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A Entidade
Um convite para atravessar a escuridão e encarar o inexplicável.
Lançado originalmente em 1978, A Entidade, de Frank De Felitta, é um clássico que ultrapassa os limites do horror convencional para mergulhar em uma história brutal e inquietante. Inspirado em relatos reais, o romance dialoga com o terror em sua forma mais pura: aquela que não pode ser vista, mas que se manifesta em uma presença obstinada e feroz.
No centro da narrativa está Carlotta Moran, uma mulher cuja vida é despedaçada por ataques violentos e inexplicáveis. O que começa como uma série de acontecimentos sobrenaturais logo se transforma em uma batalha desesperada por sanidade, segurança e sobrevivência. Frank De Felitta conduz o leitor por um labirinto de horror psicológico e físico, onde o real e o irreal se misturam em um jogo cruel.
A Entidade é um romance que desafia o leitor a enfrentar não apenas o medo do desconhecido, mas também o terror da descrença. Enquanto Carlotta luta para provar que aquilo que ela enfrenta é real, encontra o ceticismo daqueles que deveriam protegê-la. É um grito por socorro que ecoa em meio à solidão e à incredulidade, tornando cada página uma experiência sufocante e perturbadora.
A experiência aterrorizante de A Entidade não ficou restrita às páginas do romance. Em 1982, a história ganhou vida nas telas com o filme O Enigma do Mal, dirigido por Sidney J. Furie e estrelado por Barbara Hershey, cuja atuação visceral e vulnerável rendeu elogios da crítica. Considerado um dos filmes mais perturbadores da década de 1980, O Enigma do Mal tornou-se um clássico cult do horror psicológico, explorando o trauma e a descrença com intensidade. Adaptando a obra de Frank De Felitta com fidelidade, o filme mantém o espectador preso em uma atmosfera sufocante, onde o sobrenatural e o real se confundem de forma aflitiva.
A edição da DarkSide® Books conta com uma introdução exclusiva assinada por Gemma Files, renomada autora de horror e crítica literária. Em sua análise perspicaz, Files destaca como o romance continua assustadoramente atual: “Por um lado, é mais que um pouco deprimente perceber o quão facilmente A Entidade poderia ser transposta de 1978 para agora, visto que os aspectos sociopolíticos de sua narrativa são mais relevantes do que nunca, se não até mesmo mais firmemente tendenciosos e tóxicos”.
A DarkSide® já apresentou aos leitores brasileiros O Demônio de Gólgota, também de Frank De Felitta, uma obra poderosa que mergulha nos horrores do fanatismo religioso e da corrupção espiritual. Agora, com A Entidade, a editora reafirma seu compromisso de trazer o melhor do horror clássico e contemporâneo, resgatando um autor cuja escrita perturbadora e magnética continua a fascinar e inquietar gerações.
De Felitta tece a narrativa com maestria, alternando entre a brutalidade explícita e a tensão sutil que se acumula a cada nova revelação. A Entidade explora os limites da mente, a fragilidade das certezas e o poder devastador do medo. É uma obra que desafia e perturba, mas que também fascina e prende o leitor em um suspense insuportável. O verdadeiro horror não está apenas naquilo que se esconde nas sombras, mas na dúvida que ela lança sobre o que é real. A Entidade é um convite para atravessar a escuridão e encarar o inexplicável.
Frank De Felitta (1921–2016) nasceu no Bronx, Nova York, e se tornou escritor, roteirista, produtor e diretor de cinema. Ele serviu como piloto na Segunda Guerra Mundial e em 1945 voltou para Nova York, onde começou a escrever roteiros para programas de rádio e recebeu indicações ao Emmy em 1963 e 1968. Seu primeiro romance, Terror na Oktoberfest, um thriller publicado em 1973, rendeu-lhe o suficiente para financiar o ano e meio que dedicou ao seu próximo romance, Audrey Rose (1975), que se tornou um sucesso estrondoso e ganhou uma adaptação cinematográfica de sucesso. Seu outro livro, A Entidade (1978), também alcançou o sucesso e virou filme, com excelente crítica. O Demônio de Gólgota (DarkSide® Books, 2022) foi publicado em 1984 e é considerado um dos romances mais assustadores da literatura. Frank De Felitta morreu em 30 de março de 2016, de causas naturais.
Lançado originalmente em 1978, A Entidade, de Frank De Felitta, é um clássico que ultrapassa os limites do horror convencional para mergulhar em uma história brutal e inquietante. Inspirado em relatos reais, o romance dialoga com o terror em sua forma mais pura: aquela que não pode ser vista, mas que se manifesta em uma presença obstinada e feroz.
No centro da narrativa está Carlotta Moran, uma mulher cuja vida é despedaçada por ataques violentos e inexplicáveis. O que começa como uma série de acontecimentos sobrenaturais logo se transforma em uma batalha desesperada por sanidade, segurança e sobrevivência. Frank De Felitta conduz o leitor por um labirinto de horror psicológico e físico, onde o real e o irreal se misturam em um jogo cruel.
A Entidade é um romance que desafia o leitor a enfrentar não apenas o medo do desconhecido, mas também o terror da descrença. Enquanto Carlotta luta para provar que aquilo que ela enfrenta é real, encontra o ceticismo daqueles que deveriam protegê-la. É um grito por socorro que ecoa em meio à solidão e à incredulidade, tornando cada página uma experiência sufocante e perturbadora.
A experiência aterrorizante de A Entidade não ficou restrita às páginas do romance. Em 1982, a história ganhou vida nas telas com o filme O Enigma do Mal, dirigido por Sidney J. Furie e estrelado por Barbara Hershey, cuja atuação visceral e vulnerável rendeu elogios da crítica. Considerado um dos filmes mais perturbadores da década de 1980, O Enigma do Mal tornou-se um clássico cult do horror psicológico, explorando o trauma e a descrença com intensidade. Adaptando a obra de Frank De Felitta com fidelidade, o filme mantém o espectador preso em uma atmosfera sufocante, onde o sobrenatural e o real se confundem de forma aflitiva.
A edição da DarkSide® Books conta com uma introdução exclusiva assinada por Gemma Files, renomada autora de horror e crítica literária. Em sua análise perspicaz, Files destaca como o romance continua assustadoramente atual: “Por um lado, é mais que um pouco deprimente perceber o quão facilmente A Entidade poderia ser transposta de 1978 para agora, visto que os aspectos sociopolíticos de sua narrativa são mais relevantes do que nunca, se não até mesmo mais firmemente tendenciosos e tóxicos”.
A DarkSide® já apresentou aos leitores brasileiros O Demônio de Gólgota, também de Frank De Felitta, uma obra poderosa que mergulha nos horrores do fanatismo religioso e da corrupção espiritual. Agora, com A Entidade, a editora reafirma seu compromisso de trazer o melhor do horror clássico e contemporâneo, resgatando um autor cuja escrita perturbadora e magnética continua a fascinar e inquietar gerações.
De Felitta tece a narrativa com maestria, alternando entre a brutalidade explícita e a tensão sutil que se acumula a cada nova revelação. A Entidade explora os limites da mente, a fragilidade das certezas e o poder devastador do medo. É uma obra que desafia e perturba, mas que também fascina e prende o leitor em um suspense insuportável. O verdadeiro horror não está apenas naquilo que se esconde nas sombras, mas na dúvida que ela lança sobre o que é real. A Entidade é um convite para atravessar a escuridão e encarar o inexplicável.
Frank De Felitta (1921–2016) nasceu no Bronx, Nova York, e se tornou escritor, roteirista, produtor e diretor de cinema. Ele serviu como piloto na Segunda Guerra Mundial e em 1945 voltou para Nova York, onde começou a escrever roteiros para programas de rádio e recebeu indicações ao Emmy em 1963 e 1968. Seu primeiro romance, Terror na Oktoberfest, um thriller publicado em 1973, rendeu-lhe o suficiente para financiar o ano e meio que dedicou ao seu próximo romance, Audrey Rose (1975), que se tornou um sucesso estrondoso e ganhou uma adaptação cinematográfica de sucesso. Seu outro livro, A Entidade (1978), também alcançou o sucesso e virou filme, com excelente crítica. O Demônio de Gólgota (DarkSide® Books, 2022) foi publicado em 1984 e é considerado um dos romances mais assustadores da literatura. Frank De Felitta morreu em 30 de março de 2016, de causas naturais.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
165 people are currently reading
2930 people want to read
About the author
Frank De Felitta
27 books93 followersFrank's latest book, "L'Opera Italiano," is now available as an ebook on Amazon.com and BN.com.
Best known for Audrey Rose and The Entity, De Felitta has also made a name for himself in the theatrical world as a producer, writer, and director.
De Felitta also briefly experimented with song writing, with one of his songs appearing in his son Raymond De Felitta's film "Two Family House".
Best known for Audrey Rose and The Entity, De Felitta has also made a name for himself in the theatrical world as a producer, writer, and director.
De Felitta also briefly experimented with song writing, with one of his songs appearing in his son Raymond De Felitta's film "Two Family House".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 236 reviews
November 6, 2021
This was a spooky and creepy story!
A small backstory:
Carlotta Moran is terrorized by something only she can see each night in her bed. She is violently raped, but no one believes her because they cannot see what is raping her. Carlotta's three children (Billy, Julie and Kim) witness Carlotta being attacked but they are not able to help her because they too cannot see what is attacking her.
With no one believing her it is advised that she seek out psychiatric help which eventually leads her down a rabbit hole of non-believers as they think that she is just having hallucinations or nightmares. Carlotta eventually finds help by overhearing a couple of students from a college chatting about paranormal research and that begins a quest for Carlotta finding the help she seeks with what she is dealing with in her home.
Thoughts:
First let me say that this story is based on a true story that happened to a woman in California back in the 70's. The author went into great depth with this story and it basically reads as a true paranormal account of everything that happens with this woman.
The story is broken up into four parts with the first part giving a background on Carlotta and her family life. Then each part thereafter gives more detail into what she has to endure with people that do not believe her and people that do believe her finally.
The biggest problem for this type of occurrence is that the paranormal world was basically just not known at that time and back then there were not paranormal researchers all over the U.S. like there are today. The true account of the woman that this book is based off of was also made into a movie which I have not seen but it would be interesting to watch it to see how it plays out on the screen. Giving this book four "Spooky Spectral Entity" stars.
For more thoughts on this review, please see my blog:
https://booknookretreat.blogspot.com/...
A small backstory:
Carlotta Moran is terrorized by something only she can see each night in her bed. She is violently raped, but no one believes her because they cannot see what is raping her. Carlotta's three children (Billy, Julie and Kim) witness Carlotta being attacked but they are not able to help her because they too cannot see what is attacking her.
With no one believing her it is advised that she seek out psychiatric help which eventually leads her down a rabbit hole of non-believers as they think that she is just having hallucinations or nightmares. Carlotta eventually finds help by overhearing a couple of students from a college chatting about paranormal research and that begins a quest for Carlotta finding the help she seeks with what she is dealing with in her home.
Thoughts:
First let me say that this story is based on a true story that happened to a woman in California back in the 70's. The author went into great depth with this story and it basically reads as a true paranormal account of everything that happens with this woman.
The story is broken up into four parts with the first part giving a background on Carlotta and her family life. Then each part thereafter gives more detail into what she has to endure with people that do not believe her and people that do believe her finally.
The biggest problem for this type of occurrence is that the paranormal world was basically just not known at that time and back then there were not paranormal researchers all over the U.S. like there are today. The true account of the woman that this book is based off of was also made into a movie which I have not seen but it would be interesting to watch it to see how it plays out on the screen. Giving this book four "Spooky Spectral Entity" stars.
For more thoughts on this review, please see my blog:
https://booknookretreat.blogspot.com/...
June 27, 2021
Rollercoaster advisories apply to Frank De Felitta's 1978 science fiction thriller The Entity. Warnings like, "Aggressive Thrill Ride" or "No one with heart/ neck/ back trouble or pregnant will be permitted" come to mind, as well as the one about hanging on until the ride comes to a complete stop. The book was not only scary at all turns, but the author included a few custom features I wished more authors paid attention to.
The story -- which manages to be tightly constructed and screws loose -- is divided into four major parts, and includes an opening "statement" and epilogue.
The statement is that of Jorge "Jerry" Rodriguez, a suspect booked on first degree assault on March 23, 1977. Jerry's tale is that he came into his girlfriend's bedroom and found her being attacked by ... he's not sure what, something invisible to the naked eye that was nevertheless on top of her. Jerry grabbed a chair and instead of knocking whatever was assaulting his girlfriend off her, strikes her in the head. Police arrive to take Jerry into custody.
Part one introduces Carlotta Moran, a single mother in her early thirties. Subsidized by welfare, Carlotta is enrolled in a clerical course and rents a house on 212 Kentner Street in West Los Angeles. Initially, the only unusual feature of the house is the four-post bed, built by a previous tenant and left behind, too big to move. Her teenage son Billy spends most of his time in the garage building stuff. Daughters Julie and Kim, who share a different father than Billy, are two years apart.
Carlotta grew up in Pasadena and comes from money, the only child of a rich minister. Now estranged from her family, she carries herself with a regal lift that others seem to notice. She has a steady boyfriend named Jerry whose executive career has him on the road for weeks at a time. Her son, threatened by this new man in the house, came to blows with Jerry before he left town this last time and Carlotta is guardedly optimistic that they can be a family together. All that changes on October 13, 1976 at 10:04 p.m. when Carlotta is preparing for bed.
One moment, Carlotta was brushing her hair. The next she was on the bed, seeing stars. Some knock, like being hit by a charging fullback, plummeted her across the room and onto the bed. In a blank mind, she realized that the pillows were suddenly around her head. Then they were smashed over her face.
Carlotta knows she's been beaten and raped but neither she or her son can find any sign of an intruder. She sleeps in the living room that night. The next evening, she wakens at the sound of scratching in the walls and a terrible smell, and is attacked again, only this time, hears laughter and voices. She's also able to bite the hand of her rapist. Her son and an elderly neighbor walk in on this, but find no one else in the room. The third night, Carlotta wakes with a premonition that something is coming for her. She scoops up her kids and flees the house as she hears her bedroom being trashed and a voice yelling "CUNT!" at her.
Over the next several weeks, whether in her car during daylight or at the home of her best friend Cindy, the attacks against Carlotta escalate. Part two introduces a young staff psychiatrist named Gary Sneidermann at West Coast College, where as a welfare recipient, Carlotta is able to receive mental evaluations and treatment for free. She tells Sneidermann about the spectral sexual assaults and the doctor suspects Carlotta's multiple hallucinations are due to psychosis. He becomes excited by the prospect of researching her peculiar case and curing her.
Ultimately, both Billy and the girls sense him in the house, with Billy suffering a slight injury during one attack on his mother. Sneidermann maintains that the children are simply feeding off their mother's hysteria, validating her hallucinations. He begins pushing the boundary between doctor-patient by developing feelings for Carlotta. Disgusted by her psychiatrist's thesis that she's manufacturing these episodes out of incestuous feelings toward her own children, Carlotta quits therapy.
Part three propels the novel into a whole other level of insidiousness. After Cindy takes her friend to various mystics or fortune tellers around Los Angeles, Carlotta is in the West Coast University bookstore and overhears two graduate students talking about paranormal activity. She nervously approaches to ask questions. Eugene Kraft is an electrical engineer. Joseph Mehan, one of his brightest students, developed empathetic skills and found his calling in parapsychology.
Carlotta tells the researchers only enough for them to conclude her home might be experiencing poltergeist activity. A field visit to 212 Kentner Street confirms this. Kraft and Mehan consult with their faculty head, Dr. Elizabeth Cooley, whose division is the black sheep of the department and her position among her peers tenuous. Dr. Cooley urges caution when she learns that Carlotta was undergoing evaluation at the university, concerned on stepping on toes in the department.
Their first night at the house, Kraft and Mehan record something trying to get into Carlotta's bedroom, but whatever it is seems to back off. Carlotta is elated, believing her army has her attacker on the run. The festivities are dampened when Sneidermann makes an unannounced visit and discovers that ghost hunters from the university have set his former patient's recovery back. Sneidermann seeks to put a stop to it. Meanwhile, Jerry's return to Carlotta's life takes a blow to her self-esteem and opens a door for the entity to return in force.
Part four, titled The Entity, pits the psychiatry department, with Dr. Sneidermann leading the charge, against Dr. Cooley's parapsychology division with allegations the ghost hunters are injuring Carlotta. Sneidermann not only seeks to shut down the experiments at Kentner Street, but marginalize the entire division. A compromise is struck to allow Carlotta to be monitored for two weeks in a controlled environment on campus, where Kraft and Mehan construct a model of Carlotta's living space with modifications designed to not only record, but capture the entity.
The Entity is a novel where much of the prose and even some of the dialogue reads like it was written on a wooden block; not wildly imaginative writing. De Felitta is on the nose when it comes to summarizing and telling a lot of things for the reader. None of that matters in the end because the narrative is so thrilling, the characters complicated adults, and the research material impeccable.
The story is based on a haunting documented in Culver City, California in 1974 that was centered around a single mother of four named Doris Bither. Among her allegations were that she'd been held down by two of the smaller entities and raped by a third. She ultimately sought the help of parapsychology research assistants she overheard talking shop at a university bookstore. De Felitta uses the case as a solid departure point for a story about how unexplained phenomena might manifest and create problems for a society ill-equipped to deal with these things.
In addition to Carlotta's boyfriend being arrested and booked, unable to provide a reasonable explanation for what happened in the house, the academic turf war between the psychology and parapsychology divisions fascinated me. Both groups stake their ideological territory, dig in for a variety of professional and personal reasons, and in the climax, have their pet theories about Carlotta put to the test. I naturally despised the shrinks and was buoyed when the ghostbusters entered the story, but De Felitta populates the story with complex characters as opposed to caricatures.
I liked how socioeconomics were addressed, with Carlotta's decisions -- including, "Why don't them people just get the hell out of there?" -- rooted in poverty and her inability to turn to her family for support. I've never known anyone who lived in a haunted house, but have met single moms like Carlotta Moran, with the dishes piled in the sink and the bank account in single digits. I could identify with her. As far as what's behind the attacks and why it picked Carlotta, De Felitta offers a few tantalizing possibilities, but keeps the unknown firmly unknown.
De Felitta includes an addenda which has Kraft and Mehan's final inquiry on the entity, a diagram of the simulated environment and a press clipping from a tabloid story about Carlotta. Nice touches.
And the book is scary. I can see how it would be too much for some readers to handle. Read the warning signs. Riders really need to be taller than 5'4" for this attraction.
Dr Felitta adapted the screenplay for a 1982 film version of The Entity, directed by Sidney J. Furie (Little Fauss and Big Halsy, Lady Sings the Blues) with Barbara Hershey playing Carlotta and Ron Silver as Dr. Sneidermann. This movie might have been the start of parental warnings at the beginning of TV broadcasts. As with the movie, the novel is merciless when it comes to preying on the nocturnal fears of its readers, with intellectual underpinnings that are just as thrilling,
The story -- which manages to be tightly constructed and screws loose -- is divided into four major parts, and includes an opening "statement" and epilogue.
The statement is that of Jorge "Jerry" Rodriguez, a suspect booked on first degree assault on March 23, 1977. Jerry's tale is that he came into his girlfriend's bedroom and found her being attacked by ... he's not sure what, something invisible to the naked eye that was nevertheless on top of her. Jerry grabbed a chair and instead of knocking whatever was assaulting his girlfriend off her, strikes her in the head. Police arrive to take Jerry into custody.
Part one introduces Carlotta Moran, a single mother in her early thirties. Subsidized by welfare, Carlotta is enrolled in a clerical course and rents a house on 212 Kentner Street in West Los Angeles. Initially, the only unusual feature of the house is the four-post bed, built by a previous tenant and left behind, too big to move. Her teenage son Billy spends most of his time in the garage building stuff. Daughters Julie and Kim, who share a different father than Billy, are two years apart.
Carlotta grew up in Pasadena and comes from money, the only child of a rich minister. Now estranged from her family, she carries herself with a regal lift that others seem to notice. She has a steady boyfriend named Jerry whose executive career has him on the road for weeks at a time. Her son, threatened by this new man in the house, came to blows with Jerry before he left town this last time and Carlotta is guardedly optimistic that they can be a family together. All that changes on October 13, 1976 at 10:04 p.m. when Carlotta is preparing for bed.
One moment, Carlotta was brushing her hair. The next she was on the bed, seeing stars. Some knock, like being hit by a charging fullback, plummeted her across the room and onto the bed. In a blank mind, she realized that the pillows were suddenly around her head. Then they were smashed over her face.
Carlotta knows she's been beaten and raped but neither she or her son can find any sign of an intruder. She sleeps in the living room that night. The next evening, she wakens at the sound of scratching in the walls and a terrible smell, and is attacked again, only this time, hears laughter and voices. She's also able to bite the hand of her rapist. Her son and an elderly neighbor walk in on this, but find no one else in the room. The third night, Carlotta wakes with a premonition that something is coming for her. She scoops up her kids and flees the house as she hears her bedroom being trashed and a voice yelling "CUNT!" at her.
Over the next several weeks, whether in her car during daylight or at the home of her best friend Cindy, the attacks against Carlotta escalate. Part two introduces a young staff psychiatrist named Gary Sneidermann at West Coast College, where as a welfare recipient, Carlotta is able to receive mental evaluations and treatment for free. She tells Sneidermann about the spectral sexual assaults and the doctor suspects Carlotta's multiple hallucinations are due to psychosis. He becomes excited by the prospect of researching her peculiar case and curing her.
Ultimately, both Billy and the girls sense him in the house, with Billy suffering a slight injury during one attack on his mother. Sneidermann maintains that the children are simply feeding off their mother's hysteria, validating her hallucinations. He begins pushing the boundary between doctor-patient by developing feelings for Carlotta. Disgusted by her psychiatrist's thesis that she's manufacturing these episodes out of incestuous feelings toward her own children, Carlotta quits therapy.
Part three propels the novel into a whole other level of insidiousness. After Cindy takes her friend to various mystics or fortune tellers around Los Angeles, Carlotta is in the West Coast University bookstore and overhears two graduate students talking about paranormal activity. She nervously approaches to ask questions. Eugene Kraft is an electrical engineer. Joseph Mehan, one of his brightest students, developed empathetic skills and found his calling in parapsychology.
Carlotta tells the researchers only enough for them to conclude her home might be experiencing poltergeist activity. A field visit to 212 Kentner Street confirms this. Kraft and Mehan consult with their faculty head, Dr. Elizabeth Cooley, whose division is the black sheep of the department and her position among her peers tenuous. Dr. Cooley urges caution when she learns that Carlotta was undergoing evaluation at the university, concerned on stepping on toes in the department.
Their first night at the house, Kraft and Mehan record something trying to get into Carlotta's bedroom, but whatever it is seems to back off. Carlotta is elated, believing her army has her attacker on the run. The festivities are dampened when Sneidermann makes an unannounced visit and discovers that ghost hunters from the university have set his former patient's recovery back. Sneidermann seeks to put a stop to it. Meanwhile, Jerry's return to Carlotta's life takes a blow to her self-esteem and opens a door for the entity to return in force.
Part four, titled The Entity, pits the psychiatry department, with Dr. Sneidermann leading the charge, against Dr. Cooley's parapsychology division with allegations the ghost hunters are injuring Carlotta. Sneidermann not only seeks to shut down the experiments at Kentner Street, but marginalize the entire division. A compromise is struck to allow Carlotta to be monitored for two weeks in a controlled environment on campus, where Kraft and Mehan construct a model of Carlotta's living space with modifications designed to not only record, but capture the entity.
The Entity is a novel where much of the prose and even some of the dialogue reads like it was written on a wooden block; not wildly imaginative writing. De Felitta is on the nose when it comes to summarizing and telling a lot of things for the reader. None of that matters in the end because the narrative is so thrilling, the characters complicated adults, and the research material impeccable.
The story is based on a haunting documented in Culver City, California in 1974 that was centered around a single mother of four named Doris Bither. Among her allegations were that she'd been held down by two of the smaller entities and raped by a third. She ultimately sought the help of parapsychology research assistants she overheard talking shop at a university bookstore. De Felitta uses the case as a solid departure point for a story about how unexplained phenomena might manifest and create problems for a society ill-equipped to deal with these things.
In addition to Carlotta's boyfriend being arrested and booked, unable to provide a reasonable explanation for what happened in the house, the academic turf war between the psychology and parapsychology divisions fascinated me. Both groups stake their ideological territory, dig in for a variety of professional and personal reasons, and in the climax, have their pet theories about Carlotta put to the test. I naturally despised the shrinks and was buoyed when the ghostbusters entered the story, but De Felitta populates the story with complex characters as opposed to caricatures.
I liked how socioeconomics were addressed, with Carlotta's decisions -- including, "Why don't them people just get the hell out of there?" -- rooted in poverty and her inability to turn to her family for support. I've never known anyone who lived in a haunted house, but have met single moms like Carlotta Moran, with the dishes piled in the sink and the bank account in single digits. I could identify with her. As far as what's behind the attacks and why it picked Carlotta, De Felitta offers a few tantalizing possibilities, but keeps the unknown firmly unknown.
De Felitta includes an addenda which has Kraft and Mehan's final inquiry on the entity, a diagram of the simulated environment and a press clipping from a tabloid story about Carlotta. Nice touches.
And the book is scary. I can see how it would be too much for some readers to handle. Read the warning signs. Riders really need to be taller than 5'4" for this attraction.
Dr Felitta adapted the screenplay for a 1982 film version of The Entity, directed by Sidney J. Furie (Little Fauss and Big Halsy, Lady Sings the Blues) with Barbara Hershey playing Carlotta and Ron Silver as Dr. Sneidermann. This movie might have been the start of parental warnings at the beginning of TV broadcasts. As with the movie, the novel is merciless when it comes to preying on the nocturnal fears of its readers, with intellectual underpinnings that are just as thrilling,
December 17, 2021
Carlotta Moran is chilling in her bedroom when something attacks her. Night after night she is brutally assaulted and raped by an invisible monster. As it grows stronger it starts terrorizing her children. No one believes her. Enter Dr. Sneidermann, who believes Carlotta is psychotic, and wants to commit her. Two graduate students in parapsychology have a different theory: that Carlotta is being tormented by a powerful entity from beyond our reality, outside space and time. As the tension grows there will be an electrifying conclusion.
Did anyone else find Dr. Sneidermann creepy? He was totally obsessed with Carlotta. I was more worried about him than the Entity. I didn't find this book scary. Maybe because I have seen the movie and knew how it all played out.
😺😺😺
Did anyone else find Dr. Sneidermann creepy? He was totally obsessed with Carlotta. I was more worried about him than the Entity. I didn't find this book scary. Maybe because I have seen the movie and knew how it all played out.
😺😺😺
October 19, 2009
I picked this book up at a used bookstore, next to a bus station, somewhere near Antioch, CA. I'd spent the summer with my godmother and was gearing up to go home. I'd read everything that I brought with me and was completely bored.
I boarded the bus, made myself comfy and began to read this horrifyingly, tragic story of not just a woman, but an entire family caught in the grips of this primal beast and his minions..
It got dark on the bus. We made a few stops and I transferred twice. I placed the book down deep, at the bottom of my satchel. I had to put it away. I was getting so sleepy and if I closed my eyes and every little noise made me jump out of my skin.
The book mysteriously disappeared, years later. I know this because a friend had heard me rave about the book and she wanted to borrow it from me. I tore the house apart looking for it, never coming across it again.
I boarded the bus, made myself comfy and began to read this horrifyingly, tragic story of not just a woman, but an entire family caught in the grips of this primal beast and his minions..
It got dark on the bus. We made a few stops and I transferred twice. I placed the book down deep, at the bottom of my satchel. I had to put it away. I was getting so sleepy and if I closed my eyes and every little noise made me jump out of my skin.
The book mysteriously disappeared, years later. I know this because a friend had heard me rave about the book and she wanted to borrow it from me. I tore the house apart looking for it, never coming across it again.
January 29, 2021
Beyond physical reality, beyond ecstasy and pain to a dark netherworld of psycho-sexual truth.
Ravaged night after night, against her will, beyond her understanding, violated by an enemy against whom there was no weapon...
The Entity
by Frank De Felitta
My review:
Of all the books I read as a kid in the horror/thriller genre, this one is up there for scaring the shit out of me.
You may have heard of it. It was a film too starring Barbara Hershe. And she did an excellent job.
The story revolves around Carlotta, a young woman who has already had her share of tragedy in her life. She begins to have visits...violent visits from someone....or something from another realm.
She is taken against her will by this nameless Entity. Again and again and again.
AND it is based on a true story.
People do not believe her. They think she's crazy. Except for a group of Para psychologists who get involved and set out to help Carlotta and bring things to a head.
I will say it upfront. TRIGGERS. TRIGGERS AND MORE TRIGGERS. This is not for the faint of heart. It is a stunning and deeply upsetting novel that is way scarier than many people might anticipate. A bit to scary for me.
And there are no cheap gimmicky scares in here. It IS scary but that is primarily because it is based on a true story and the reader does not know whether this is reality or psychosis.
SPOILERS:
Ending sucked and made me quite sad. This is not going to be for everyone but the story, frightening and horrific as it maybe is also a fascinating one. 3.5 stars from me.
Ravaged night after night, against her will, beyond her understanding, violated by an enemy against whom there was no weapon...
The Entity
by Frank De Felitta
My review:
Of all the books I read as a kid in the horror/thriller genre, this one is up there for scaring the shit out of me.
You may have heard of it. It was a film too starring Barbara Hershe. And she did an excellent job.
The story revolves around Carlotta, a young woman who has already had her share of tragedy in her life. She begins to have visits...violent visits from someone....or something from another realm.
She is taken against her will by this nameless Entity. Again and again and again.
AND it is based on a true story.
People do not believe her. They think she's crazy. Except for a group of Para psychologists who get involved and set out to help Carlotta and bring things to a head.
I will say it upfront. TRIGGERS. TRIGGERS AND MORE TRIGGERS. This is not for the faint of heart. It is a stunning and deeply upsetting novel that is way scarier than many people might anticipate. A bit to scary for me.
And there are no cheap gimmicky scares in here. It IS scary but that is primarily because it is based on a true story and the reader does not know whether this is reality or psychosis.
SPOILERS:
Ending sucked and made me quite sad. This is not going to be for everyone but the story, frightening and horrific as it maybe is also a fascinating one. 3.5 stars from me.
August 27, 2021
3.75/5 stars
I can’t remember the last time I was this relieved to finish a book I liked this much. If I could sum this up in two words: EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTING. Despite being a solid book, and a supremely creepy and disturbing story, I couldn’t wait to be done with it. This book is SO bleak and hopeless. Carlotta Moran (a strong female character who deserves much better) is abused in so many relentlessly despicable ways: physically, sexually, mentally and spiritually. I felt so helpless reading her story. She is left utterly broken. This poor woman!
And by the way ... YOU SUCK, Sneidermann!
A good horror novel, but one I don’t think I have the will to revisit any time soon. It’s a soul crusher!
P.S. I usually don’t do trigger warnings, but I’m pretty sure that term was invented for this book.
I can’t remember the last time I was this relieved to finish a book I liked this much. If I could sum this up in two words: EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTING. Despite being a solid book, and a supremely creepy and disturbing story, I couldn’t wait to be done with it. This book is SO bleak and hopeless. Carlotta Moran (a strong female character who deserves much better) is abused in so many relentlessly despicable ways: physically, sexually, mentally and spiritually. I felt so helpless reading her story. She is left utterly broken. This poor woman!
And by the way ... YOU SUCK, Sneidermann!
A good horror novel, but one I don’t think I have the will to revisit any time soon. It’s a soul crusher!
P.S. I usually don’t do trigger warnings, but I’m pretty sure that term was invented for this book.
March 20, 2016
Una historia bastante perturbadora (al parecer basada en hechos reales) en donde la protagonista es amenazada por una Ente poderoso y caprichoso, que únicamente ve a Carlotta como un objeto para satisfacer sus necesidades lujuriosas. Hasta aquí la idea parece ser algo morbosa, ¡un fantasma que viola!, pero la verdad es que es bastante bueno, plantea atmósferas sumamente turbias y pesadas, origina una desesperación y terror con el simple hecho de pensar que te encuentras a merced de un ser intangible y poderoso.
Si bien, para los que no son creyentes en cuanto a lo sobrenatural, esto no deja de ser una lectura interesante, puesto que a la par, se ve el problema de una manera psicológica/médica, debido a que la protagonista acude a un psicólogo para tratar estas aparentes alucinaciones.
Esta historia está relatada de una manera muy interesante, puesto que el autor se limita a narrar los hechos, no realiza conjeturas ni invenciones de lo que es realmente esa entidad, no se inclina a ninguna de las 2 partes (sobrenatural vs psicológico), incluso el final resulta bastante abierto que te invita a que tú decidas lo que realmente pasó.
Sin duda, una historia para todos aquellos amantes del terror, que no se deben de perder.
Si bien, para los que no son creyentes en cuanto a lo sobrenatural, esto no deja de ser una lectura interesante, puesto que a la par, se ve el problema de una manera psicológica/médica, debido a que la protagonista acude a un psicólogo para tratar estas aparentes alucinaciones.
Esta historia está relatada de una manera muy interesante, puesto que el autor se limita a narrar los hechos, no realiza conjeturas ni invenciones de lo que es realmente esa entidad, no se inclina a ninguna de las 2 partes (sobrenatural vs psicológico), incluso el final resulta bastante abierto que te invita a que tú decidas lo que realmente pasó.
Sin duda, una historia para todos aquellos amantes del terror, que no se deben de perder.
January 22, 2020
Imagine being asleep like normal in your big cozy bed, then waking to the smell of dead meat and not being able to move. Sleep paralysis? A spectral attacker? Based on a true story, a real medical case, The Entity challenges us to decide what is reality and what is delusion.
Trigger warning! This book contains graphic sexual violence
The Entity follows the life of Carlotta, a single mother in Los Angeles, who experiences an attack in the middle of the night. Luckily her son barges in and the attacker disappears. After another attack and then a car accident, Carlotta goes to the university clinic.
In part 2, Carlotta seeks the professional help of Dr. Sneidermann, a resident psychiatrist. Carlotta describes her attacks, largely sexual in nature, and she begins treatment for her delusions. The attacks seem to go away and then suddenly come back with a vengeance. Billy, her teenage son, is even injured by the being. Sneidermann asks Carlotta to stay for a two week observation in the clinic so that he may help her more effectively. Convinced the being will kill her if she does, Carlotta ends therapy.
In part 3, Carlotta seeks the help of a spiritual nature. She finds Kraft and Mehen, two parapsychology students under the direction of Dr. Cooley. With the help of science, the team is able to validate Carlotta's claim, its not all in her head.
Dr. Sneidermann feels the team are quacks and are supporting grand delusions and harming Carlotta more by doing so. I feel I should add here that this doctor shows signs of being in love with his patient, acts like a crazed boyfriend, and should probably have been fired for his complete lack of professional ethics. He creeped me out a bit by it. Anyway, the university gets involved, its a dramatic mess, careers are at stake. Compromise comes when Cooley is allowed to evaluate Carlotta in a makeshift home inside the clinic.
Part 4 is the ending we are all looking for. Is Carlotta crazy? Is a violent ghost raping her? I wont spoil it for you.
Carlotta responds "I'll cooperate". Spoken like a truly defeated rape victim. Later she hides the rapes from the para team. Ashamed. One issue I had with the entire medical team is no one ever treated her for that trauma, made up or not. She was violently and savagely raped nearly every night from November until May (and maybe later, but the story doesn't continue past that) and no one brought it up as a major talking point in therapy? Unfortunately this case was during the 1970s, so rape culture and help for survivors was not nearly what it is today. I personally feel that Carlotta would have had a much different experience in therapy in today's world.
I remember watching this movie in the 90s. It has stayed with me as one of the scariest films I have ever seen. It is grossly underrated and honestly, the remake better do it justice.
Trigger warning! This book contains graphic sexual violence
The Entity follows the life of Carlotta, a single mother in Los Angeles, who experiences an attack in the middle of the night. Luckily her son barges in and the attacker disappears. After another attack and then a car accident, Carlotta goes to the university clinic.
In part 2, Carlotta seeks the professional help of Dr. Sneidermann, a resident psychiatrist. Carlotta describes her attacks, largely sexual in nature, and she begins treatment for her delusions. The attacks seem to go away and then suddenly come back with a vengeance. Billy, her teenage son, is even injured by the being. Sneidermann asks Carlotta to stay for a two week observation in the clinic so that he may help her more effectively. Convinced the being will kill her if she does, Carlotta ends therapy.
In part 3, Carlotta seeks the help of a spiritual nature. She finds Kraft and Mehen, two parapsychology students under the direction of Dr. Cooley. With the help of science, the team is able to validate Carlotta's claim, its not all in her head.
Dr. Sneidermann feels the team are quacks and are supporting grand delusions and harming Carlotta more by doing so. I feel I should add here that this doctor shows signs of being in love with his patient, acts like a crazed boyfriend, and should probably have been fired for his complete lack of professional ethics. He creeped me out a bit by it. Anyway, the university gets involved, its a dramatic mess, careers are at stake. Compromise comes when Cooley is allowed to evaluate Carlotta in a makeshift home inside the clinic.
Part 4 is the ending we are all looking for. Is Carlotta crazy? Is a violent ghost raping her? I wont spoil it for you.
Carlotta responds "I'll cooperate". Spoken like a truly defeated rape victim. Later she hides the rapes from the para team. Ashamed. One issue I had with the entire medical team is no one ever treated her for that trauma, made up or not. She was violently and savagely raped nearly every night from November until May (and maybe later, but the story doesn't continue past that) and no one brought it up as a major talking point in therapy? Unfortunately this case was during the 1970s, so rape culture and help for survivors was not nearly what it is today. I personally feel that Carlotta would have had a much different experience in therapy in today's world.
I remember watching this movie in the 90s. It has stayed with me as one of the scariest films I have ever seen. It is grossly underrated and honestly, the remake better do it justice.
March 29, 2017
Li este livro porque me lembrei de ter visto o filme à muitos anos atrás e tive curiosidade de ver como seria o livro do qual ele foi adaptado. Gosto de livros de terror, sobre entidades misteriosas, tal como este que aqui nos é apresentado. Penso que ficou muita coisa por explicar, muitas pontas soltas, como o que era, o porquê da sua atitude e porque escolhera a pessoa em causa como vitima... Mas não dei por perdido o tempo que utilizei para o ler
Read
March 2, 2024I read this years ago. Supposedly there really was a woman who has an entity attacking her!!
November 30, 2023
De Felitta's The Entity is something of a classic of 70s horror and it definitely has a 70s vibe for sure. It also packs more of an emotional punch than scares per se, but still fits squarely in the horror genre. The Entity starts with a brief official police statement by Jerry Rodriguez about assaulting his girlfriend, but claiming he saw her being raped by some spectral being and was just trying to get it off of her.
Flash back about a year before the statement and the novel begins (almost every chapter is dated) with Carlotta, our main protagonist being brutally raped on her bed at home by some spectral entity that she could feel but not see. Her screams caused her 15 y.o. son to come running, but only found her panicked and in tears. What the hell? The rapes keep coming and Carlotta is losing it. Carlotta is the daughter of a rich family in Pasadena, but she has been estranged from them for years after running away with a biker when she was 16. De Felitta gives us her history in a series of flashbacks (along with other characters in the story).
Basically, the plot boils down to what is now a standard trope: is Carlotta really being haunted (or in this case, raped) by some spectral entity or is she just losing her mind and imagining it. The tension between these two possible explanations moves the story along, with her first seeing a psychiatrist and then later a parapsychologist, each of which explains what is going on with Carlotta via their theoretical and academic specializations. What De Felitta does well here beyond this concerns the emotional rollercoaster Carlotta rides and us along with her. Pretty easy to empathize with Carlotta to say the least.
I might have rated this higher except for some niggling issues. First, one scene has the cops arriving at her house just after one of her 'rapes' due to some screaming. Do L.A. cops have some phenomenal instantaneous response time? Do not think so. Secondly, Carlotta's romance with Jerry just did not gel at all and seems included just to move the plot. This also dragged at times, but you might expect that at almost 500 pages. Still, I can see why this is a classic. The film which came out about 5 years later is, like the novel, based on the 1974 case of Doris Bither, a woman who claimed to have been repeatedly sexually assaulted by an invisible entity, and who was observed by doctoral students at the University of California, Los Angeles. We have parapsychologists, strange psychic powers at times, supernatural entities-- just what a 70s horror story needs! This is also the best novel of De Felitta I have read; much better than the rather insipid Golgotha Falls. 3.5 spectral stars, rounding up!
Flash back about a year before the statement and the novel begins (almost every chapter is dated) with Carlotta, our main protagonist being brutally raped on her bed at home by some spectral entity that she could feel but not see. Her screams caused her 15 y.o. son to come running, but only found her panicked and in tears. What the hell? The rapes keep coming and Carlotta is losing it. Carlotta is the daughter of a rich family in Pasadena, but she has been estranged from them for years after running away with a biker when she was 16. De Felitta gives us her history in a series of flashbacks (along with other characters in the story).
Basically, the plot boils down to what is now a standard trope: is Carlotta really being haunted (or in this case, raped) by some spectral entity or is she just losing her mind and imagining it. The tension between these two possible explanations moves the story along, with her first seeing a psychiatrist and then later a parapsychologist, each of which explains what is going on with Carlotta via their theoretical and academic specializations. What De Felitta does well here beyond this concerns the emotional rollercoaster Carlotta rides and us along with her. Pretty easy to empathize with Carlotta to say the least.
I might have rated this higher except for some niggling issues. First, one scene has the cops arriving at her house just after one of her 'rapes' due to some screaming. Do L.A. cops have some phenomenal instantaneous response time? Do not think so. Secondly, Carlotta's romance with Jerry just did not gel at all and seems included just to move the plot. This also dragged at times, but you might expect that at almost 500 pages. Still, I can see why this is a classic. The film which came out about 5 years later is, like the novel, based on the 1974 case of Doris Bither, a woman who claimed to have been repeatedly sexually assaulted by an invisible entity, and who was observed by doctoral students at the University of California, Los Angeles. We have parapsychologists, strange psychic powers at times, supernatural entities-- just what a 70s horror story needs! This is also the best novel of De Felitta I have read; much better than the rather insipid Golgotha Falls. 3.5 spectral stars, rounding up!
May 10, 2021
I’ve always been a horror guy when it comes to movies, but the genre in book form rarely seems to work for me for some reason. I’m not quite sure why that is, but when I found a slightly tattered copy of ‘The Entity’ in a used bookstore (a movie which I haven’t actually seen yet btw), I thought what the hell, picked it up, and surprisingly ended up *seriously* enjoying it.
(Well, ‘enjoy’ might be the wrong term for this kind of story, but you know what I mean. )
Based on the alleged haunting of Doris Bither in 1974 California, the book deals with a woman who believes she’s being raped and targeted by a ghost in her home and follows her life as she tries to figure out if the ghost is real, or if there is a medical reason that could explain her circumstances away as ‘manifestations of her own mind’. It’s basically a huge dollop of the Exorcist - with the argument for and against the entity fleeting between the worlds of spirituality and science, with a hefty dose of the kind of gaslighting horror that was done so well in last years ‘The Invisible Man’.
Being written in 1978 (and with the overall nature of the story) - you would suspect that there would have to be some caveat or warning about how it might not have ‘aged well’ in certain regards, but surprisingly, I believe the story and it’s themes are dealt with the seriousness they deserve, and manage to avoid the exploitative feel one gets from first reading the plot description.
The writing is surprisingly strong, and while the idea of someone having to convince non believers that ghosts are real etc has been done to death, there’s a surprisingly layered story here that could be viewed on multiple levels, even today.
Overall, ‘The Entity’ was a complete surprise to me and I’m now certainly going to hunt down the movie and probably be...terrified? 🤷🏻♂️ Let me know if you’ve seen it, seems like one of those ones that probably terrified people in their teen-hoods years ago!
(Well, ‘enjoy’ might be the wrong term for this kind of story, but you know what I mean. )
Based on the alleged haunting of Doris Bither in 1974 California, the book deals with a woman who believes she’s being raped and targeted by a ghost in her home and follows her life as she tries to figure out if the ghost is real, or if there is a medical reason that could explain her circumstances away as ‘manifestations of her own mind’. It’s basically a huge dollop of the Exorcist - with the argument for and against the entity fleeting between the worlds of spirituality and science, with a hefty dose of the kind of gaslighting horror that was done so well in last years ‘The Invisible Man’.
Being written in 1978 (and with the overall nature of the story) - you would suspect that there would have to be some caveat or warning about how it might not have ‘aged well’ in certain regards, but surprisingly, I believe the story and it’s themes are dealt with the seriousness they deserve, and manage to avoid the exploitative feel one gets from first reading the plot description.
The writing is surprisingly strong, and while the idea of someone having to convince non believers that ghosts are real etc has been done to death, there’s a surprisingly layered story here that could be viewed on multiple levels, even today.
Overall, ‘The Entity’ was a complete surprise to me and I’m now certainly going to hunt down the movie and probably be...terrified? 🤷🏻♂️ Let me know if you’ve seen it, seems like one of those ones that probably terrified people in their teen-hoods years ago!
August 3, 2017
This is the fifth Valancourt book I have read, after The Godsend, Sweetheart, Sweetheart, The Elementals and Burnt Offerings. They have done a fantastic job in making these classic horror books available again and I will keep looking at their ever expanding library with a view to reading more.
The main character is Carlotta, a mother of three, who is attacked and raped one night by what would appear to be a ghostly entity. Her suffering continues as the relentless attacks occur frequently. At first she is referred to the Psychiatry department and then the Parapsychology department who argue over Carlotta's experiences. Is this all in her mind? A psychotic hallucination? Or is it a real spectral rapist? An entity from another existence?
The attacks and rapes are vicious, horrible and nasty. Carlotta needs help but more horror comes from the two departments. They both believe their diagnosis to be correct, to believe that they have the case of their lifetime, a case which will improve their academic standing and prove their theories. They both claim to want to help Carlotta, which they do to a degree, but there is an undercurrent of selfish actions and concern only for themselves.
The style of writing took me a while to get used to. There was a lot of repetition of the same point being made in two or three different worded sentences. The pace does drag in various parts of the book but overall it is another great Valancourt horror classic.
The main character is Carlotta, a mother of three, who is attacked and raped one night by what would appear to be a ghostly entity. Her suffering continues as the relentless attacks occur frequently. At first she is referred to the Psychiatry department and then the Parapsychology department who argue over Carlotta's experiences. Is this all in her mind? A psychotic hallucination? Or is it a real spectral rapist? An entity from another existence?
The attacks and rapes are vicious, horrible and nasty. Carlotta needs help but more horror comes from the two departments. They both believe their diagnosis to be correct, to believe that they have the case of their lifetime, a case which will improve their academic standing and prove their theories. They both claim to want to help Carlotta, which they do to a degree, but there is an undercurrent of selfish actions and concern only for themselves.
The style of writing took me a while to get used to. There was a lot of repetition of the same point being made in two or three different worded sentences. The pace does drag in various parts of the book but overall it is another great Valancourt horror classic.
August 9, 2021
I finished this book last night which was recommended by a friend of mine. She told me it is one of the scariest books she has ever read and I have to agree, it was quite disturbing and scary. I switched from my physical copy to the audiobook about a quarter of the way through due to time constraints and I'm so glad I did. The narrator, Tanya Eby, did a fantastic job. The story is about a woman, Carlotta Moran, who is tormented by a brutal spectral fugure in her bedroom one night, then continues to be tormented by it over and over in heinous ways. This thing turns her, her children's and her partner's life completely upside down. The question is whether this 'unseen entity' is a figment of her disturbed mind or a real paranormal experience. There is a fight between psychiatry and parapsychology, with poor Carlotta in the middle of it all. If you are triggered by sexual assault and violence then be warned, there are brutal scenes in this book, but it's a must read for any horror fan who is interested in the subject matter. It had one of the most thought provoking endings of any book I've read. Another 5 star read for me, and I'd like to thank my friend for the recommendation. It did not disappoint.
December 1, 2022
3 stars--I liked the book. All the 70s staples are here: casual racism! Casual sexism! Earnest and unintentionally hilarious science! And the out-of-date psychology, oh my goodness. Freud! Hysteria! And let's not forget the good ol' Oedipus complex!
OK, I've been making fun of this book (which it deserves as the product of its era), but I did like it. It's a fun read, with an unusual plot and a crazy (then untimately sad) ending.
OK, I've been making fun of this book (which it deserves as the product of its era), but I did like it. It's a fun read, with an unusual plot and a crazy (then untimately sad) ending.
January 7, 2024
I've had my eye on this book for so long and was finally gifted a copy for Christmas. I dived in immediately and I've only just finished it.
It was a bit of a chore 😕
I wanted so much to love it, but it just didn't happen.
Now let me just say that I've never seen the movie. I've heard it's pretty harrowing, but I went into the book with very little insight and very little bias. There were moments that were *almost* chilling, but it never quite hit the heights I expected.
The psychological and parapsychology jargon was quite heavy and technical throughout, and much of it bored me almost to tears. I spent the entire book waiting for some kind of reveal or conclusion, but I honestly feel that it offered neither.
I'm glad I knocked it off my list, though, and I couldn't fault the writing itself. De Felitta's style, despite being heavy on detail, was quite beautiful at times.
Unfortunately a letdown for me, but one I'm sure will appeal to many.
It was a bit of a chore 😕
I wanted so much to love it, but it just didn't happen.
Now let me just say that I've never seen the movie. I've heard it's pretty harrowing, but I went into the book with very little insight and very little bias. There were moments that were *almost* chilling, but it never quite hit the heights I expected.
The psychological and parapsychology jargon was quite heavy and technical throughout, and much of it bored me almost to tears. I spent the entire book waiting for some kind of reveal or conclusion, but I honestly feel that it offered neither.
I'm glad I knocked it off my list, though, and I couldn't fault the writing itself. De Felitta's style, despite being heavy on detail, was quite beautiful at times.
Unfortunately a letdown for me, but one I'm sure will appeal to many.
May 31, 2023
The Entity
Estuvo interesante.
Es dificil reseñar sin spoilers
Asi que
SPOILERS
S
P
O
I
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E
R
S
3.5 stars
Estuvo interesante.
Es dificil reseñar sin spoilers
Asi que
SPOILERS
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
3.5 stars
December 26, 2018
Excelente historia de terror.....mucho más compleja e intimidante que la película. este libro merece una nueva adaptación al cine, con mejores efectos y con toda la carga humana que hay detrás de la protagonista.
October 25, 2009
OVerview:
A woman begins to experience nightly visitations from an unknown entity that she cannot see, however violently begins to rape her and toss about her home. Her 3 children after a while begin to sense something in the home through bad smells, dishes flying off the counters, etc. The woman runs to friends for help and they too witness strange sightings in their home while Carlotta is there. The woman (Carlotta) sees a psychiatrist who beieves she is creating this and doing it to herself as a way of hiding what truely is disturbing her and therefore she is beginnning a psychotic break. When finally she seeks out parapsychologists to help her instead.
My review:
I found myself being mostly anger throughout reading this book. First of all, I didn't like Carlotta really, or her boyfriend. I especially did not like the psychiatric community who refused to investigate all avenues. To just assume this woman was crazy and try to convince her of it, infuriated me. They never did a rape examination on her, or once went to her home to at least observe her and witness what her illness actually looked like. When other people witnessed this entity, they were convinced that Carlotta's illness was so strong that she was able to product mass hysteria and make other people see what she did. What utter crap!
When she finally has a group of scientists believe in her, she fails to tell them everything that is happening to her, why? Wouldn't you want to confess all to the ones who are convinced that you are not ill, but are in fact experiencing something real?
The war between the 2 communities was frustrating as well. I really can't say I liked this book at all, but will give it 2 stars on having to know how it ended.
The writing was completely mediocre and was badly in need of editing. It was overly long and not necessary. The first part of the book was just repetitious in nature.
A woman begins to experience nightly visitations from an unknown entity that she cannot see, however violently begins to rape her and toss about her home. Her 3 children after a while begin to sense something in the home through bad smells, dishes flying off the counters, etc. The woman runs to friends for help and they too witness strange sightings in their home while Carlotta is there. The woman (Carlotta) sees a psychiatrist who beieves she is creating this and doing it to herself as a way of hiding what truely is disturbing her and therefore she is beginnning a psychotic break. When finally she seeks out parapsychologists to help her instead.
My review:
I found myself being mostly anger throughout reading this book. First of all, I didn't like Carlotta really, or her boyfriend. I especially did not like the psychiatric community who refused to investigate all avenues. To just assume this woman was crazy and try to convince her of it, infuriated me. They never did a rape examination on her, or once went to her home to at least observe her and witness what her illness actually looked like. When other people witnessed this entity, they were convinced that Carlotta's illness was so strong that she was able to product mass hysteria and make other people see what she did. What utter crap!
When she finally has a group of scientists believe in her, she fails to tell them everything that is happening to her, why? Wouldn't you want to confess all to the ones who are convinced that you are not ill, but are in fact experiencing something real?
The war between the 2 communities was frustrating as well. I really can't say I liked this book at all, but will give it 2 stars on having to know how it ended.
The writing was completely mediocre and was badly in need of editing. It was overly long and not necessary. The first part of the book was just repetitious in nature.
November 1, 2015
I'm not finding this book as terrifying as I had expected. This is a horror story set in relatively contemporary (seemingly '70's) times. Perhaps I am not appropriately frightened by the idea of the possibility of an incubus/succubus showing up. The most horrifying/terrifying aspect of the novel is the rigid, close-mindedness of members of the psychiatry faculty/practice at a major university. They are so enamored of their theories that they are more than willing to throw a patient under the bus of institutionalization rather than to actually listen to her. The description of a case meeting, and how these psychiatrists interpret rather simple answers given to the patient in response to their questions, reads like something out of Erving Goffman's description of how cases are built. Perhaps the author read Goffman. And then there are the faculty politics; this portion of the book is absolutely delightful. I can't tell you how it turn out, but let's say that an undergraduate student rep to the faculty senate makes a proposal that puts the Dean of the Medical School in a tight place. See how blase that all is? Yeah, well. And then I got to the climax. Holy shit! My sister called for something important. I blew her off. My little dog literally whimpered for her dinner. Ignored. I could not put it down for a second! A half-hour after finishing the book, my heart was still pounding. The Epilogue was probably inevitable. It was sad, albeit with some modest hope held out. I anticipate nightmares. No question about it . . . De Felitta got me! I have to give him 5 stars for this one.
March 29, 2019
fantastic book , i saw the movie a few years ago and thought that as i enjoyed the amityville horror book id enjoy reading this i watched the movie again last night , i couldnt waite to finish the book ! it was brilliant , very few changes from the book , apart from a slightly different ending
June 29, 2021
The first thing that struck me halfway through was that it was like reading another version of The Exorcist-person is attacked by demon, long drawn-out middle section as doctors try to find a diagnosis, then the beast returns with a vengeance at the end.
I would have enjoyed this a lot more were it not for that long middle section where we get every character's entire backstory, but still, it is written with extreme care, to the point that it is clear the author did huge amounts of research on both parapsychology and mental illness, and what the main character, Carlotta, goes through is truly terrifying. Just could have been a little shorter without the need for backstory on even secondary characters.
I would have enjoyed this a lot more were it not for that long middle section where we get every character's entire backstory, but still, it is written with extreme care, to the point that it is clear the author did huge amounts of research on both parapsychology and mental illness, and what the main character, Carlotta, goes through is truly terrifying. Just could have been a little shorter without the need for backstory on even secondary characters.
August 30, 2025
Garbaugust 2025. Fills the "You wouldn't read it on the bus." spot of the bingo card. The giant dong outlined in green ectoplasm from the Valancourt books edition qualifies nicely.
October 17, 2014
Beyond physical reality, beyond ecstasy and pain to a dark netherworld of psycho-sexual truth. Ravaged night after night, against her will, beyond her understanding, violated by an enemy against whom there was no weapon...A terrifying novel, based on a real life case of a woman preyed upon by a spectral rapist.
I got recommend this book by a friend of mine. At 1st I was a bit skeptical. On the events that were being played out in the book. I found this to be Very interesting I do bleive in ghost's strongly. I have my own personal reasons for such. So this book Grabbed me its about an ordinary woman and her family pulled in the massive grips of a paranormal activity.
I found while reading this book I was at a bit of a struggle. What the Drs put her though is terrible and I found an immediate dislike to the main young Dr. it was A very unsettling story and the fact that is could be a possible reallife case makes it all that more terrifying. To be hounded by an unseen force daily. Something that you can't see but it can see and grab you is very freaky indeed!
However part of me did have a hardiest time trying to even imagining if this was possible I mean could it be possible??
the ending had me in tears also its almost as if I expected it to happen but all in all a really good read.
((real photo of the case with the woman sitting on the bed))
December 6, 2015
I loved this book, I thought it was a fantastic read.
It has been one of my favourite horror films since I was a kid (why my parents thought a film about a cruel rapist ghost would be suitable viewing for a 12/13 year old I don't know) anyway this book has been on my ever expanding list of books to read for some time now and I finally got around to picking this one up.
Well I powered through it in just 3 days, I thought that Carlotta was a great character and the book in general is about so much more than just a ghost rampaging around and constantly raping a poor young woman, it deals with the differing of opinions between those who are open to the paranormal and those who believe everything can be explained away in a scientific manor, this leads to the main character half believing she is actually going crazy and losing her marbles.
The scenes of the attacks were great and they really get you going and reading on the edge of your seat desperate to see what is going to happen, the film never really deviates from the plot that the book sets out, even though its been a whilst since I have seen it I could definitely recognise certain scenes almost word for word.
I could talk more about the book but I'll sign off by saying its the best out and out horror I've read in a good long time and I'll more than like revisit this at some point in the future
It has been one of my favourite horror films since I was a kid (why my parents thought a film about a cruel rapist ghost would be suitable viewing for a 12/13 year old I don't know) anyway this book has been on my ever expanding list of books to read for some time now and I finally got around to picking this one up.
Well I powered through it in just 3 days, I thought that Carlotta was a great character and the book in general is about so much more than just a ghost rampaging around and constantly raping a poor young woman, it deals with the differing of opinions between those who are open to the paranormal and those who believe everything can be explained away in a scientific manor, this leads to the main character half believing she is actually going crazy and losing her marbles.
The scenes of the attacks were great and they really get you going and reading on the edge of your seat desperate to see what is going to happen, the film never really deviates from the plot that the book sets out, even though its been a whilst since I have seen it I could definitely recognise certain scenes almost word for word.
I could talk more about the book but I'll sign off by saying its the best out and out horror I've read in a good long time and I'll more than like revisit this at some point in the future
January 20, 2019
Me ha parecido un libro muy interesante. La primera parte que es la presentación de los “hechos”, me ha resultado escalofriante. Creí que sería el típico libro de terror pero, después de ese intenso inicio, pasa a plantearnos la cuestión que siempre está de fondo ante situaciones así: ¿Carlotta es una enferma mental o realmente le están ocurriendo esos sucesos sobrenaturales? Así que he devorado el libro para saber cuál era el resultado de la historia. Hubiera sido fácil estropearlo al final, pero para mí lo ha terminado de una forma satisfactoria.
Le hubiera dado las 5 estrellas, lo que pasa es que en algunos momentos algunas oraciones me han parecido incompletas, o que no estaban bien expresadas. Y eso lo ha deslucido un poco. ¿Culpa del escritor o del traductor? Quién sabe.
Le hubiera dado las 5 estrellas, lo que pasa es que en algunos momentos algunas oraciones me han parecido incompletas, o que no estaban bien expresadas. Y eso lo ha deslucido un poco. ¿Culpa del escritor o del traductor? Quién sabe.
September 6, 2010
Beyond physical reality, beyond ecstasy and pain to a dark netherworld of psycho-sexual truth.
Ravaged night after night, against her will, beyond her understanding, violated by an enemy against whom there was no weapon...
A terrifying novel, based on a real life case of a woman preyed upon by a spectral rapist.
Actually, I don't know where and how to start. So I just won't spoil it. I really liked this book because it was about PSYCHIATRY and PARAPSYCHOLOGY !!! YAY!!! If you are not that scared of ghosts, flying objects or other paranormal phenomenons, you should definitely read this one! (BUT the authors imagination of him is kinda funny, blue green cloud? lol )
Ravaged night after night, against her will, beyond her understanding, violated by an enemy against whom there was no weapon...
A terrifying novel, based on a real life case of a woman preyed upon by a spectral rapist.
Actually, I don't know where and how to start. So I just won't spoil it. I really liked this book because it was about PSYCHIATRY and PARAPSYCHOLOGY !!! YAY!!! If you are not that scared of ghosts, flying objects or other paranormal phenomenons, you should definitely read this one! (BUT the authors imagination of him is kinda funny, blue green cloud? lol )
September 4, 2011
This book has been on my partner's shelf for as long as I've known her, and I always imagined it to be a poor, cheap horror story, especially as she asked me to list it on bookmooch.com. But then I read it, and wow, it was quite good actually! Never heard of the authro before, and he hasnt writtten a great deal but this is well written, with authority. Yes it has sexual scenes which everyone talks about but the story within is great! And creeepy! You begin to wonder, is the entity real or is it all a psychosis?
I recommend you read and find out.
A Goodread!
I recommend you read and find out.
A Goodread!
December 13, 2015
3.5 stars. Review pending.
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