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Carrie, by Stephen King Book Review | SFReader.com
Carrie, by Stephen King Genre: Horror Publisher: Simon and Schuster Published: 1974 Review Posted: 7/7/2004 Reviewer Rating:
Reader Rating: 8 out of 10
Carrie, by Stephen King
Book Review by Jeff Edwards
Have you read this book?
For Carietta White, high school is a Purgatory where she is teased, taunted and tripped.
But if school is Purgatory, home is Hell. Carrie's mother, an abusive religious fanatic,
often beats Carrie and locks her in a closet, demanding that she "pray to Jesus for [her]
woman-weak, wicked, sinning soul." Carrie's mother says that good girls don't grow
breasts ("dirtypillows"), and that menstruation ("the Curse of Blood") follows sin. So
when Carrie gets her first period at the age of sixteen, she thinks she is bleeding to death
in the gym's locker room. Her classmates pile more abuse onto this already traumatic
event, reawakening Carrie's latent telekinetic ability - an awesome power that destroys
the town and causes over 400 deaths.
Carrie, originally published in 1974, has aged remarkably well, with the
exception of some dated dialogue at the opening of the prom scene. Ironically, here in his
first published novel, King breaks most of the commandments he preaches in his recent
how-to book, "On Writing." Characters in Carrie don't just say things, they
"mutter," "snap," "scream," "groan" and "bark." King is generous with the adverbs here,
too, with characters speaking hesitatingly, briskly, suddenly, dispassionately and
magnanimously.
King populates Carrie with memories from his childhood - Green Stamps, a
Webcor phonograph - in fact, Carrie herself is a loose composite of two girls from King's
own high school (with added telekinetic ability, of course). Carrie is more than the simple
"Devil's child, Satan spawn" her mother sees. She is a confused, tortured teenager who
runs the gamut of emotions - from fear, shame and embarrassment, up to hope and joy,
then down into despair and rage, and finally, loss.
Within Carrie, a fictional journalist writes in a magazine article, "But it all
seems too brittle, too glossy, just a cheap patina over a darker world - a real world where
nightmares happen." The passage works equally well as a commentary on Stephen King
novels, where everyday Chevy-driving, Big Mac-eating, Budweiser-drinking people step
over an unseen line and find themselves face-to-face with vampires, rabid dogs and
children cursed with extraordinary powers.
WHEN I READ THIS AS A TEEN I THAUGHT IT WAS REAL AS IT SHOWED COPIES OF COURT REPORTS ETC LOL ITS ONE OF HIS BEST AND THE FILM LIVES UP TO THE BOOK AND IT SHOULD NOT BE BANNED ,IF PEOPLE ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE AFFECTS OF VIOLENCE THEY SHOULD BAN THE NEWS
Posted by Jennifer Lee on 4/15/2009
Absolutely not. I don't believe this book should be kept from anyone at all. This book shows just how cruel society, especially a high school, can truly be. Carrie may also show how acceptance is vital in life because without it, disasterous events or chaos may occur. This book may not be appropriate for children, but for high schoolers, I think it'd be perfect.
Posted by keri on 11/12/2008
do you think that this book should be kept way from teens?
this book is band in our library and i want to see what you thought about that
Posted by Jeff Edwards on 1/9/2006
Thanks for posting, Jennifer! Personally, I think that Stephen King's first few books are his best.
Posted by Jennifer on 12/7/2005
This was my first Stephen King book, I enjoyed it alot.In a way it hooked me on one of the best writers on Earth.