thing I have ever read. True terror comes from what you believe in. Had to skip certain parts and decided best to avoid. Much respect for the Warren's work and faith.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
I've heard about the Warrens over the years so thought I'd enjoy this. I did but there was something off about it, that I can't explain. Y'all know how I love me a great ghost story but the snippets about their cases in this left me cold and I don't mean in a ghostly shivering kind of way. Anyhow I'll chalk this one up to experience and move onto the next!
UPDATE: October 2022
This was better second time around, upgrading to 3 stars.
UPDATE: October 2022
This was better second time around, upgrading to 3 stars.
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Pra quem já assistiu os filmes da franquia, pode ser legal ver as histórias por trás das adaptações.
O livro entremeia "estudos técnicos" e explicações sobre demonologia, com casos reais (?) dos Warren. Tenho meus dois pés atrás com relação à veracidade de ambos, mas não deixa de ser interessante. O casamento desses dois tipos de informações, numa narrativa em forma de entrevista, nem sempre dá certo nem prende tanto o leitor, mas nada que estrague a leitura também.
Uma coisa que achei legal é que sempre coloca Deus e ferramentas cristãs como ferramentas, deixando claro que se sua espiritualidade não é essa, o que importa é a representação dessas coisas - pra você e pros espíritos demoníacos. Achei respeitoso com outras religiões. Mas não pude deixar de pensar durante o livro todo que esses espíritos iam sair voando com os rabinhos entre as pernas se isso tudo acontecesse no Brasil: uma oferenda pra um orixá, um preto velho indo lá abençoar a casa, uma gira e pronto, falou valeu.
O livro entremeia "estudos técnicos" e explicações sobre demonologia, com casos reais (?) dos Warren. Tenho meus dois pés atrás com relação à veracidade de ambos, mas não deixa de ser interessante. O casamento desses dois tipos de informações, numa narrativa em forma de entrevista, nem sempre dá certo nem prende tanto o leitor, mas nada que estrague a leitura também.
Uma coisa que achei legal é que sempre coloca Deus e ferramentas cristãs como ferramentas, deixando claro que se sua espiritualidade não é essa, o que importa é a representação dessas coisas - pra você e pros espíritos demoníacos. Achei respeitoso com outras religiões. Mas não pude deixar de pensar durante o livro todo que esses espíritos iam sair voando com os rabinhos entre as pernas se isso tudo acontecesse no Brasil: uma oferenda pra um orixá, um preto velho indo lá abençoar a casa, uma gira e pronto, falou valeu.
I like interview stuff. Documentary stuff. This was a bit of both. Very very hard to keep with and finish. Very fascinating, I liked what I read but it was a slow read. Kept having to set it down and find other more entertaining things to do and then come back to it.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced