My friend Wendy, my sister, and I decided to do a Stephen King readathon, working our way through his catalogue chronologically. Looking back on a lot of his earlier books, I realized I’d missed reading several of them, his first published book, CARRIE (1974), being one of those.

I’ve seen both film versions of the book, so was familiar going in with what to expect, but I still found it interesting to see so many familiar SK storytelling techniques in their infancy. Also, the way he sprinkles in reports from scientific journals, interviews, and memoirs from the victims throughout the narrative was interesting, so even though the reader knows how the story ends from fairly early on, it’s not presented as spoilers so much as foreshadowing of things to come.

While I wouldn’t consider this so much horror as dark scifi, there were definitely creepy aspects to the book. Carrie’s mother’s religious fervor is wildly unsettling, and the events that take place at the prom are obviously horrifying.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. We’re starting ‘SALEM’S LOT next, and I’m looking forward to reading that for the first time, as well.

#stephenking #horror #carrie #horrorbooks #horrorbookstagram #bookstagram #book #bookworm #booksbooksbooks #bookreview #frommybookshelf #frommybookshelfblog #telekinesis #tk ( )

Sixteen-year-old Carrie White gets her first period while in the girls' showers at her high school. Her classmates, particularly Christine Hargensen, are cruel about it, making fun of her and pelting her with tampons. Carrie, whose ultra-religious mother never told her about menstruation, thinks she's dying. The whole thing is understandably traumatic for her, and unfortunately it only gets worse.

King alternates between sections from various characters' viewpoints as the events are occurring and sections from works discussing the "Carrie White" incident after the fact. Readers are aware, well in advance, that Carrie has telekinetic powers that are awakened and significantly boosted after her first period, that things will go badly for her, and that she'll end up killing a lot of people.

This was my first time reading Carrie - I'd never even seen one of the movie adaptations before. I hadn't realized it was such a short book. Even so, I have to admit I spent a good chunk of the story wondering when King would finally get to the "incident." Considering how many people were around afterward to talk about it all, I expected Carrie's explosion, when it happened, to be more limited to the high school. I was unprepared for the amount of destruction King crammed into the ending.

What stuck with me the most, though, was how deeply sad it was. Not just Carrie and everything that happened to her, but all the other scars left behind as well.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

A shy and awkward teenage girl certainly does not need telekinetic powers, but Carrie White has them. And thus ensues her terrifying journey through her tumultuous home life and the cruelty of her classmates. “Carrie” by Stephen King is a classic. In it he explores themes of bullying, isolation, and the consequences of unchecked cruelty. Forget the pink shirts against bullies, make the kids read this. It’s bound to have them think twice before enacting cruelty on another. “Carrie” is a well developed cast which exposes the psyche of the characters and portrays the complex motivations behind their actions to create a chilling atmosphere of suspense and dread. It’s a gripping and visceral blend of horror and psychology which makes "Carrie" a truly unforgettable reading experience. ( )

Wow, what an antecipation buildup. And the actual final "action" part. Incredible!
Now I can watch the movie(s). Curious if and how they included all those "fonts" sequences.
(I suspect I missed something in the translation, with some brazilian words). ( )

This was a very interesting and unexpectedly good read. Having watched the movie from 1970's starring Sissy Spacek I knew what to expect but here we have situation of a very good book and movie telling a similar but not exactly the same story. While I like the movie my honest opinion is that book is way better.

Told from the perspectives of Carrie herself, her mother, various scientists and historians writing about the bloody prom night and finally first account testaments by the few prom survivors we are given details about the horrendous and bloody events that claimed not only lives of so many students but almost entire city.

Story itself is as old as time - bullying of a girl that is socially awkward takes a turn when we learn that that very girl harbors in herself exquisitely strong power. Living in constant fear, constantly terrorized and reined in by her mother and her friends, never expecting anything good from her life, Carrie will finally break and decide to teach her tormentors a lesson. Power surging through her takes its toll but for Carrie letting it all out is means to reach the ultimate freedom. Finally acknowledging what she is Carrie lets out and decides to punish all that did her wrong.

Story is a cautionary tale - never push people over the edge unless ready to live with consequences. When pushed to the wall every person will reach for the most drastic measures because they simply have nothing to lose. While we are always ready to call people like Carrie ah those unfit to live in the every day society question is who is true "patient" here - Carrie or ordinary people that don't even try to know her but join the true psychopaths (and these are always people high on social ladder in every King's novel) in tormenting those who cannot defend themselves (Sue Snell being representative here - and being one of the rare few that finally comes to understanding they are doing the wrong thing)? Only story that comes very close to depicting how easily person can snap and cause mayhem is a fantastic movie "Falling Down".

What I like here is also the way King treats telekinesis through scientific approach, through various excerpts from books and articles about the bloody event. For me this makes it much more effective, very much like true X-Man-horror story and for me has a much bigger punch than the usual Evil-doers plot.

Excellent novel, short and to the point, told in a manner that I would expect from the author like Michael Crichton rather than Stephen King (and I mean this in truly good, positive way).

Highly recommended. ( )

Carrie White is young girl who lives in the Maine town of Chamberlain and attends school regularly at Ewen High. But Carrie is no ordinary girl. But that is probably something everyone in school says. They tease her, call her names and play tricks on her. Her mother, a strongly religious God-fearing woman has her sheltered, keeping her isolated from the experiences of an average teenager. But that is all about to change. Carrie learns that she is no ordinary girl. But in a way no one can even begin suspect. She learns about her amazing gift and puts it to good use. After an incident in a girl's locker room, a guilt stricken Sue Snell decides to make up for the horrible way she treated Carrie. But all it takes is one powerful act of wickedness to ruin Sue's amazing act of kindness, thus dooming Chamberlain, Maine forever.

I recommend this book to anyone who is or isn't a fan of Stephen King. If you're not, then this is the perfect place to start. What was originally supposed to a work of short fiction, turned out to be a novel. And it's all thanks to Tabitha King for fishing out that discarded draft covered in cigarette ashes and motivating and persuading her husband to work on the story that would eventually launch Mr. King's career as a famed author. I also recommend this book to teenagers, both who bully and are bullied in hopes that there will be some understanding to the wickedness that can come from bullying and the retaliation. The plot is great. The chapters aren't traditionally separated by numbers but by excerpts of fictional interviews, biographies and such to help reader understand the characters and their actions and also to serve as foreshadow. I have seen the movie adaptions of this book figured it was time to read it. ( )

Lately, I've been trying to read outside of my comfort zone a bit. One genre I haven't read much in is the horror genre. I have nothing against it as a genre, I just am always so keen on reading fantasy and sci-fi novels. Well, I thought it is time to change things up a bit. And I am glad I did. To start my dive into the horror genre, I started with the master of horror himself: Stephen King, an author I've often scoffed at for being so prolific. If he is so prolific, there is no way he's THAT good. Well folks, Stephen King is a master for a reason. He knows how to write engaging characters, tense plots, and disturbing content all right.

Carrie is Stephen King's first novel, written in 1973 as a novella that morphed into a very short novel. It eventually sold something like one million paper back copies and solidified Stephen King as a force to be reckoned with. Brian De Palma would go on to adapt the story to a film which iconic images I can't erase (I saw De Palma's version when I was entirely way too young) and King would become even more of a household name.

Carrie is an economical, thrilling, dirty, insightful, bizarre, horrifying page-turner. It feels like a pulpy novel, until it's not. But that's the appeal: King blends pulp with high art. Carrie is Stephen King's shortest novel. The book itself is the story of Carrie White, a high-school student with latent – and then, as the novel progresses, developing – telekinetic powers that apparently run in the family. It's brutal in places, affecting in others, and gory to boot. By the end of the novel, there's a pretty impressive body count, and it's a body count you don't necessarily see coming given the general tone of the novel. Or, bluntly, given the character of Carrie herself. Carrie, after years of abuse by her fearful and religiously crazed momma and being tormented by her peers (the book starts off with her being bullied by her female peers in the girls locker room), she explodes into rage. Her gift of TK turns into a weapon of horror and destruction that levels the town, and tragically ends in her own death as well. It's a slow burn to get to the destruction but when we do, it's riveting, frightening, and sad. Futhermore, as a reader, one really empathizes with Carrie and when she goes into her TK rage, it's not only horrific; it's tragic.

Reading this book, in the 21st century, one can't help but wonder just how profound this little book actually is. Carrie is about many things: sexual awakening (and repression), child abuse, religious fanaticism, but its main theme is bullying. This book is about the monsters we have a hand in creating. No one is really innocent in this novel per se. If only the girls had been kind to Carrie, if only her mother would have been loving instead of fearfully controlling, if only someone would have helped Carrie understand all the changes she was going through, then maybe, just maybe things would have been different. But alas, this morality tale ends in fire and blood. It's message is that compassion is what is needed in a world turned upside down. Now a far warning: King is not a proselytizer. This book is intense. But, I think King is trying in his first novel to point us to a place of light by showing us the negation of such goodness (Carrie is perhaps the character who is the most kind and innocent until her rampage begins and Tommy seems to be a "decent" enough fella who didn't deserve death) and this style of exploring the nature or good vs. evil actually reminds me of one of my favorite authors, Flannery O'Connor.

Structurally Carrie is a weird one, with a third-person narrative voice interspersed with extracts from other media: newspaper reports, autobiographies of characters, transcripts of police interviews, etc. I found it to be intriguing but I wasn't always so sure it worked.

Still, Carrie is classic. It's Stephen King's first novel so it is a little rough around the edges but as a short novel, it's one heck of a subversive ride. Who knew that a pulpy little horror novel could also be a profound work of art? I can't wait to read other stories of his.



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The first of my King rereads. It is amazing how much of this book I still remember. Holds up pretty well. I wasn’t a fan of the government interludes but I still liked the book. ( )

While I did not enjoy this, I am happy that I read it.

I want to read all of King's novels.

Overall my main issue with this story was how confusing it was. The POV switched so frequently and often without an early explanation of who was talking. I found myself getting distracted while trying to figure out what was happening.
Also, (why were thoughts in quotes, no parenthesis). That was just distracting. They had like no punctuation and were disjointed and, yet again, it was hard to tell who they belonged to. ( )

While I did not enjoy this, I am happy that I read it.

I want to read all of King's novels.

Overall my main issue with this story was how confusing it was. The POV switched so frequently and often without an early explanation of who was talking. I found myself getting distracted while trying to figure out what was happening.
Also, (why were thoughts in quotes, no parenthesis). That was just distracting. They had like no punctuation and were disjointed and, yet again, it was hard to tell who they belonged to. ( )

My first Stephen King book. Simple and brilliant. ( )

I have always wanted to pick up Carrie and I finally was able to find a copy of it.

Since I saw many film adaptions of this book first, it was kind of weird reading the different viewpoints of the novel - but it worked. I enjoyed reading the different perspectives within the novel, it gave a special insight into the minds of everyone else, something many books lack.

I definitely didn't find it scary. It made me feel horrible for the treatment of the girl, and it made me understand why she was so evil, but I wasn't scared. The films left me a lot more horrified then the book did (and books have left me scared before. The first Temperance Brennan book did just that).

It was well written - the writing style was strange at times, but it's easy to follow.

I was definitely amazed at the idea behind this book. How did Stephen King think this up? That thought went through my mind numerous times while reading. It's a wonderful idea and he did it justice.

Overall, it was a good story and I want to read more by Stephen King. He's quite the genius!

Four out of five stars. ( )

The dangers of polyamorous relationships is explored in this classic horror.

It all begins when Sue Snell encourages her boyfriend Tommy to pursue the high school religious freak, Carrieta White. He doesn't show interest at first but Sue knows he's got the hots for her. She wouldn't know that her pressuring her boyfriend to date other people would end up a literal bloody mess.

4.5/5 though, seriously, all joking aside this is a scary book that I truly enjoyed being lulled into by Sissy Spacek. Would recommend.

4.5 stars

Holy. Crap. This was phenomenal. I devoured this entire book.

1. I cannot believe it has taken me this long to get into Stephen King's books. Carrie is an insanely famous King book, and yet here I am reading it for the first time at 22. Last year I read The Outsider and I'm currently halfway through Fairy Tale, but this one definitely takes the cake. I'm so glad I started to read more Stephen King books this year.

2. Immediately from the start I was drawn in. The writing style, the prose, the characters, I was a big fan. I definitely felt like this book was "easier" to read than the other two books I mentioned above. I liked the simplicity of the writing. It was kind of confusing at first how the story switched from someone's narrative to a news article, book, or interview, but after a bit I got the hang of it. Same goes for the internal thought tidbits every once in a while, the ones written in parentheses - those were kind of tricky to understand, but later on I loved the addition of those musings.

3. The story itself was insane. I watched the movie starring Chloe Moretz (2013) a few years ago (through shielded eyes, I suck at watching horror) so I knew the general plot of the story, but to read it was a completely different experience. By reading the book, I could vividly visualise the scenes in my own mind and the narration made me feel an overbearingly intense hatred for many of the characters (Chris, Tommy, Carrie's mother) .

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I love books like this that can suck me in and keep me completely focused for the entire duration of the story. There was not a single moment I was bored or distracted. ( )

After being teased by her classmates when she gets her first menstrual cycle, Carrie White remembers and strengthens her telekinetic powers -- with deadly consequences when the bullying continues on prom night.

I did not realize until I had finished reading it that this was Stephen King's debut novel. I knew it was an earlier one and recognized themes and ideas that he's continued to play with and refine over the years, including telekinesis in minors, deadly fires, small towns upended by traumatic events, and -- most importantly -- that the true horror is not the supernatural, but people themselves. In this case, that takes the form of abusive religious zealotry and small-minded teens that won't stop teasing/pranking no matter how much harm they commit. Like the character of Sue Snell, I found myself pitying Carrie more than anything else. Yes, her reaction is outsized and she takes out innocent people alongside those who did her wrong, but she never really had a chance -- especially with her dangerously unwell mother.

The novel is a mix of typical narrative and bits of other (fictional) materials, such as court testimony and survivor memoirs. It makes for an interesting read that builds tension; you know something bad is coming as referenced by these materials. It's the kind of foreshadowing that King does so well. Even with a story as massively popular as this one that I knew most of the plot beforehand, I still felt the anticipation of waiting for the big 'reveal' of what would happen.

For the audiobook, Sissy Spacek does an excellent job as reader. There are parts of the book that haven't aged super great, but that's to be expected with an older title. Overall, it's still a good read worth the time. ( )

I read this book multiple times in junior high and high school, so I can't list all the read dates, but I plan on re-reading it again. ( )

Carrie oh my. this is such a good story. I got so surprised doing it and got me to feel different on every page. With the way, he wrote it. It blows my head off just reading this book. This story went past my expectations and it was nothing I expected it was so awesome. This is a super duper book.

I felt bad for Carrie right from the start. Her home life was horrible and the way that she was treated at school only made things worse. Carrie lives with her religious mother and is forced to follow a harsh set of rules. In the beginning in the locker room when she was geting bulled by all the girls in ther when she was takeing a shower and she hade her period for the first time. You can see her thoughts and the revenge building up inside her.

This story is like a mind game you never know what going to happen next.I recommend Carrie By Stephen King because all his books are super scary and fun to read. But if you do not like horror or bad words this book is not for you. So if you like horror and excitement this and all his books are for you.

The theme of this book is you never know how bully can effect someone. She keeps geting bullyed in the book and like eveyone hates her.So then see fingered out she had power and wanted revenge on the people that hurt her. So she went after the bullies and her mother because she was fed up with everything and everyone.

Honestly, not as good as The Shining, although still quite enjoyable. Sadly I looked up the plot to the movie (or was it the book?) a couple months ago for some reason, so I knew all that was gonna happen. Yes, I know, *everyone* knows that it's about a girl named Carrie who gets pig blood dumped on her during prom and kills everyone, but that's not the same as knowing that she's invited to the prom with good intentions and so on.

Still, it was good, and I liked how it cut between articles/book excerpts/interviews and a regular narrative, although the book could have formatted this way better (it says 2006 but this does not look like a book published that late, I can only assume nothing has changed since it was originally published).
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I thought the first part, half of the second part, and the third part was fun to read, but then it got overly descriptive in the final half of the second part and that was the only thing I wasn't interested in.

I will say I did feel bad for Carrie at first, but after what she did, not really. ( )

I really enjoyed this one! I am a bit surprised by just how much I liked it and am kicking myself for waiting so long to read this book. I think that I have seen pieces of the movie but have never sat down to watch the whole thing so I wasn’t overly familiar with the story. I have only read a handful of King’s work and I thought it would be interesting to go back and read his debut novel. I have to say that his talent was evident from the beginning.

I felt bad for Carrie right from the start. Her home life was absolutely horrible and the way that she was treated at school only made things worse. Carrie lives with her extremely religious mother and is forced to follow a harsh set of rules. After an incident in the high school locker room, Carrie is ready to push back against her mother. Things reach a climax at the high school prom when Carrie is crowned queen. She has recently rediscovered her telekinetic power and she has had enough. By the time the night is over, it will be a night the town will never forget.

I thought that Sissy Spacek did a fantastic job with the narration. This isn’t the first time that Ms. Spacek has brought this character to life and I thought that she was the ideal choice to voice this audiobook. I thought that she was able to add just the right amount of emotion and excitement to her reading. I do believe that her performance added to my overall enjoyment of this story.

I would not hesitate to recommend this book to others. This is one of King’s shorter works but it packs a big punch. I ended up listening to this book in a single day simply because I didn’t want to put it down. I cannot wait to read more of this author’s work. ( )

When people ask me why I hated this book I'm going to show them this image and explain that it's one of the mildest. This is one of the approximately 10 descriptions of underage teenage breasts that exist in this book. A book that has 2 rape scenes where the author insinuates that it wasn't really rape because the women enjoyed it. A book where the “pudgy”, “chubby”, protagonist is constantly described as such because "oh it's kinda from the POV of the abusers". His motives for writing these things are so thinly veiled they’re laughable.

Even with the underage nipple descriptions. Yeah we get that you somehow though yourself capable of talking about repressed sexuality, religion, puberty and self-discovery. Guess what, you could have done it better. Carrie can rub her clit for four fucking months without making it seem like teen pedophilic pornography. She can be obsessed with other girls' nipples and sexuality and still not be written in a sensationalist way. Creepy male authors man, when the hell are you going to get it right? I have yet to see a King description of a teenage boy’s penis that's the same in length, adjectives and sensuality as Carrie's nipples. I hope that I never do and I hope he stops writing these things. Buzz off creepy old man with your “wholesome intention” of writing this to provide your family a better life. Provide without leering over children’s breasts thank you very much.

I've been trying my hardest to like Stephen King. I've tried to see past his bad writing and it's true, he is able to build suspense and write exciting action scenes that make you flip the pages of his books without realizing any time has passed. But he fucking sucks at most everything else.

Bonus douchebagery points for the introduction, where he presents real life tragedies of women he knew, women who were bullied and had difficult and sad lives, as inspiration for Carrie and "tragedy porn" to titillate our interest for this story. Dude even says that he was present during their bullying but didn't intervene because what could he do, he was but a 14yo lad. Listen fuckface. If a 14yo is considered unable to operate with the freaking bare minimum of common sense and compassion because he is too young, then what business do you have sexualizing 16yo girls' breasts for 300 pages?
And give me a break. I've actually handled bullies even in kindergarten. Stop it with the lame-ass excuses.

End of rant. ( )

This was a very creepy book. As someone who was relentlessly bullied in high school, I could relate to Carrie in a lot of ways which made her final humiliation absolutely heart-rending and emotional to me. It’s a heart-breaking book where it’s hard to know who’s in the right and where there are really no good guys. ( )

This is one of the first Stephen King books I ever read. The book is about high school girl Carrie White and her extraordinary telekinetic powers. I am just running out of superlatives to give to Mr King…..suffice to say that, apart from a meagre few books that were not to my taste, they are all wonderful. ( )

Just as good the second time around, 20 years later. I was struck by the relevance Carrie has today on the issue of bullying and wrote a blog post if you're interested that you can read here: http://wildmoobooks.blogspot.com/2011/05/revisiting-stephen-kings-carrie.html Now I have to re-watch the movie! ( )

„Carrie“ is Stephen King’s first novel which was ever published and while probably not his finest work, definitely one of his most popular ones. Being shorter than most of his other novels, it does generally focus on a horrific escalation of accumulated emotions, but also a great deal more than that. Major themes of this book are bullying at school and religious fanaticism, both of them important subjects which have not only been presented by King as being part of what can be considered our modern society, but also explained in all their explicit details with a profound understanding of humanity. King’s stories usually are no stories to be remembered as dealing with specifically realistic circumstances or characters, but in his own literary understanding with all its elements of fathomless horror, Stephen King is able to create stunning and thought-provoking plots. „Carrie“ is perhaps not the finest example for his talents, and I still have to delve deeper into many of his other works, but knowing this is his first novel and not as much reflected and reconsidered as later novels, it still makes up for an interesting read not meant for entertainment only, but more for providing an insight into important subjects.

Story
The novel deals with Carietta „Carrie“ White, a seventeen years old girl who is presented as pudgy, introverted and living in solitary with her mother, Margaret White, a religious fanatic who regards even pillows as sinful and arranges her daughter’s every-day life from its very first up to its very last hour. When Carrie experiences her first period in school after a sport lesson, she fears to be bleeding to death, as her mother failed to inform her about anything implying a sexual connotation – as in this case, menstrual period. Her female classmates subsequently bully and torment Carrie in order to glory in their apparently superior positions, not knowing how this will eventually evoke a bloodcurdling escalation during prom night, when Carrie’s telecinetic powers reach a temporary climax.

Review
Before reading this, I have never been introduced to any of King’s horror novels, but watched the 2013 movie adaption with Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore as Carrie and Margaret White, so I mostly knew what awaited me with this novel. But while being informed about most plot elements, the writing itself turned out to be even more interesting, including unusual stylistic devices. Firstly, King in the majority of cases switched between tenses, at one time writing from the „past“ perspective about the experiences of Carrie White and other characters like Sue Snell or Chris Hargensen, and at other times writing from the „present“ perspective about media reflecting the faithful incidents during this specific prom night which has been led up to from the very beginning. The climax was reached half-way through the novel and lasted for more than 30% of it, which made up for a fast and compelling read.

Secondly, King also applied insertions, „snippets“ of thoughts running through the character’s minds, mostly used in brackets without any kind of punctuation or capitalization. While initially an interesting device, this one soon became repetitive and exhausting, which led to me sometimes even skipping those insertions. However, it did not weaken the emotional power „Carrie“ (speaking of the novel, not the protagonist) possesses. It’s a story you have to get into, and many people do probably struggle with finding access to it, but once you got into the story (which required, as in my case, approximately ten percent of the story itself), it became disturbing and gripping. It is possible to feel compassion for Carrie, not because of what she causes at the end of the story, but because of what she has to endure at the beginning of it. Whoever has already experienced bullying or tormenting, knows how humiliating and depressing such an experience can prove to be, especially because children and teenagers can be cruel without thinking of it as being cruel.

„But hardly anybody ever finds out that their actions really, actually, hurt other people! People don't get better, they just get smarter. When you get smarter you don't stop pulling the wings off flies, you just think of better reasons for doing it. Lots of kids say they feel sorry for Carrie White-mostly girls, and that's a laugh-but I bet none of them understand what it's like to be Carrie White, every second of every day. And they don't really care.“ – Sue Snell

Reflecting her previous experiences, her tortures – not only produced by her classmates and their bullying, but also by her mother and the hours upon hours she had to endure locked into a closet – it becomes evident how King built up the tension by making the readers feel Carrie’s pains, and while I don’t understand Carrie’s actions, I can recognize her intentions and the thoughts which led her to do what she finally did. That’s another strength of Stephen King as a writer: irrespective of how cruel and horrendous his character’s deeds are in their essence, you can always comprehend the reasons for what they do.

As to the telekinesis part of the story, it's a paranormal addition to the novel which gains influence on the text with every sentence of King's writing, but don't fear it might seem to appear out of nowhere. Actually, King spends some time with explaining how Carrie could have ended up with her abilities through retrospective, and while it may not be biologically correct, it does make sense in the universe of this story.

Rating
I’ll give „Carrie“ 3.5 stars, rounding up to 4, because it impressed me so much I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s a disturbing story not meant to entertain because of its dark contents, but written in an entertaining way nevertheless. A polarizing story like this cannot be recommended for everyone, but if elements of horror and subjects of social relevance won’t put you off reading it, you should give it a try. ( )