Stephen King

An introverted girl with remarkable powers of telekinesis faces the horrors of teenage life and unleashes a few horrors of her own when she attends the high school prom

Carrie

Alesha Clifford

Macbeth hath murdered sleep and Carrie hath murdered time

horu

She did not know if her gift had come from the lord of light or of darkness, and now, finally finding that she did not care which, she was overcome with an almost indescribable relief, as if a huge weight, long carried, had slipped from her shoulders.

Fiona Staczek

kait

Do not waste your time with this book. If I could, I would give this book 0 stars. I found this book to be incredibly boring and I do not think this book is worth any time or energy. With this being King's first book, I really am not sure how he was allowed to write another one. There's so many things wrong with this book but what shocked me the most is the amount of racial slurs in this book and I believe one slur against LGBTQIA+ people. (TW: There is also 2 sexual assault scenes I believe). I am not sure why exactly these were included (some people say to show what language is used at the time) but they are 110% not necessary. On top of very problematic themes and writing, I just thought the book was slow paced and the writing was bland. I was pretty much just waiting for the book to be over. I am hoping that King has gotten better over the years and has stopped being problematic but I am not optimistic. Please just do not read this book, save yourself the pain.

Derek Graf

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.

To be invited to Prom Night by Tommy Ross is a dream come true for Carrie — the first step towards social acceptance by her high school colleagues. Until an unexpected cruelty turns her gift into a weapon of terror and destruction that no one will ever forget.

Claudia Beneyto

I have been waiting to read this book for a while now. To be honest, this is my first time reading anything Stephen King, and will most likely be my last. I can understand why people like him and his writing style; he tells a story with a purpose, in a straight-forward manner. However, i thought i'd like this book more than i did. It actually bored me at times, and felt almost like a pain to finish. During the first part of the novel i was expecting Prom Night to be a nerve-wracking, intense and pleasurable climax, but it failed to amaze me. To be completely honest, i was more entertained by the first part of the book than the latter, and i felt slightly betrayed by this. If you want to know Carrie, watch the movies. There are plenty of them, one better than others, but in my opinion all better than the book. The idea is pretty brilliant, but the execution failed to entrance me. The slurs were also completely unfounded and could have easily been avoided, since there was not a single black or gay person in the book, and yet Stephen King had to use them for some unknown reason.

Why describe every female character’s boobs?

Shari Ilg

iqro, aina

This is the first book that i've read from Stephen King, and i really dont know what to say, i just went silent after reading this and re-imagine all of the scenes that made me chills

Gue sendiri not a big fan sama writing style/timeline disini, but considering this was Stephen's first published novel gue maklumin aja sih. But as for the storyline goes, im pretty much hooked the entire time.

An introverted girl with remarkable powers of telekinesis faces the horrors of teenage life and unleashes a few horrors of her own when she attends the high school prom.

2.5 of 5 stars

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All the horrible things that had happened to Carrie, how she was treated by her peers, even by her own mother, it was terrible and traumatizing. I felt really bad for her. Though it was really disturbing how a lot of people died because of what happened, all I can think of is this: out of all the characters present in the story, for me I felt sorry for Carrie the most. 

The story itself? It wasn't that bad but I don't like how it was made. I know that the events in the story was chaotic, but so does the writing. There are so much details that for me were just unnecessary. This was not particularly a long book but I kind of feel like it became dragging after the point where Carrie started her rampage. I didn't liked how it was stretched too much. I even skimmed a little with some parts and that wasn't a good thing considering the length of the book.

Overall, I'm not that impress. It was kind of unsatisfying and disappointing.

A collection of tales to invade and paralyse the mind as the safe light of day is infiltrated by the shadows of the night. As you read, the clutching fingers of terror brush lightly across the nape of the neck, reach round from behind to clutch and lock themselves, white-knuckled, around the throat. This is the horror of ordinary people and everyday objects that become strangely altered; a world where nothing is ever quite what it seems, where the familiar and the friendly lure and deceive. A world where madness and blind panic become the only reality.

Night Shift

Daniel Spruill

Even the most ridiculous concepts work because of how goddamn great King’s writing is. Quitters, Inc. is easily my favorite and the trajectory of how King writes about addiction is truly gorgeous. The stories without supernatural elements are my favorites, and Mike Flanagan could destroy The Woman in the Room. 

The revisits to ‘Salem’s Lot fed my soul and just reinforced that novel as my favorite— truly the best.

Such a great collection ranging from a possessed laundry press to wrestling with watching a parent die and feeling helpless. I love this man with all my heart.

(WHY ARE SO MANY OF THE ADAPTIONS SO FUCKING BAD!! IT ISN’T HARD TO FUCK UP!!!)

Anyway, yeah. This would be a great place to start if you’ve never read King.

In this classic tale of psychic power and human cruelty, a tormented teenage girl reigns terrible vengence down on her enemies at the prom. Reprint.

she did nothing wrong.

a story of unchecked rage that established King as one of the all time greats. all of the bones of what he would go on to master in this genre are alive in this novel and thank god for Tabitha fishing it out of the trash.

the themes of religion and isolation and growing up as ‘other’ (to name a few) come together in maybe the best coming of age tragedy of all time. i loved loved loved the format of this one, with the combination of King’s signature third person narrator, newspapers, police reports, Sue’s novel, and that last gut-punch letter. so good.

the OG adaption might be the best of any of his, but it still misses some of the great character explorations and smaller moments from the novel— I realize there will never be a perfect adaption of a King story, but a bitch can dream.

A wonderful read. This book is one of my biggest comforts in life. 

Carrie-Ivy-Viper

“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.”
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My first proper run-in with Stephen King, the master of horror when it comes to outsiders.
As expected, it is a story of alienation, desperation, and darkness, where the good are bad and the bad are pure evil.
I enjoyed it, although it didn't wow me as I expected. I will continue with his other famous works, either way.

maria anna

i will never read another book written by a man

Really love the story and the idea not sure I am a massive fan of Stephen kings writing style will read more of his books though.

Rhys Connor

Really love the story and the idea not sure I am a massive fan of Stephen kings writing style will read more of his books though.

For me:

Story 5/5

Writing 3/5

I wish Stephen King would stop talking about underage girls' boobs

Megan Christensen

Grace M

I can’t believe I waited so long to read this book. Carrie is one of my all time favorite movies and the source material did not disappoint. I went in with lowered expectations, considering this is King’s debut novel, and was pleasantly surprised at how familiar he is with his distinctive writing style so early in his published works. I earnestly wish this book was 100 pages longer.

Great beginner book. This was my first book I've ever read " for fun " and it was fun to read and towards the end I kept saying one more page one more page. King is an icon for a reason 

Alexander Luevano

Short, fresh story with sad moments, especially the ending was unexpectedly emotional

Sometimes a bit too pervert/ many unnecessary moments/ language

Viktor 

My first thriller

Short, fresh story with sad moments, especially the ending was unexpectedly emotional

Overall great humor

Catching except for a few parts

Sometimes a bit too pervert/ many unnecessary moments/ language

Briar's Reviews

I have always wanted to pick up Carrie and I finally was able to find a copy of it. 

Since I saw many film adaptions of this book first, it was kind of weird reading the different viewpoints of the novel - but it worked. I enjoyed reading the different perspectives within the novel, it gave a special insight into the minds of everyone else, something many books lack.

I definitely didn't find it scary. It made me feel horrible for the treatment of the girl, and it made me understand why she was so evil, but I wasn't scared. The films left me a lot more horrified then the book did (and books have left me scared before. The first Temperance Brennan book did just that). 

It was well written - the writing style was strange at times, but it's easy to follow.

I was definitely amazed at the idea behind this book. How did Stephen King think this up? That thought went through my mind numerous times while reading. It's a wonderful idea and he did it justice.

Overall, it was a good story and I want to read more by Stephen King. He's quite the genius!

Four out of five stars.

Dimitris Papastergiou

I liked it. Not that much, but it was ok half the time and fun the other half. Here's the thing, growing up reading comics and having read LOTS of them, basically reading Carrie couldn't help but think that I'm reading about Jean Grey when she was young but the adult version. 

Oh well, lots of things Carrie did, were like powers to me, instead of a weird thing that "a witch would do", King sure tried to make it adult and serious as much as it can get, but.. it didn't do it for me.

I liked mostly the beginning and the end, which was great. I'm definitely going to watch the movies now that I read the book and hope I like those better, if not the same.

Nessa Luna

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

For King’s March, I decided to read Carrie, as I really liked both movies (the one from 1976 and the one from 2013) and I wanted to know if the book was as good as those movies! And it was!

Carrie has a lot of articles, interviews and passages of books in between the story, and though I liked it at first, it started to annoy me near the end. Because I really just wanted to read the story through Carrie’s eyes, or through someone else’s eyes for that matter (and I don’t like multiple POV’s), not through a police interrogation, or a passage from a book someone who’d been there had written. So yeah, that was actually the main reason I didn’t give it more than three stars (or, Daleks actually).

I quickly started to hate on the group of girls that bullied Carrie at the beginning of the book, and I hated them more and more throughout the whole book. Especially Chris Hargensen; she just reminded me of all the people that bullied/teased me throughout my entire school time.

Speaking about the movie(s), of course the book was different from both movies (though I don’t remember much of the 1976 one), especially prom night and the events that happen afterwards. That was just completely different from the book in the new movie.

But I really liked the way the Prom Night events were described, and though like I said before, I was annoyed at all the articles and interviews (I just skimmed through most of them near the end), I really liked the story and it really made me want to rewatch the movies (to see if there’s any differences, not just between the movies and the book, but between both movies as well).

I like Stephen King’s writing, and it certainly has made me want to read more books by him. I still can’t believe I’ve never read any books by him before now.

Krystyna 

I really enjoyed this one. I knew the premise of the plot prior to reading this book; however, it did not take away from the story. Although this book is classified as horror, it has much more to offer than that. This story goes deeper than surface-level horror because it explores some heavy topics, such as: mental health, bullying, and the importance of kindness. I could not stand Carrie's mother. She was so distant to Carrie; she wasn't warm, welcoming, or loving towards Carrie at all. I felt bad for Carrie throughout this book, she was bullied, confused, and lonely. If you have put off reading this book because you've seen the movie...do yourself a favor and pick it up. The book is, as usual, better.

Wynter

A wonderful short story collection. Nearly every one hits the nail on the head. The Manger, The Boogeyman, Sometimes They Come Back, Strawberry Spring, Quitters Inc., and both stories that happen in Jerusalem's Lot are fantastic. I also appreciate how the only story that was published in Cosmopolitan deals with an ideal man gone psycho-ville. Well played Mr. King, well played.

Lyn 

Fue una travesía muy increíble; que me puso muchas veces del lado de Carrie sabiendo que estaba todo mal lo que hacía. En cierto modo hasta me encontré comparandola con Eren de SNK. 

MUY aparte de eso, me gustó como me pintaron a los personajes, ni buenos, ni malos, sino grises. (A excepcion de la madre, Chris y el vagabundo de su novio, que son un caso aparte).

Fue una buena manera de comenzar a leer a Stephen King :)

Colleen

3 Stars

Carrie was my bookclub's selection for October. They wanted something spooky to fit with the season. This was not one of King's books that I had read before although I did see the movie years ago. Luckily it is short because I did not get to read it until the day before my bookclub meeting. But it was easy enough to finish in one day.

This was King's debut novel. You can tell that he was still finding his style. Overall, the story is not as good as some of later books, but one can see why this story became so iconic. I would not exactly call it a horror story; the strongest emotion I felt was pity. Carrie goes through so much and is treated terribly. It does not justify what happens, but it makes it all the more tragic that it could have been prevented. 

I enjoyed the way King described things although some things were purposefully crude to emphasize the viciousness of some of the characters. What I did not like about this book was the format. The story switches back and forth between typical third person story telling and future excerpts of newspaper articles, court transcripts, letters, etc. all addressing the main events of the story. These flashforwards go beyond foreshadowing and actually outright spoil the climax. The tension would have been much greater and the ending more impactful if those other sections would not have spoiled what was coming. I knew the basic premise from having watched the movie already, but I would imagine that if I read the book first, I would have felt a little cheated out of any suspense or surprise. 

The other thing to mention is not actually about the book but rather the audio version I listened to. I was rather dismayed to discover that the whole thing was read with a southern accent even though it is supposed to take place in Maine. I know Sissy Spacek played Carrie in the movie, but hearing her saying all those locations in Maine with her deep Texas twang made me cringe constantly. It was so discordant. I would rather have something that matched the actual book than the movie. 

As I mentioned, this was not my favorite Stephen King book, but I would still recommend it to fans of his or to those who like horror and psychological thrillers. 


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars

How people consider this a “horror” book is beyond me. It’s just a sad book about the highschool girl experience mixed with religion trauma

Carrie

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