Night Mother: A Personal and Cultural History of the Exorcist

by Marlena Williams and Marlena Williams

Never watch The Exorcist, Marlena Williams's mother told her, just as she'd been told by her own mother as a Catholic teen in rural Oregon when the horror classic premiered. And like her mother, Mary, Williams watched it anyway. An inheritance passed from mother to daughter, The Exorcist looms large--in popular culture and in Williams's own life, years after Mary's illness and death. In Night Mother, Williams investigates the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081425876X
• ISBN13: 9780814258767
• Release Date: October 2023
• Publisher: Mad Creek Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Some Thoughts

I’m not sure I was the exact demographic for this book, having only seen The Exorcist once; but I thought it was pretty interesting for the most part. I liked learning where the US was at culturally and historically at the time of the movie’s release. I certainly don’t fault the author for tying her personal experiences of the movie into the book but personally I felt like it took away from learning more about The Exorcist for me. I found it sort of jarring to be tossed back and forth between the author’s memories & experiences and the cultural significance/impact of the movie. Again, the author isn’t wrong for it, it just wasn’t for me.