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Carrie

by Stephen King (Goodreads Author)

3.91 · Rating Details · 336,852 Ratings · 7,218 Reviews

Carrie knew she should not use the terrifying power she possessed... But one night at her senior prom, Carrie was scorned and humiliated just one time too many, and in a fit of uncontrollable fury she turned her clandestine game into a weapon of horror and destruction...

Paperback, 253 pages

Published November 1st 2005 by Pocket Books (first published April 5th 1974)

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Best of Stephen King

10th out of 122 books — 2,763 voters

Best Horror Novels

9th out of 1,428 books — 4,354 voters

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Sep 07, 2015 Zoë rated it liked it

3.5/5

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Nov 16, 2007 Jessica rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: telekinetic would-be ugly duckling prom queens with a heavy flow

Shelves: crazy-ladies, chicklits, groups-of-people

I want to start a shelf of "books-that-traumatized-me-as-a-child-with-stories-of-girls-who-just-could-not-stop-gushing-blood-Down-There," but I can't think of any others besides this and Bell Jar. I know in Are You There God, It's Me Margaret they just couldn't stop TALKING about it, but I think that was different, more just perplexing and annoying than actually traumatic.

Any suggestions?

Um, BTW, this book is AMAZING. I should give it more than three stars. There! Done. Four! This is one of thos I want to start a shelf of "books-that-traumatized-me-as-a-child-with-stories-of-girls-who-just-could-not-stop-gushing-blood-Down-There," but I can't think of any others besides this and Bell Jar. I know in Are You There God, It's Me Margaret they just couldn't stop TALKING about it, but I think that was different, more just perplexing and annoying than actually traumatic.

Any suggestions?

Um, BTW, this book is AMAZING. I should give it more than three stars. There! Done. Four! This is one of those books where you're just like, DUDE, how did you even come UP with these THOUGHTS? I mean, I think we take it all for granted now but honestly, this book is amazing. I mean, there's just so MUCH, from the scary religious fanatic mom to the pig's blood to the downed telephone wires to the..... I haven't read this in a hundred years, but I remember many scenes in it so vividly, and not just because of the movie (which is, of course, also great).

I really think this took a lot of guts to write. I mean, the girls' locker room scene, come ON, I mean, who did he think he WAS when he WROTE that? I think he was still drinking then. He must have been. How much guts would that take, to be like, "I'm this guy and I'm going to write this completely balls-out preposterous scene of what I imagine it could be like inside a high school girls' locker room, even though I obviously have NO IDEA. Oh, yeah, and this unpopular naked teenage girl's going to be in there getting her period for the first time, and it's going to be INSANE. Insanely bloody, that's what it's gonna be! Yeah, that's right, blood EVERYWHERE. It's a horror novel! I'm gonna start out with gore! What could possibly be more disgusting and disturbing than bleeding out of one's most private orifice? Well, I'm sure I have no idea what that's like, really can't imagine it, the whole idea sounds totally crazy to me, that such a gross thing would happen to anyone... but being inside a girls' locker room, wow, well that really sounds intense too. Though come to think of it, I have no idea what THAT would realistically be like either! So yeah, but I'm gonna write this scene anyway, gushing blood and mean naked high school girls and it's going to be COMPETELY @#*%ing CRAZY." And he did. And it was.

But it WORKED. This novel was insane and fearless and obviously written by someone who had this story in him that needed to gush out like Carrie's menstrual blood and crazy telekinetic angst. This is one of the books I think of when I get depressed about the idea of workshopped writing and the internal observing critic and all the rest of that limiting quality-control type stuff. Sometimes people need to tell the nasally fact-checkers in their fevered brains to sit down and shut up, and drown out the voices of reason and temperance so they can let the wild stuff come out, and when they do, that's when they write Carrie.

Is this the Classic of Western Literature? No, not by most people's standards, and definitely not by mine. But it is a damn good story, and I'm glad he told it! ...more

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Apr 24, 2015 Laz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: thriller addicts

Shelves: paranormal, fantasy, horror

“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.”

This is pizza, the freaky flavor.

I loved how intertwined with religion it was. Not churches and stuff like that. I mean hardcore stuff about the point where religion stops being religion and transforms into fanaticism and how a person can drive themselves crazy with it, especially if you already have the tendency towards the crazy.

And ...more

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Apr 14, 2016 Mario rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, own, reread, own-read

And suddenly it didn't seem to matter any more, nothing would matter if she could turn over, turn over and see the stars, turn over and look once and die.

Carrie was the second book that I read by King, around two years ago (first one I've read was The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon), and it was also the book that made me love King's writing. And now, that I've re-read it, I have to say that I enjoyed it even more than the first time.

It's hard to believe that this book is King's first published book, ...more

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Apr 18, 2013 seak rated it liked it

Shelves: audio, 2013, stephen-king

To begin, I want to tell a quick story about my introduction to Stephen King. I came really late to the party when it comes to the King. I'll not bore you with the same ol' story about my first read, but to make a long story short, I read The Stand and was not a fan right away...to say the least. For some reason, and after numerous recommendations, I started The Dark Tower series and I wasn't even that impressed with the first book, The Gunslinger. I didn't hate it, but it wasn't nearly what eve ...more

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Sep 17, 2013 Jason Koivu rated it liked it

My brain is a torment of RAGE with which I wish to rain vengeance down upon the later half of this book!

Everything progressed along as it should in the first half. The story moved at a good pace and the writing - though not moving - was adequate.

Then the climatic scene happened soon after the halfway mark. I'll rephrase that. The climax happened in the middle…the middle!

"An odd place for a climatic scene," I remember thinking. Nonetheless, I pushed on...and on and on through a rising tide of d ...more

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Aug 18, 2016 Kjell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-dutch, read-in-english, books-i-own, favourites, read-more-than-once, dark-horror-suspense, classics, read-in-2016, stephen-king

Contains mild spoilers. Ahh, this book makes me sad. I see this more as a tragedy than horror. (view spoiler).
This is the third time reading this book. The last time was eight years ago but this is still as brilliant as it ever was. I remember being totally obsessed with this novel. Not only the novel, though. The movie from 1976 with Sissy Spacek is in my top 10 favourite movies of all time! So this is sor ...more

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Feb 07, 2014 Alejandro rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror, religion, paranormal, alternate-history, novel

It's very interesting to read Carrie finally. I have watched the Brian de Palma's adaptation, so I wasn't unfamiliar with what would happen.

However, the way as Stephen King wrote this book was in such great way that the novel is still engaging not matter if you already know the main highlights. There are some books that if you knew what will happen...bam! All the fun was spoiled and you won't get interested on reading the book. But in here, Stephen King gave you the highlights right away. You ha It's very interesting to read Carrie finally. I have watched the Brian de Palma's adaptation, so I wasn't unfamiliar with what would happen.

However, the way as Stephen King wrote this book was in such great way that the novel is still engaging not matter if you already know the main highlights. There are some books that if you knew what will happen...bam! All the fun was spoiled and you won't get interested on reading the book. But in here, Stephen King gave you the highlights right away. You haven't advanced even few pages and you already know that Carrie White has Telekinetic powers and something really bad happened in the Prom Night.

I think that it's the best testimony to his genius in this, his very first novel (the first to be published but in reality the fourth that he wrote). He wasn't able to know then that the book will became a success and a staple book in the horror genre, however thinking that that will happen, it is clever not waiting long in the narrative to give the main highlights.

Since if before, you still have to get spoiled of key events in stories, nowadays with internet, social networks, online news, chatting forums, etc... it's really REALLY hard to avoid getting spoiled when something became so successfully. But with Stephen King's debut published novel? No sweat, you can read almost 40 years later the novel, knowing the story, and still you get engaged into the book due the great management of the author on the presentation of the story.

The narrative plays with "current" events in the story with excerpts of supposed books and documents written in the "future" of the story. Even you have to take in account that the very novel is kinda an alternate history story due that it's set in "1979" but the publication was on 1974, and there are many references on the supposed investigative books there with dates even more in the future.

Other powerful element on Carrie is that its main topic is still as relevant now than in 1974, since that topic is bullying. The bullying is main trigger in the story and you can't deny that it's a topic the same as important now (if not more) than in 1974.

Because of that, Carrie didn't age and it didn't lose its appealing to new readers. I think that main storyline and plot are well set and developed.

My only comments would be in character developing or the justification of some actions. I say this that while the "evil" characters like Chris Hargensen and Billy Nolan are satisfying developed and with really interesting reactions of both. Miss Dejardin and Sue Snell, I think that they could use a better setting of their motivations to help Carrie White and not a sudden impulse of being good samaritans. More interaction between Carrie White and her mother could be appreaciated. Changing to other subjects.

I think that it's misconception that Carrie White went insane, crazy, etc... She wasn't crazy. A crazy person don't think in a clear way and it's obvious that Carry once she unleashed her rage, she took steps to protect her work that a crazy person didn't do. Definitely she was a psychopathic person that it's way different than a "crazy person". Even some events in her confrontation with her mother and later her encounter with Sue Snell, leave clear evidence that Carrie White was thinking in a certain level of "rational logic", maybe irrational for you but when you try to think what could be Carrie White you can realize why some "odd" events, have all the logic in the world of Carrie.

Changing the subject again. The novel even leave a certain open frame for a potential sequel. Before, you could think that that would never happens, but seeing a just published sequel for The Shining, so anything can happens. ...more

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Apr 07, 2015 Scarlet rated it really liked it

Shelves: chills-n-thrills, depressing, best-of-2013, stephen-king

Don’t let the brevity of this book fool you. Carrie may be one of King’s less thick books but right from the scandalous opening scene to the very last page, it’s a relentlessly harrowing read.

King pieces together Carrie's story through a series of reports and articles concerning a telekinetic catastrophe in Maine. I knew how terrible the end would be before it even happened, so reading the book was an excruciating experience - the dread just kept building page after page, I could see what everyt ...more

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May 25, 2016 Mia Nauca rated it it was amazing

Este es mi tipo de terror: un terror más psicológico, mas sutil, con una excelente historia, es todo lo que podría pedir

El hecho de que esté narrado por científicos, sobrevivientes de la catástrofe del pueblo, con declaraciones oficiales del caso White, para mi fue lo mejor del libro, porque le dio un realismo escalofriante.

Mucha gente pone como personaje de terror a Carrie, pero yo creo que ella, a pesar de tener los poderes, sólo era una víctima del bullying y del acoso excesivo en casa.

La qu ...more

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Dec 04, 2013 Stephanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: lit, scarry, horror, 2013

Poor Carrie, I feel your pain.

This book was interesting in that it presented facts on scientific phenomena called Psychokinesis, Something I have had personal experience with and I’ll tell you about it at the end of this review as long as you all promise not to call me a freak…..but think that I’m a freak all you want.

Carrie didn’t have it easy in high school. Being raised by an over protective, abusive, and ultra religious mother and no father, she didn’t have the tools to fit in with the crow ...more

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Jul 03, 2015 Karina E rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2015

What fast and captivating read. I was a little skeptical about what horrors might come up in a King novel because I had never read anything by him, but it was fine. Defintely intense but absolutely manageable. A really good book and I'm glad it was my first King

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Jul 08, 2015 Franco Santos rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: stephen-king

Carrie es un libro corto pero grandioso. Te atrapa desde la primera página. Es ya considerado un clásico de la literatura del terror, y con buenos fundamentos. Tiene escenas que dejan una cicatriz en nuestra memoria.

description

Jesús mira desde las paredes.
Pero su rostro es frío como una piedra.
Y si el me ama como ella dice.
¿Por qué me siento tan sola?
Amo a Carrie. Es un personaje con el cual me encariñé muchísimo. Es uno de mis favoritos. Muchos la odian, yo la adoro.

En la práctica, nadie se entera n ...more

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Jul 08, 2016 Mayra Sigwalt rated it liked it

Shelves: wishlist

É difícil avaliar esse livro por si só. Depois que você lê Sobre a Escrita e sabe o quão importante esse primeiro livro foi pro Stephen King, é difícil não ter um carinho por ele. Difícil também porque a história da Carrie já está tão enraizada na cultura pop, que provavelmente você já sabe tudo o que vai acontecer. Talvez se tivesse lido na época, houvesse espaço pra ser surpreendida ou ter uma experiência inovadora. Mas já fomos tão bombardeados com filmes sobre a vingança terrível de adolesce ...more

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Feb 14, 2009 Jennifer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: stephen-king, horror, i_saw_the_movie, insane_in_the_membrane

I think part of what makes this book so amazing is that even though it is a horror book - it stems from something very basic and very real to so many people. The need to be loved. The need for acceptance. The need to be nurtured by a parent. Sadly - as is so often the case in real life as well - these things are held out of reach for Carrie. Her mother is crazy. The kids at school are HORRIBLE. She has no friends - no life. She is isolated and miserable. She is an outsider who can see that peopl ...more

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Dec 05, 2013 Anushka rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, i-cried, reviewed, mindfuck, ebook, suspense-thriller-horror, me-likey, holy-cow-that-was-awesome, authors-i-love, bitchin, adapted-on-screen-or-tv, them-feels, worth-the-hype, all-hail-the-king

This was Stephen King's first published work and I hadn't even read it till now?! Some fan I am!
I hope Its never too late applies for me here and all will be forgiven.

THIS BOOK.
WOW.
Just WOW.
Amazing.
W-O-W.

I would have given this book 5-Stars but as I have already read a few books by Stephen King, I am well aware that he is capable of writing better stuff. Hence 1 Star less.

The opening scene. My goodness! Since that scene itself I developed a deep sympathy towards the main character. Poor Carrie ...more

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Jan 22, 2016 Anne rated it really liked it

Shelves: its-complicated, brrrrrrr-shake-it-off, dark-or-and-morbid, sci-fi, school-setting, october-reads

"Did any of you stop to think that Carrie White has feelings? Did any of you ever stop to think? Sue? Fern? Helen? Jessica? Any of you? You think she's ugly. Well, you're all ugly. I saw it on Friday morning"

I think I got a lot more than I bargained for with this book. And I'm not sure yet; Is that a good thing or bad thing? Every character in here screamed asylum. I've never read about a group of people more in need of psychiatric help. AND SAD PART IS FROM WHAT I READ IT SEEMS FOR THEM

FIRST ...more

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Feb 04, 2016 Magdalena rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, horror, thriller, suspense, paranormal, stephen-king, made-into-movie, read-2014

I saw the movie a couple of years ago and I thought it was ok, nothing that special. Not even a really good horror movie. So I never bothered to read the books. Well, that was a mistake because the book is so much better than the movie…well, that’s a hardly surprising, movies are seldom better than the book. Carrie is not a horror book in its essence, yes it has elements of horror, but mostly the book is just a tragic tale of a girl who finally snaps, who after years of abuse, both at home and i ...more

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Apr 17, 2015 Ruth Turner rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: stephen-king-revisited

Audiobook – Narrated by Sissy Spaceck – Excellent narration.

As an added bonus there’s an introduction by the author.

It’s no secret that I don’t enjoy female narrators, but Spaceck did a wonderful job with this.

She didn’t try to lower and deepen her voice for the male characters, which I find really annoying. Instead, she differentiated between them by the natural cadence of her own voice.

Her reading of Carrie’s internal monologue throughout the book is exceptional.

***

Ebook:

Carrie wasn’t the firs ...more

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Feb 07, 2016 Chiara Pagliochini rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporanei, fantasy, letteratura-angloamericana, horror, young-adult

« Hanno fatto del male a Carrie per l’ultima volta. »

Carrie, vediamo un po’. Da dove cominciare…
A lettura ultimata mi sono raggomitolata sul divano in posizione fetale e, da vera sociopatica, sono rimasta per un pezzetto a fissare il vuoto, un po’ ascoltando le voci alla tv, un po’ scansando le domande di mamma che mi chiedeva che cosa avessi. Poi, qualche minuto fa, sono salita in soffitta a discutere col modem e mi sono seduta un momento sulla sedia girevole di papà e lassù, così sola, sono sc « Hanno fatto del male a Carrie per l’ultima volta. »

Carrie, vediamo un po’. Da dove cominciare…
A lettura ultimata mi sono raggomitolata sul divano in posizione fetale e, da vera sociopatica, sono rimasta per un pezzetto a fissare il vuoto, un po’ ascoltando le voci alla tv, un po’ scansando le domande di mamma che mi chiedeva che cosa avessi. Poi, qualche minuto fa, sono salita in soffitta a discutere col modem e mi sono seduta un momento sulla sedia girevole di papà e lassù, così sola, sono scoppiata a piangere. Perché Carrie mi ha annullato davanti il tempo, ha spazzato via in meno di duecento pagine lo spazio che mi separa da brutti ricordi, ha cancellato anni di lavoro, di perfezionamento, di evoluzione.
E mi ha riportata là, proprio là, nel mio buco privato, al centro di quel piccolo nodo di malessere da cui sembra non si debba uscire mai. Il mio buco privato copre un discreto arco di tempo: la maggior parte della vita, ecco, credo di averla passata laggiù. E ancora certe volte mi domando se ne sono fuori del tutto, se è proprio vero che ho fatto il grande passo, che mi sono inserita nella vita.
In ognuna di noi – in ogni donna – c’è una piccola e livida Carrie. Fossimo state pure fortunatissime, volesse il caso che acne, goffaggine e trasandatezza ci abbiano graziato, un momento-Carrie tuttavia dobbiamo averlo avuto. Il momento in cui, guardandoci allo specchio, non ci siamo piaciute. Il momento in cui ci siamo sentite diverse e abbiamo desiderato essere qualcun altro. Il momento in cui abbiamo voluto vincere il nostro cerchio di isolamento e fare il grande passo, uscire allo scoperto, farci degli amici, uscire, dimostrare di essere una volta tanto una persona interessante, una persona che vale. E certe volte abbiamo trionfato e certe altre abbiamo fallito. E siamo ancora tutti qui, tutti tranne qualcuno, perché qualcuno che non ce l’ha fatta, nel vasto mondo, deve pur esserci.

E così capita che un piccolo libro possa ricordarci di noi a tredici anni, i brufoli e il seno grosso, i capelli puliti non sempre, i vestiti indecenti. Ricordarci di loro, loro che ci rompevano le cose – perché le cose erano nostre e andavano rotte; i loro pugni e i loro calci, gli sgambetti; le prese in giro in palestra per come correvi, i soprannomi che ti restavano appiccicati addosso, così appiccicati che non riuscivi a staccare da essi la tua faccia. E ancora i motteggiamenti perché ti piaceva il ragazzo più piccolo e nessuno di loro ti si filava. E poi, il liceo, cinque anni di ultimo banco, così nessuno ti vede, così non devi parlare, così nessuno capisce che non hai niente da dire. Gente che si fidanza, gente che riceve fiori, ragazze che vengono bene in foto, ragazze che parlano di cose che non sai e non saprai per molto tempo ancora. Un desiderio impossibile di riscatto, un anelito a una felicità che ci spetta di diritto – ne spetta un po’ a tutti, no? – e a cui pure sembri non approdare mai, mai.

Carrie… come si fa a non parteggiare per Carrie? Come si fa a esser sazi del sangue, degli incendi, dei cavi divelti? E allo stesso tempo sapere che la vendetta è un deserto, perché non ti porterà più vicino agli altri, non ti farà meno diversa, ma anzi ti separerà per sempre da loro, una distanza abissale che nulla potrà più colmare.
In ‘Carrie’ Stephen King colpisce per la sensibilità, l’acutezza con cui sa sfiorare e descrivere le declinazioni dell’animo femminile in una fase tanto delicata come l’adolescenza. Il vero horror non sta nelle abilità telepatiche della protagonista quanto nello scavo psicologico, nell’indagine di rapporti umani deviati come quello tra Carrie e la madre, gravato da un fanatismo religioso esasperante e vagamente incredibile. E poi, ancora, il legame implicito tra bellezza, sessualità e potere, innocenza e peccato, dominazione e sottomissione. Nozioni confuse, spesso stagnanti a un livello preconscio, che pure sono emerse almeno una volta nell’animo di ognuno di noi.
Siamo tutti stati Carrie. Poi, magari, abbiamo avuto l’occasione di non esserlo più. Per un attimo ci siamo sentite belle, per un secondo abbiamo visto la luce in fondo al tunnel, abbiamo pensato « stavolta ce la faccio, stavolta è la volta buona, non sarò più emarginata, non avrò più motivo di aver paura di parlare, potrò essere me stessa, essere apprezzata, potrò imporre la mia volontà ». E forse dal tunnel siamo uscite. Oppure nel tunnel siamo rimaste, il tappeto ci è scivolato da sotto i piedi – era l’ennesimo grande scherzo. Siamo inciampate. E abbiamo desiderato incendiare, abbiamo desiderato che tutto si spaccasse e spaccasse noi con esso. Abbiamo desiderato annullare tutto in un cataclisma, una catastrofe, una catarsi-non-catartica, un falò finale. E ancora eravamo sole, sole fino in fondo, per sempre, irrimediabilmente.
Come si fa a non amare, a non compatire, a non aver paura di Carrie, quando amiamo, compatiamo e abbiamo paura di noi per tramite suo?
...more

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Nov 27, 2015 Karly *The Vampire Ninja & Luminescent Monster* rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bewitch-you-soon, terrifying-traditionals, spooktober

What would Spooktober be without a little Stephen King?! Last year my girl Jess and I ventured our way through ’Salem’s Lot, and it was really fucking good, so I chose to pick up Carrie this year… I was left significantly less impressed.

The overall impression is one of a town that is waiting to die.

There were several elements of this story that didn’t work for me, however the book overall is quite good. I found the premise and explanations of Carrie’s powers compelling and the theme of the stor ...more

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Jan 21, 2016 Dana Kenedy (Dana and the Books) rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2016

Rating: 3.5/5

This review can also be found on my blog, Dana and the Books.

I have a confession to make: this is the first Stephen King novel I've read. I'm not sure why it's taken me this long to pick one up, but it only seemed fitting that my first Stephen King novel should be his debut novel.

I must preface by saying I haven't seen the movie, so I went into the book with very little prior knowledge of what Carrie was actually about.

So, the verdict? A good debut novel, but not a fantastic one.

The ...more

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Aug 29, 2016 Bill rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror

Big Stephen King fan that I am, it surprises me sometimes to realize that I have still not read several of his earlier novels, namely Carrie, Cujo, Firestarter, Christine. The obvious reason for this is that I had seen all of these movies before I had the chance to get at the novels.

I am determined to read everything by the man, so, seeing as it's been at least 20 years since I've seen any of these, I am aiming to get to these sooner than later.
And so, we begin with the lovely Carrie.

Unless you' ...more

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Nov 02, 2015 Annie rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2015

King is one of those writers who you can depend on for delivery. The rush of the plot, the careful segmenting of the character; with King you know what you want and you know you are going to get it. There is something to be said about a writer who has penned so many books and still lives up to this promise.

Carrie is a high school girl with a religious fanatic for a mother. Her fugly attires and the history of her family in the small town of Chamberlain are enough to make her the brunt of many a

Carrie is a high school girl with a religious fanatic for a mother. Her fugly attires and the history of her family in the small town of Chamberlain are enough to make her the brunt of many a joke. Bullied straight through from her childhood, Carrie is the epitome of a misfit. Having grown up with the strict doctrines of her mother, she is unable to come to terms with the changes in herself as time casts it's spell on her. She is a piece that doesn't fit in with any of the puzzle boxes and struggles with coping at the degradation passed onto her by her more effluent classmates. But Carrie is not your average girl, fumbling to understand her mother's polar views or trying to be accepted by her peers. She is in fact quite extraordinary and if you have atleast seen the movie, you know what I am talking about

This was an interesting book on many fronts. The character of the mother who proclaims herself a devout Christian, is genuinely scary. Her declarations on the natural tendencies of a young girl and the changes in her body as puberty comes a-knocking, were to me the most horrific element of the story. Second, the mean girls at school are meaner than your average plastics. Between them throwing tampons at the frightened girl who has just had her first period, and being shunned by every person she knows, one can hardly blame this girl for going ballistic. What seems to be well on its way to be the perfect fairy tale, this quickly turns into a horror story.

The story is well on its way to be the realisation of the myth of the monster that arises certain time, every month. Here, Carrie's powers are realised with the onslaught of puberty and blood is everywhere in the novel. If I had any issues with this story it was probably this. Also, I didn't quite care for the very intrusive paper clips and news segments and interviews of The White Commission and others that was set up to investigate the horrors. This constant shift from the present to the past, especially at times that took me away from the middle of an intense scene was quite jarring and destructive to the drama of the affair. This is probably not one of King's best.

Pssst! Totally unrelated but I wanted to mention if anyone is on Instagram you could check out Rupi Kaur, who made quite a bang with the issues at play here. I personally found them to be very interesting and thought it deserved a mention here

...more

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Jan 06, 2016 Bark's Book Nonsense rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, horror, favorites

This was the first Stephen King novel I read. I remember grabbing it from my dad’s nightstand and claiming it as my own. I was eleven. Eleven. It is the book that fueled my desire and lifelong love of reading. But eleven?! Reading it now I’m a little horrified that I read it at such a young age. It has quite a bit of sex and disturbing scenes but I turned out relatively normal so I guess no damage was done ;)

This is your classic bully revenge tale and it is as relevant today as it was back in t ...more

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Nov 29, 2012 Eyehavenofilter rated it really liked it

I just re-read this, because I noticed that thre is a new version of the movie and Im horrified, so I decided to re-review!
Redeux 2012
Stephen Kings Recipe for Disaster
ingredients:
1 telekenetically talented teeanged outcast
1 sexually repressed , religious fanatic, over bearing, abusive mother
3 to 4 teenaged sex obsessed highschool girl bullies
1 part time friend
mix carefully and wait for first signs of puberty during addition of a sprinkling of water.
beat furiously until tears and hysteria bring o ...more

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Oct 27, 2014 El rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-centurylit-late, cuckoos, horror

Stephen King has made a killing at writing stories and books about really scary things. There was a clown, a car, a little boy that comes back after being buried in a pet cemetery, and so much more. But this one... this one is the scariest for a reason that the male population just isn't quite going to get: There is the sequence in the beginning of the book (and the movie, if you don't read, in which case you're on the wrong site) that involves this young girl starting her period for the first t Stephen King has made a killing at writing stories and books about really scary things. There was a clown, a car, a little boy that comes back after being buried in a pet cemetery, and so much more. But this one... this one is the scariest for a reason that the male population just isn't quite going to get: There is the sequence in the beginning of the book (and the movie, if you don't read, in which case you're on the wrong site) that involves this young girl starting her period for the first time, in the middle of shower at her high school in front of everyone. THAT IS TERRIFYING. Every girl worries about the first time she gets her period. When will it happen, will I know it's happening, where will it happen, what if it happens while I'm swimming, what if people can tell, what if it happens during school and goes through my pants before I can go home? I mean, really, you guys, this is something that only girls really get.

Stephen King might be the one exception. He might be the one man who could really get that inner turmoil. And it's the scariest sequence I've ever read. It's traumatizing.

There's a lot of chatter in the world today about bullying - the word is thrown around a lot these days, and it's usually used incorrectly. Someone feels bothered and immediately uses the word "bullied" so people take notice. Someone looks at someone else funny and that person feels insulted and accuses the face-maker as being a bully. It's a dangerous slope because, as anyone who has actually been bullied knows, most instances of "bullying" are not in fact bullying. And it's insulting for those of us who have experienced bullying.

It's a topic that is very close to me, and my heart goes out every single time (pretty much every other day now) I read about a young person who has decided to end their life because of bullying. Today these kids have to deal with a level of socialization that I luckily did not have at that age - cyber-bullying. There's no way of turning it off, really, not at that age where the sun rises and sets based on their peers, and if you're not logged in then you're missing out, and sometimes you just have to be there to protect your name... it's frightening to me. I want to protect all the young people who have to deal with this.

Carrie is bullied by her peers. She has a hard life. She lives with a crazy woman who is obsessed with her religion and Carrie is, as a result, one sick little cookie. She doesn't know why there's blood running down her legs in the shower because her mother never taught her about the changes her body would go through. Her peers, being the rat-bastards that they were, mocked her mercilessly while she thought she was dying. And then there's that whole prom scene. I mean, really. I'm sorry (because I don't necessarily believe in retaliation) but those shits deserved what they had coming to them.

That's right, I said it.

This is the Stephen King I love, this old stuff of his. I think everyone feels like they've read Carrie because everyone knows the story and Sissy Spacek really knocked the role out of the ballpark. We're all familiar with the image of her standing there as prom queen with all that pig blood on her. There's a new movie about to come out, which sparked this reading because I have friends who are going to make me watch it. And I thought I had read it before too, because I knew the story so well. But I don't think I ever actually did. So this was fun. Well, as fun as such a traumatizing story can be to read.

If nothing else, it makes me happy not to be a teenager anymore. I mean, as angsty and grumpy-pants-y as I can be, I can't blow shit up with my mind. Sadly. ...more

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Jan 11, 2016 ~Geektastic~ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: King fans, people who hated high school

Shelves: owned, horror-suspense, favorites, reviewed, great-movie

It’s that time of year again, the sometimes-lovely month of October, and it’s time for my annual visit to Uncle Stevie (this is not a euphemism for anything). Right now, I am just immersing myself in Needful Things, one of his mid-nineties doorstops. But, with all the anti-bullying bru-ha-ha going on in the news right now, it feels appropriate to go back and talk about the book that cemented my annual tradition.

I first read Carrie as a freshman in high school, and afterward I went on a Stephen K It’s that time of year again, the sometimes-lovely month of October, and it’s time for my annual visit to Uncle Stevie (this is not a euphemism for anything). Right now, I am just immersing myself in Needful Things, one of his mid-nineties doorstops. But, with all the anti-bullying bru-ha-ha going on in the news right now, it feels appropriate to go back and talk about the book that cemented my annual tradition.

I first read Carrie as a freshman in high school, and afterward I went on a Stephen King bender; that’s how much I loved it. High school really is the perfect time to encounter this book for the first time. Carrie takes the average high school experience of misery and loneliness and ups the ante to near apocalyptic levels; after reading this, my high school experience felt like a warm and fuzzy trip to Disneyland.

Carrie White is a sad, lonely girl with a terrible home life and no one to turn to. Her mother is a religious fanatic and certifiable lunatic. The kids and teachers at school, with a very few exceptions, range from monstrously cruel to blindly apathetic. The events of the opening scene alone would scar most people for life, and Carrie is even less prepared than most to face the horror of adolescence.

King takes an excellent tactic with this book--which was his first published--and weaves the supernatural/unnamed elements of horror with the even more disturbing psychological horrors of being a teenager. Carrie has a special gift ((view spoiler)), and her abilities are integral to her development, and intensely horrifying once you see where the narrative is taking her. King tells the story with a highly effective combination of methods, interspersing the traditional storytelling with fictional primary source documents recording the “phenomenon” of Carrie White and the ensuing tragedy (this is a horror book, so I don’t consider this warning a spoiler). Carrie’s tale becomes the beginning of a much larger, untold story that affects all of society both scientifically and psychologically. Well, maybe not entirely untold, if you’ve read Firestarter.

As readers, we know from the very beginning that Carrie’s story will not end well; the tale is mostly flashbacks and analysis of events with heavy foreshadowing of calamity. However, this knowledge doesn’t keep us from dreading the outcome and hoping that we might be mistaken. Carrie is so obviously the underdog, and so pitiably lovable, that it is just as heartbreaking as it is frightening to watch the end events unfold.

As a horror novel, or just as a novel in general, Carrie is a great read, both powerful and enjoyable. A substantial amount of story is packed into a scant 200+ pages, and the tension builds to a powerful crescendo. Though I don’t think the book was ever intended as an anti-bullying polemic, I do think those who suffer at the hands of bullies could glean some amount of (slightly disturbing) comfort from this book. However, it is the bullies that should be reading it; I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that more clearly delineates the disastrous consequences of persecuting others. You can make all the after-school specials you want, but if you really want to teach someone not to be a bully, give them a copy of this book.

(In some ways, I think Carrie is a better version of a story King told under the name Richard Bachman, Rage, in which a deranged teenager holds his class hostage at gunpoint. Carrie covers similar themes, with much more power and originality.)
...more

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Apr 17, 2007 Jason rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 03, 2015 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror

Stephen Kings Carrie was the quickest book i've read by him loved the book & was totally absorbed in the book Carrie White has a special power Telekinesis she has always been different being the out cast from public school to high school girls start to do horrible things to her but she gets her own back a wonderfully written book which i could not put down but think the movie was better in my oppinion

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About Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, M Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels. ...more

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Quotes from Carrie

“High school isn't a very important place. When you're going you think it's a big deal, but when it's over nobody really thinks it was great unless they're beered up.” — 385 likes

“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.” — 252 likes

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