Customer Reviews

Carrie (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

5 star:		(255)
4 star:		(133)
3 star:		(48)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

As with virtually everything Stephen King has written, this is enjoyable reading. It is also a quick-read for anyone who is intimidated by the length of some of the author's later works. I think the basic premise of this story appeals to many people because Carrie is, in many ways, the ultimate underdog, a girl terrorized by an insanely religious mother, victimized and persecuted by her peers, and alienated from the world around her. Everyone in life has been a victim or a bully, and I think the story of Carrie White does impart an important lesson to the folks out there who are treating someone they know the way that Carrie's classmates treated her. For those of us more sympathetic to Carrie's plight--the high school "outcasts," the "poor," the unpopular, the nerds, etc.--the story really matters here. Many of us daydream about the revenge we will exact from those kids who made fun of us all those years ago, and Carrie White shows us that revenge is not all it is cracked up to be. Carrie's "triumph" costs many innocent people their lives, and it doesn't really do a whole lot of good for Carrie herself.

You don't need me to tell you why you should read or re-read this book. This is Stephen King. By this point in time, unless you are just coming of age, you have already read this book if you are one of King's legions of fans or even if you were ever curious about this man's phenomenal success. Even more of you have probably seen the movie. While the movie was pretty faithful to the book, not even the magic of cinema can convey the true weight and atmosphere of this (or any other) book. Carrie is also King's first published novel. This is very important to would-be writers--clearly, King was still learning his craft when he wrote this novel, and thus the process of reading it provides any potential writer with a great learning experience. The format here is significantly different from King's more mature work. The story is told through several "voices," including a third-person account from a "survivor," extracts from research articles and newspaper items based on the events, as well as a more traditional author's voice. Thus, we get several perspectives on the characters and events. The story is not as fluid as it might be because we switch from one viewpoint to another as the tale unfolds. While I much prefer the style of King's later works, especially in terms of getting inside a character, King still infuses Carrie's world with realism and believability, proving that he can create masterful atmosphere and mood with any number of literary tools.

I've seen plenty of the films that have been based on Stephen King's many novels, but this is only the first book that I've actually read by him. Much like the film that is based upon it, this book isn't so much a tale of horror, but more a coming-of-age tale. In it, we see young Carrie White, a total reject and loser by the standards of her peers, struggle with becoming a woman and realizing the strength of her newfound powers.

Carrie is hated by the kids at her school, primarily because of her crazy and religiously twisted mother. Poor Carrie had "outcast" painted on her from her birth, which her mother saw as punishment for having sexual relations with her now deceased husband. Picked on constantly, Carrie begins to test her "flex" power that seems to have greatly increased in power since getting her first period. Things come to a head at the school prom, but that's all I'm going to say, since this story is so well known.

Called "gory and horrifying" and "sheer terror" by reviewers on the back of the book, I didn't find any of that in here. In fact, I saw this more as a tale about a young girl who is so tired of being teased and attacked for being different that she seeks revenge. Of course, she has a rather unique and violent way of getting revenge, but I think that every outsider growing up wished that they had some sort of power that could protect them from the other kids who were popular, bullies or just plain mean.

Of course, Sue Snell is another character that I'm sure we've all been at some time in our life. She picked on Carrie just like the others, but knew deep inside that she was wrong. She also knew that if she stood against the majority, she'd be ostracized exactly like Carrie.

In short, this is a really good book. It's very fast moving and reads rather easily. The constant switching between thoughts, settings, and characters did become rather annoying at times, but overall this is a good story. It isn't that scary. In fact, it's more a reflection of society than anything.

Recommended. It won't be my last King novel.

'Carrie', Stephen King's first novel, is truly remarkable writing! Most authors don't have quite the stinging debut they hoped for, but this book deffinetly did, even today. The story is about a teenage girl named Carrie White who has a trumatic life, where home isn't safe, school isn't safe, and she isn't safe. She grows up with her psycho catholic mother who often locks her in the closet, and at school is constantly cutdown. cutdown doesn't even describe the humiliation and torture, the hell of carries life is the true horror in this story. So all of a sudden Carrie snaps, things start happening when she gets overwhelemed, and she starts gaining telekentic powers and hurting and killing anyone who stands in her way. I appreciated King's writing and description. He truly is a genius of his craft, and creates a realistic cast of characters. The story is really depressing, but if your like me, you enjoy reading the humiliation and torture, and keep reading in your morbid giddiness. This is my first Stephen King novel I have fully read, and I have never seen the movie, which makes the book much more fun. This is a classic.

I first read King's CARRIE when I was in the eighth grade. I am now a high school sophomore and this novel still remains a favorite. It's a tale of an outcast who discovers that she's been blessed, or cursed, with the rare and incredible powers of telekinesis. This means she can move objects and make things happen merely with the power of her mind.

Both home life and high school life are nightmares, almost literally. King opens the story with Carrie getting her very first period in the locker room after gym class. She's up in arms about what to do - at 16 she has never experienced nor heard of such a thing. Her classmates turn vicious and scream chants of "Plug it up! Plug it up!" started by truly cruel Chris Hargensen. The girls then hurl tampons and sanitary napkins at her from the broken machine on the wall. Poor, helpless Carrie stands there, utterly confused and humiliated all the same, looking "the part of the sacrificial goat." The "fun" stops when Ms. Desjardin, the gym teacher intervenes, slapping Carrie to snap her out of her hysterical fit.

Carrie is sent home early that day. Out of all the girls, Sue Snell feels the guiltiest and wants to make it up to Carrie. So she convinces her boyfriend, Tommy Ross, to take Carrie to the prom. If you've seen the 70s movie, you know what goes down at the prom. If not, read and see.

At home, Carrie deals with a religiously fanatic mother who never spoke about menstruation because she believed it was sinful. Mrs. White is a single mother who preaches, what she believes to be Christ's ways, all through the neighborhood. When Carrie is "bad" and "sinful," she gets thrown into the prayer closet to "pray for forgiveness." Everything in Mrs. White's mind is sinful. And because Carrie's father died, she has no one else to turn to for help.

This novel, at times, is honestly horrifying. Lovers of scary stories (and King) are sure to enjoy this read. Some complain about the passages of Carrie White and her telekinesis but I found them to be the ideal story tie-in and quite useful to explain Carrie's past and further talk of her powers. If you've seen the movie, you may almost feel as if it's a must to read this book but that really isn't the case here. The book stands wonderful all on its own.

CARRIE is a terrific book on its own; as a debut, it is simply astonishing. King's first effort does not at all seem the work of a novice. I loved the device of using excerpts from books and articles supposedly written about Carrie White and Prom Night; these chapters give an almost documentary feel to the book. In fact, for some reason, this book reminds me vaguely of HELTER SKELTER, which was, of course, a true story.

Another thing that lends atmosphere to this is King's use of parentheses to show the reader his characters' thoughts and impressions (did he invent this? I can't think of another author who does this), giving the reader a real feeling of identity with the characters.

It is also a very moving book; in addition to being a jolly good horror story, the characters evoke real feelings of sympathy. Carrie's plight is a familiar one; King evokes the middle-class high school pecking order with devastating accuracy, and the story, ultimately, is not only scary, but very sad.

It made a very good movie, incidentally. I recommend both. I've read a lot of Stephen King, but this one is still my favorite.

Fans have been waiting a long time for this Stephen King classic to be released on Audio CD. At first, Spacek's presence as reader seems like a dream come true, but it's actually a case of inspired stunt casting. Fans of Brian DePalma's film will likely be chomping at the bit to hear Carrie herself revisit this story. Spacek's audio interpretation is formal, stoic, and elegant...yet it lacks the urgency and intensity she brought to her work in the 1976 movie. Strange to hear this talented actress inhabit this pivotal role once again, and of course, fascinating on some level. But her interpretation of Carrie, despite her sincerity, is somehow aloof. It's in her reading of the character of villainous Chris Hargenson (the part Spacek was originally to have played in the film) that the narrator really delivers. Delightful to hear the sweet, refined Spacek curse up a storm and wallow in King's artful low-rent slang. Also a hoot to hear Spacek reciting lines delivered by Piper Laurie in the film: there's a bit of throaty, smoky angst that comes through many listeners will recognize and find welcome--especially, "I can see your dirtypillows...let's burn that dress together and ask for forgiveness."

Minor concerns aside, I imagine hardcore King fans and devotees of the DePalma movie will think they're in Audio book heaven, and for those who missed the 1988 musical version on Broadway, this CD makes a worthy addition to any "Carrie" lover's collection. The book is unabridged: all the memorable scenes and events are intact. Worth picking up, and a real oddity.

Stephen King's first book, Carrie, is the story of Carrie White, a nerdy girl who has the power to move things with her mind. Living with her repressed mother, a religious fanatic who is almost comically over-the-top in her fear of sexuality (a theme that King would later treat with a more subtle hand in most of his later books). In the book's justifiably famous opening, 16 year-old Carrie starts her first menstural cycle while in the shower after gym class. The other girls in her class have a rather cruel, if all-too believable, reaction to Carrie's fright and this sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Carrie being invited to prom by the most popular (and apparently the only genuinely nice) boy in school, yet another terribly cruel practical joke being played on Carrie, and finally Carrie White's revenge. King's narrative alternates between telling Carrie's story and presenting "evidence" in the forms of excerpts from a survivor's memoir, articles in Esquire and Reader's Digest, a nicely off-center psychology textbook, and the reports of the government commission set up to cover up the implications of Carrie's final rampage. It all comes together in an effective but rather jagged mosiac that confirms that King had talent from the beginning but still makes for an uneven read. Indeed, King's trademark ability to create a cast of credible characters isn't extremely evident here with the key exception of the title character. Carrie White is, for all intents and purposes, a nerd and the pain that she feels and her conflicting responses of self-loathing with self-righteous, almost arrogant fury at how she is treated will be almost painfully familiar for anyone else who spent high school in that outcast social group (it certainly brought back a lot of not-quite cherished memories for myself). Its almost saddening to discover that King himself disliked Carrie and held her responsible for her misfortunes because his recreation of her pain is so spot on perfect that one finds it hard to wonder how her creator couldn't have felt badly for her. No, she isn't always sympathetic and her final, destructive vengeance is carried out with intentionally murderous intent but its hard not to understand how her hatred was generated at the hands of the often thoughtless cruelty of teenage culture. I don't know how someone who was popular in high school might react to the book but as a former high school nerd, I can say this brought back a lot of uncherished memories and Carrie's plight kept me enthralled despite the many times when the book felt rather uneven.

Though it might not matter much in the overall scheme of things, King also does a good job of making credible Tommy Ross, the jock wiseman who agrees to be seen at his school's prom with the school's most unpopular student, an action that sets forward the book's apocalyptic conclusion. Ross's noble choice in asking Carrie to the dance is not an entirely credible action and King, at times, is obviously trying to convince himself as much as the reader that this could actually realistically happen. However, in his few scenes, Tommy Ross is drawn as a sympathetic, believable character and is presented with such skill that one comes as close as possible to actually buying into the credibility of his actions. Though a relatively minor character, Tommy Ross is an early prototype for the plain-spoken, intelligent but unpretentious, defiantly blue collar characters who would make up the majority of King's future protaganists.

Back before he became THE Stephen King, Stephen King was a generally down-on-his-luck teacher living in obscurity in Maine and making a few extra bucks selling a few well-written horror stories to racy magazines (some of which, King has often recalled, ended up going out of business before getting around to publishing his fiction). Though it wasn't the first book he completed. It is a novel of a writer still searching for his voice and who is writing in a genre that he is not totally comfortable embracing. Indeed, while the novel can be labelled a work of horror, it still contains signs of the insecurities and pretensions of the not-yet succesful King with Carrie's story, at times, being forced rather roughly into a metaphor for the whole decline of society in general. However, this is all probably meaningless nitpicking because in the end, the only that matters is that Carrie -- whatever its flaws -- is still a gripping read that grabs the reader's attention for page one and shows signs of the talent that would later make Stephen King a brand name.

CARRIE is an absolute classic. It was the first book by King that I ever read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I passed my copy on to my good friend, Leah who devoured it in a few days, and went on and on about it when she returned it to me. Carrie White is a seemingly innocent schoolgirl who is constantly tormented by her cruel peers and her strange mother. Carrie holds a power inside her that comes purely from anger and hate. Her mother, Margaret White, has a very strange view of Christianity...forcing Carrie to go into a small closet and pray for forgiveness after events as innocent and simple as her first period. Carrie finally gets a break when Tommy Ross asks her to go to the Prom. Little does she know that her hateful classmates are planning a surprise for her. Innocent teenager, or demonic prophet of Satan...Carrie will make you shudder.

Stones fall from the sky. The neighbors watch in horror as they devastate the house. They don't touch any other part of the street except for the white house, and the neighbors can hear the wails inside. Stephen King always catches my attention with the first lines of his book. Carrie is no exception. I believe it is one of the best books King has written. The reason I think this book is one of King's best is that his books are usually full of horror. This one is also, but this book also talks about real life experiences. That is why I think this book is good. The book starts by talking about Carrie's adolescence, which mostly consisted of her being made fun of. That happens a lot in high schools in today's age. A lot of people are singled out, stereotyped, and made fun of. That has been the root cause of a lot of tragedies in today's time. He also points out the way high school affects people mentally. High school is one of the building blocks of how kids act socially. If all people do is get made fun of, they tend to be bitter and mean. So I think he brought out some good relative topics, and that's why I think this book is the best. I do not like Carrie's mother at all. She is an eccentric, overbearing, religious psycho. All over the house, she has religious pictures or paintings of evil times that happened in the Bible. She preaches to be faithful to God yet she mistreats her daughter. She was so stubborn in her beliefs that she did not tell her daughter about her period because she thought this was sacrilegious. Carrie had her first period in the gym, and everyone made fun of her. Her mother didn't tell her; therefore she was made fun of by the rest of her class. Her mother does nothing but malign her daughter and then make her pray in a closet. This confinement did a lot of psychological damage on Carrie and was one of the reasons she was always made fun of. In the beginning of the book, King wrote that as a young girl Carrie was very pretty. But since her mother always manipulates her she makes Carrie feel terrible. I think that the mother is the cause of all Carrie's problems. That is why she is the character I dislike the most. I sympathize a lot with Carrie in this book. She has to deal with a lot all of her life. When she was in, school she had to deal with all the kids that made fun of her. Then when she got home she had to deal with her mother. Her mother is one of the biggest causes of her grief and she makes Carrie do her bidding. When she finally gets to the point where she rebels against her mother and gets some freedom, the kids at school make a joke out of her. Her whole life Carrie has been made fun of and put down. All Carrie wanted to do wanted to do was fit in and be part of the crowd. But because of her mother and her past, she has a hard time trying to do that. I think that the other kids could have accepted her or just left her alone. They had to play tricks on her and make fun of her. That just made the anger grow inside, and I understand how the rage unleashed on everybody. I sympathize with her life and understand why she did what she did. After going through all that she did, she is someone to feel sorry for the most. I believe that Carrie is one of King's best novels. He has excellent and realistic characters. In my opinion, a good book is one that people can relate life to. King is an excellent author, and this book I would definitely recommend for all the new King fans.

This is King's famous debut novel. Though until Brian de Palma made the film, few people had even heard of it. But the film version launched the careers of King, de Palma, Sissy Spacek, John Travolta, and others.

I admitedly have not yet scene the film version, but the book was great. King seems to be under the impression that this novel is very raw and unpolished, and perhaps he is right--I admit it isn't as polished as many books I've read, but I don't see this is a bad thing; if this is the case, perhaps it is what made the book so good. It was a very riveting book. King was also sucessful at getting at the emotional core of Carrie White, and other characters involved. It is a very worthwhile read, and goes by very quickly as it is only about 200 pages long (the original hardcover is 199 pages in length; I do not know the page count on subsequent volumes.)

I definately recommend this book to anyone fond of the Horror genre or King's work (sadly, many people--dare I say most?--who read King do not read any of the other works within the genre; this is sad because some of the other talents out there surpass him by far.)