Carrie may be picked on by her classmates, but she has a gift. She can move things with her mind. Doors lock, Candles fall. This IS her power and her problem. Then. an act of kindness. as spontaneous as the vicious taunts of her classmates. offers Carrie a chance to be a normal...until an unexpected cruelty turns her gift Into a weapon of horror and destruction that no one will ever forget.
--back cover
I often struggle with narratives where there is such overt, cruel, and public bullying happening over a long period of time. It speaks to such a large societal failure to deal with such instances that it beggars belief.
I thought I would feel the same way about Carrie, but I don't. She and her family are so messed up that people don't know what to do about them. Sue and Tommy, for good reasons or not, actually make an attempt to help her. And when it all goes to hell it does so in such a way that it becomes hard to feel that much pity for Carrie in the end.
It's a tense, fast, terrible story that never really tries to surprise you but always has you hooked in anyways. Super good read.
Review of 'Carrie (Los Jet De Plaza & Janes. Biblioteca De Stephen King. 102, 8)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This is another one of those books that, being a Stephen King fan, I can’t believe I’d never read. Second book written, first one published, if I remember correctly (for what it’s worth, I don’t think Carrie was as good as [b:'Salem's Lot|11590|'Salem's Lot|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327891565l/11590.SY75.jpg|3048937]).
I saw the movie a really long time ago, in the 80s or maybe the early 90s. I can’t remember very much of it at all, but I’m almost certain it wasn’t as detailed, or as gruesome or heart-wrenching, as the book.
Carrie is the ultimate story of bullying gone wrong. My book, [b:Stingers|49404106|Stingers|Graham Downs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576660938l/49404106.SY75.jpg|40865726], doesn’t even come close (prove me wrong: read both of them and tell me what you think!). The horrors that girl’s peers put her through... not to mention the isolation her mother put her through. To be a seventeen-year-old girl and not know what a period …
This is another one of those books that, being a Stephen King fan, I can’t believe I’d never read. Second book written, first one published, if I remember correctly (for what it’s worth, I don’t think Carrie was as good as [b:'Salem's Lot|11590|'Salem's Lot|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327891565l/11590.SY75.jpg|3048937]).
I saw the movie a really long time ago, in the 80s or maybe the early 90s. I can’t remember very much of it at all, but I’m almost certain it wasn’t as detailed, or as gruesome or heart-wrenching, as the book.
Carrie is the ultimate story of bullying gone wrong. My book, [b:Stingers|49404106|Stingers|Graham Downs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576660938l/49404106.SY75.jpg|40865726], doesn’t even come close (prove me wrong: read both of them and tell me what you think!). The horrors that girl’s peers put her through... not to mention the isolation her mother put her through. To be a seventeen-year-old girl and not know what a period is, the mind boggles. It’s almost unbelievable, but then it’s just believable enough, because I can absolutely imagine some really cloistered, fundamental Christian parents being like that.
Stephen King always knew how to incite emotion with his writing, and this book is good, but it still feels like a debut novel. It’s better than millions of other debut novels, to be sure, but it’s still a debut novel. The writing’s not as tight, the voice’s not as refined; the editing’s not as good.
Again, I feel like Salem’s Lot was better in those respects. But that might be down to better editing (being the second book to be published, the publisher could’ve been prepared to devote more budget to getting it edited), and anyway it’s unfair to compare them because they’re such different stories.
Anyway, I’m glad I finally read this book. It’s a piece of history. It’s required reading for any Stephen King fan, and it’s given me massive insights into where it all began for the man.
