As Stephen King's first published novel, I feel it speaks true of the terrors that lie in high school itself for people who may have been a little different. It is true what one critic said, that it is not in Carrie that we find the horror but in the people around her. With one of the most shocking conclusions ever, Carrie is a book and a character that will not soon be forgotten.

Title: Carrie

Author: Stephen King

Genre: Fiction-Horror



I recently finished the novel Carrie by Steven King.

Structure:

Although I did enjoy the overall story, I wasn't exactly a huge fan on how he wrote the story. I found some of it to be confusing, in the sense that he occasionally spelt things wrong, didn't capitalize properly or put in dialogue between brackets that often got confusing. I'm sure if I read more of his novels, that I would get a better feel for what he's trying to achieve by doing such things, but seeing as this is my first time reading one of his novels, I thought it rather distracting to the story.

On a positive note, I was never bored while reading this. It starts off very interesting and relatable, and as you continue to read further, there is more and more interest that makes it's reader want to continue reading to the very end.

Story:

The story starts off rather normal, but we quickly realize that Carrie is not a normal girl. She goes through an experience that traumatizes her, and sets off the beginning of a chain of regrets. Carrie is known as the school "pushover" and neighbourhood "weirdo". She's an outcast.

You follow very closely with the character, and I found myself feeling sorry for Carrie, and understanding why she did all the things she did. Usually when you read or hear about a murderer or criminal, you automatically assume them to be the bad guy, but King takes you through every aspect of her day; how she's treated by everyone and how she lives. By the end of the story, I felt myself feeling sorry for her and having a sort of hatred towards the other characters.

The ending was the most exciting part, and I finished the last half of the novel in about an hour. I just couldn't put it down.

Characters:

Carrie White - Carrie is the main character. She's known as an outcast and posses no friends or imediate family besides her mother. In the beginning, we quickly discover that she has TK, which allows her to do things with her mind simply by thinking about them. In the very first part of the book, she has her period infront of her gym class. She crys because she is convinced that she is dying. It turns out her mother never told her about it, and believes that if a girl were to get her period, it's the first stage of sinning.

Margret White - This is the mother of Carrie. She believes strongly in sin and religion. Her job is to go around and try to convince people to come over to her religion. She's willing to do absolutely anything in order to keep from sin. I felt as though she was living in her own world, and what was good in her own world, would be wrong to regular society. I found her a very interesting, yet difficult character to understand. She's willing to beat Carrie and throw her in a closet for her religion.

Sue Snell - The book has quite a few interviews with Sue at the end half of the book, because she's one of the survivors who's able to discuss what happened on what is known as "Prom Night". Throughout the novel, she appears to be the closest thing to a friend to Carrie. She does make fun of her in the beginning scene, but feels guilty and tries to make it up to Carrie but making her boyfriend, Tommy, as her to prom.

Tommy - Tommy is the boy who loves Sue Snell, he's her boyfriend. He does what is asked by Sue and takes Carrie to Prom. He seems to be a very compassionate character, even towards Carrie he shows kindness and doesn't seem to mind taking her to the Prom. But in the end…

Other characters: There are other characters that would bring interest such as Chris, The Gym Teacher, Billy and The Principle.

Stars: 4/5

I would recommend this book to someone who's interested in the paranormal, and if horror movies or books are your thing, this is definitely a classic to consider. Normally I don't really read horror novels, but I would read this again.

The writing is minimalist and the story, so many years later, is borderline simple. I expected to be scared, or spooked a little, but it never quite happened. I would recommend The Dark Half instead.

I found "Carrie" to be a great book, especially for someone who is just starting out with this sort of genre. The scare factor is pretty low, it's is mainly just gorry. But a definite must read for someone who enjoys Stephen King stories and wants to get into them.

Well written, interesting, fast paced.
Very Stephen King.

I was 11 years old the first time I read this book and it frightened me terribly. I remember having to hide the book when I wasn't reading it because just looking at it scared me! Re-reading it as an adult, I didn't feel the same way at all. This is King's first book and you can tell. It is a short, fast read and not particularly scary, frightening or even gross. I did really enjoy the epistolary aspects of the novel written from newspaper accounts and books by the participants. I think the scenes of Carrie's mother are the creepiest because as a parent it is terrifying to imagine a parent abusing their child like that. It's hard to not compare the book with the movie (which I've seen several times) but in this case I think I prefer the movie to the book.

From the moment I picked up the book I found myself entirely immersed into it. It was extremely hard to put it down and I went back to it every chance I got. As with many others, the book is FAR greater than the movie. It is one of my favourite books of all time and I highly recommend it.

Granted, the book is a classic and the legend who wrote it is worth every penny he's paid, but this book is not all its cracked up to be. Of course, I haven't read more than four pages of it, but its not great so far. I guess I'll write another review after I've finished it.

this was a really good book. i finished it in like, a day. it was awesome.

AND THIS IS INDEED A TWELVE YEAR OLD WRITING THIS.

it's absolutly amazing. This is my first stephen king novel....and I know my grammar sucks.

This has totally turned me onto horror novels, in fact, i'm reading 'The Shining' next.

Stephen King, you're amazing. I am you're fan.

I may only be 13 but wow! THis was an amazing book... after i read this book, all i read pretty much now is Stephen King. He absolutely amazed me with this book. Some of the things he put in the story were so unpredictable. I could read this book a million times over and over agian. This is an amazing book.

Oh, yeah, it started that Stephen King buzz alright, quite quickly I might add. Why? IT WAS SHORT! That does not invigorate the demanding level to the content of the avid reader. Yet, it was made up for with its spectacular demonstration of Stephen King's talent.

Carrie is by far my favorite Stephen King EVER! It is classic Horror at it's finest. If you haven't read it you can't call yourself a Stephen King fan. You turn the page in excitment and each time and you get satisfactory reading. There are many really neat views that the story is told from so you can never be worried that you won't get the full event! It's AMAZING! I loved it.. I read it over and over and I think I anoyed my friends talking about it. This is Stephen King's first and one of his finest. How does he know how to cature what girls are really like without ever being one? Pure genius!

When my friend in my class at JVC told me that she was going to read a book called Carrie , I wanted to read it too. So, I went out with my firends Michael and Gabriel tp the mall and a bought it. I loved it! A page turner! I finished it in two days!

This book was a definite page-turner. Between Carrie's overly religious mother, her telekenetic powers and the taunting students at school, this book displayed a mixture of horror, romance, and comedy (that may not have been intentional.) This is a book that keeps you up at night, because you cannot put it down.

It's amazing how Hollywood can really screw up a good book.The book's ending was so much better. Never will you ever read a book like this one ever again. It's a psychic-filled story about mousy teenager Carrie and her religion obssesed mother.But it's mainly about her life at school.This is a book for a)the people who were always tormented at school, b)the kind who love psychic powers,and c)those who love Stephen King. These 3 crowds will especially love it.

Wow, Carrie. Possibly the scariest book ever written, I stayed up all night to finish it. King writes with great skill, you could almost see Carrie at her worst, along with the distruction she caused. It scared me witless,completely freaked me right out. It also intrigued me beyond belief. I'd say this is King's best. Five Stars

Well it was pretty horifying not for the easily frightened..it was really good the was it was different from the movie. the way it twisted at the end provided a change ( cause stupid me saw the movie first) Bto some it up in words it is a holocaust of distruction with a few physcotic relegieous people and a telekonetic teen pretty crazy .

Wow. Carrie was a great book. I could bore you with info about the characters or Stephen King, but it wouldn't be necessary. All you need to know is that this was an amazing book. The plot speaks to everyone. Lets face it, we've all felt alienated sometime in are life, most of us in high school. Carrie White was one of those people. When you finish this novel you may even feel sympathy for what she did. However it's far from being a sappy novel, it's horror like nothing else. This novel was the first in the now overused high school shock horror cliche. In a nutshell Carrie is treated badly by her peers at school. Her home life is no better because of her abusive psychotic religious mother. As Carrie becomes a young woman she starts to develop uncanny telekinetic abilities. For the cruel way she was treated Carrie lashes out and turns here small new England town into a holocaust of destruction. Don't feel I have ruined the book, its unique writing style is somewhat like a documentary. Please read it. You won't be let down

Carie was the first STephen King book I ever read. It did not fail to meat the criteria and the standards of King with many great books in publish. One of his best.

This is the first Stephen King book i ever read and it was kewl! I luved the whole newspaper article clipping in the book. It made it seem so real. Great story.