Carrie is Stephen Kings first published book. I like how this story is told in a kind of interview style. It keeps it exciting throughout. Everyone knows the 70's version of this movie with Sissy Spacek and John Travolta. I would say that the book and movie are pretty close. There was a remake made in the 00's that is more accurate, but you get the idea. If you dont know what this story is about (there cant be many that dont) Carrie is picked on all her life and discovers she has telekenetic powers. She ends up "getting even" with everyone at the prom. The insanity of Carries mother, Margaret is the creepiest thing about this book. Anyone with a mother like that really has no chance of being normal. Lets hope there arent any others as insane as her in the world (although there probably are) Carrie is less that 200 pages, a very quick easy read. Like all other SK books, I definitely recommend it.

This is a book that I can't believe has taken me so long to get around to reading! Carrie, by Stephen King is one of the classics of the horror genre and, indeed, was the one that really launched King's career.

I have to say that it was pretty much what I expected, at least plot-wise. This is early Stephen King, and I really like early Stephen King. The book was shorter than I had thought but it was told in a unique way (something I often find with King's works). We see the fairly straight forward plot unfold from a variety of viewpoints, from the protagonist's own eyes, from other characters as the events take place, but more uniquely, from the perspective of newspaper accounts, court testamony, and the autobiography of one of the major charcters in the novel. And all of these perspectives are interwoven to tell the tale. Sounds complicated but it all fits together nicely and keeps the reader turning pages.

The plot itself is a bit dated by today's standards of shock horror. The scenes we see are, indeed, shocking...horrifyingly so and yet for somebody like myself that has read lots of King as well as other horror writers...it seemed less shocking somehow. I have never seen the movie staring Sissy Spacek but I have seen pictures from it showing Carrie at the prom, covered in blood. I had visions of reading the book and being grossed out at how so much blood could come to be but it does have a non-horrific, logical explanation (I won't spoil it for you). This novel is much less a gore fest novel than a novel of a bullied girl that finally has taken all she can take and snaps...to get revenge. We hear of the destruction of the town, bit by bit but we "see" very little of it. Since this is Stephen King's first published novel, it is easy to compare it to his later works and see how he has grown as a writer.

Definitely worth the read if this one has escaped you so far.

Extremely strong character development and strong dialogue mark all of King's work and Carrie is no exception. King is a wonderful weaver of tales. When I read this book while in my teens, I was bored with it and just didn't get it. Reading it again as an adult, I can better see all of the inner turmoil that the characters are facing. It's also interesting how he breaks up the narrative with exerpts from real sounding commission reports, news stories and post-event accounts of the events of prom night. Truly a well written story of the terrible things that adolescents do to one another and what might happen if the right person is pushed past her threshold of tolerance.

I was taken by this book when I first read it and it still remains one of my favorite King novels.

The atmosphere is dark and oppressive and you can feel Carrie's pain come off the words of the page as she deals with general alienation and an extreme and painful home life.

It is a quick read compared to many of King's works, such as The Stand or even shorter books by him where the reading is a bit more difficult to get through than this.

A classic of horror with the usual twist of humanity, and in humanity, that are in all his writings.

Carrie is, of course, a metaphor. Like all of King's novels, the story can be taken as a parable, and in this case it's all about mothers and daughters. As the product of a domineering woman, I immediately bonded with Carrie and her struggle to individuate. Her telekinesis, clearly symbolic of her budding sexuality, serves to demonstrate what happens when a controlling mother realizes that her grip is slipping. This novel is such a perfect depiction of the struggle between the two that it's hard to believe it was written by a man - and a man with a supportive and loving mother, no less.

Carrie's downfall comes when she lets her power run away with her. This is a lesson from which we can all take away something. Though she begins as an innocent girl who cannot control her rage, by the story's tragic end, she is fully in control of her power and chooses to enact self-destructive revenge. She is the supernatural version of the repressed teenage girl who finds relief from her inner turmoil by allowing herself to be used by men.

In this story there are protagonists and antagonists, but no heroes. In that way, despite its fantastical elements, it's a very real, very raw, and very powerful story.