Fantastic. So disclaimer, my house was haunted as a kid so I’ve always been open to the super natural and interested in it. I think when it comes to paranormal activity, it’s hard to believe if you haven’t experienced it. I recommend this book to anybody that’s ever been curious about the afterlife. But I encourage people not to dive too deep into the subject matter because that’s what they want!

Interesting & enjoyable book. Very good intro to the Warrens and what they do. If you watched the Conjuring and found yourself wanting to know more about them I would def recommend this book. If you watched it just to terrorize yourself stick to the movie as I didn’t find the book as frightening as some others seem to have. I would have liked to hear more about their actual cases but that might come in the other book series they have which I will def be checking out.

This is everything I should have loved, but the writing ruins it for me :c

I really enjoyed learning about the Warrens. This book was published in 1980 and at times feels a little cheesy. You can feel the Satanic panic at times during the interviews as well. But this book was a nice overview of how to engage with the other side and mostly what NOT TO DO. Loved the sections that covered the phases of oppression and possession.
strangefaerie's profile picture

strangefaerie's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH

What a crock of garbage. Ed & Lorraine Warren are the best charlatans of the 20th century hands down!

Holy creepiness. This book scared the crap out of me

sophia_ash's review

3.0

Não alcançou por completo as expectativas que tinha para este livro. O conhecimento da sua existência chegou até mim através de canais de eventos paranormais e youtubers que admiram o trabalho dos Warren. Para alguém que já assistiu aos filmes, é óbvio que ficaria interessada em conhecer os factos por detrás das histórias de Hollywood. Infelizmente, o livro em nada consegue cativar-me em relação à história em si, especialmente pelo facto que não foi organizado de uma maneira lógica e capaz de nos prender a continuar a ler.
É bom para refletir? Sim. É bom para ganharmos um certo conhecimento acerca das forças ao nosso redor e como estas nos afetam no dia a dia? Claro. Ajuda a combater essas mesmas forças? Só um pouco. Isso foi uma das partes mais decepcionantes. Explicam o que existe, tanto em termos teólogos, como científicos e populares, mas depois deixam em aberto certos aspetos. Parece que toda a argumentação que é colocada nas páginas, e em algumas até é mencionado o livre arbítrio, tenta guiar o leitor a, apenas e exclusivamente, sentir que só está protegido se seguir a religião de Deus.
Para quem seja ateu, ou siga uma religião um tanto diferente, as coisas parece que não serão fáceis se esperam encontrar respostas sobre como nos defender de espíritos inumanos ou diabólicos (se lerem, percebem porque usei o ou em vez do e).
A linha cronológica é difusa. Os casos não são completamente explorados, alguns deles apenas sendo brevemente mencionados. Outros são mais explorados, e esses sim são interessantes. Uma outra coisa que devo mencionar, é o facto de os títulos serem um pouco mentirosos. Se estão à espera de terem detalhes explícitos sobre um caso apenas porque o tem mencionado no título, estão a ser tão iludidos quanto eu fui.

Very interesting read and sometimes scary.

I read this book as "research" for a novel I'm planning for NaNoWriMo this year. To be fair, I'm an agnostic/atheist/skeptic, so I don't necessarily believe/ any of what's in this book, but I think the author and the Warrens did/do, whole-heartedly.

It reads, well, a bit like those "documentaries" the History channel is so fond of, crossed with a 90's "true crime" novel. Lots of tension building and personal accounts, and "I saw it with my own eyes, so it must be true." Not a great deal of verifiable, factual information. However, if demonic infestation/possession were a real thing, they actually do a good job of hammering home how to prevent it from happening to you: do not screw with the occult! And be a good person (though apparently not too good, because then demons like to mess with you?). Admittedly, this is probably good advice in general. Do I believe in demons? No. But I'm still not going to try inviting supernatural things into my life, even as a jest. Tempting fate is generally unwise.

I'd recommend reading this book as a good way to creep yourself out during the Halloween season, and an excuse to cuddle up with a rosary and sleep with a light on for a couple of nights (demons hate that!). Just remember to avoid those pesky Ouija boards, skip the demon summoning rituals you find in your local library, and take everything with a hefty sprinkling of salt, or maybe some holy water.

While I consider myself a Mulder when it comes to the paranormal, I'm very Scully when religion and The Exorcist are concerned. I went into this book expecting a lot of hocus pocus, mysticism, and "the power of Christ compels you!" My expectations were rewarded and then some, and I flipped through most of the pages wondering if this could be real or if there were just a lot of deluded Jesus-freaks running around in the '70s. That didn't stop me from turning all the lights on as I read and wishing that I wasn't alone in the house when I finished.