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

fira

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

I really wanted to give this a go for its 50th anniversary year, and after loving Pet Sematary, I knew I had to bump this one up. Believe it or not, I’ve been alive for 32 of those 50 years and managed to avoid pretty much all spoilers.

While reading this, which I didn’t know was any form of religious, I also happened to be listening to C.J. Leede’s American Rapture—which is an extreme examination on religion. Both of them start with a kind of deep dive into the bounds in which Catholicism is designed to hold down and punish women simply for existing. While Sophie’s family is simply force feeding her guilt on a biblical scale, Carrie’s mother seems to be well off the deep end. While Sophie is showcased to be so far removed that she truly doesn’t even know how the world itself functions, Carrie is so religiously uneducated in womanhood that she is unaware of menstruation, not even knowing herself. While AR showcases how religious families can be hurtful even within the Bible, Carrie’s mother using god like a hammer. Much more on the side of torture than praising.

I was surprised by how thoroughly this goes into the high school level of bullying. Because she is so sheltered, the other girls view her as weird, because she isn’t allowed to dress normal or use makeup, isn’t super skinny, they consider her ugly. The opening scene of the novel they throw tampons and sanitary napkins at her instead of helping her, solidifying just how other they view her. She is ostracized from her fellow classmates while she can’t even seek solace at home. Kind of similar to Neal Cassidy’s Schroeder that I just finished as well, that level of bullying could be seen as more than enough to push someone over the edge, and yet King’s novel adds an additional layer.

Right from the beginning, the reader understands that Carrie has telekinetic powers. She is not sure how exactly they work, or why she has them, nor are they very strong, but it’s something within her that she can explore. The novel mixes Carrie’s own discoveries with excerpts from scientific research and journals surrounding the phenomenon in a way that almost felt like King was creating his own superpower or mutant gene, even though that is not at all the direction of the novel. And Carrie is anything but a superhero.

And while there are definitely some issues where this is dated—primarily the descriptions of young girls, women in general, and some racial terms—I found it interesting that Chris’ boyfriend is displayed as the quintessential bad guy, his mistreatment of women being the main thing on display. It’s almost a commentary while missing his own mistakes?

And with that being said, Chris is the villain here. As a ringleader from the opening shower scene, she becomes wholeheartedly hellbent of ruining Carrie’s life…mostly because she got in trouble for doing a terrible thing? As the daughter of a lawyer, who is also displayed as an entitled idiot, it’s no surprise that Chris would blame someone else rather than doing some soul searching. This hellbent desire to get back at Carrie is the straw that breaks the camels back. The ending is fast, violent, and gruesome in a way I don’t think I’ve ever read before.

C. J. Daley 

I really wanted to give this a go for its 50th anniversary year, and after loving Pet Sematary, I knew I had to bump this one up. Believe it or not, I’ve been alive for 32 of those 50 years and managed to avoid pretty much all spoilers.

While reading this, which I didn’t know was any form of religious, I also happened to be listening to C.J. Leede’s American Rapture—which is an extreme examination on religion. Both of them start with a kind of deep dive into the bounds in which Catholicism is designed to hold down and punish women simply for existing. While Sophie’s family is simply force feeding her guilt on a biblical scale, Carrie’s mother seems to be well off the deep end. While Sophie is showcased to be so far removed that she truly doesn’t even know how the world itself functions, Carrie is so religiously uneducated in womanhood that she is unaware of menstruation, not even knowing herself. While AR showcases how religious families can be hurtful even within the Bible, Carrie’s mother using god like a hammer. Much more on the side of torture than praising.

I was surprised by how thoroughly this goes into the high school level of bullying. Because she is so sheltered, the other girls view her as weird, because she isn’t allowed to dress normal or use makeup, isn’t super skinny, they consider her ugly. The opening scene of the novel they throw tampons and sanitary napkins at her instead of helping her, solidifying just how other they view her. She is ostracized from her fellow classmates while she can’t even seek solace at home. Kind of similar to Neal Cassidy’s Schroeder that I just finished as well, that level of bullying could be seen as more than enough to push someone over the edge, and yet King’s novel adds an additional layer.

Right from the beginning, the reader understands that Carrie has telekinetic powers. She is not sure how exactly they work, or why she has them, nor are they very strong, but it’s something within her that she can explore. The novel mixes Carrie’s own discoveries with excerpts from scientific research and journals surrounding the phenomenon in a way that almost felt like King was creating his own superpower or mutant gene, even though that is not at all the direction of the novel. And Carrie is anything but a superhero.

And while there are definitely some issues where this is dated—primarily the descriptions of young girls, women in general, and some racial terms—I found it interesting that Chris’ boyfriend is displayed as the quintessential bad guy, his mistreatment of women being the main thing on display. It’s almost a commentary while missing his own mistakes?

And with that being said, Chris is the villain here. As a ringleader from the opening shower scene, she becomes wholeheartedly hellbent of ruining Carrie’s life…mostly because she got in trouble for doing a terrible thing? As the daughter of a lawyer, who is also displayed as an entitled idiot, it’s no surprise that Chris would blame someone else rather than doing some soul searching. This hellbent desire to get back at Carrie is the straw that breaks the camels back. The ending is fast, violent, and gruesome in a way I don’t think I’ve ever read before.

tbh i feel that way while on my period too :-/

༺ kat ༻

I support girls’ wrongs and in this case I support with a sense of pride girls’ right. My girl Carrie was absolutely right 

Aris 

Nachtschicht

Justin Staack

7,5 Punkte
Briefe aus Jerusalem 5,5 Punkte
Spätschicht 7,5 Punkte
Nächtliche Brandung 7 Punkte
Ich bin das Tor 6,5 Punkte
Der Wäschemangler 7,5 Punkte
Das Schreckgespenst 7 Punkte
Graue Masse 9 Punkte
Schlachtfeld 5 Punkte
Lastwagen 6 Punkte
Manchmal kommen sie wieder 8 Punkte
Erdbeerfrühling 6 Punkte
Der Mauervorsprung 6 Punkte
Der Rasenmähermann 4 Punkte
Quitters, Inc. 9,5 Punkte
Ich weiß, was du brauchst 9,5 Punkte
Kinder des Mais 9 Punkte
Die letzte Sprosse 8 Punkte
Der Mann, der Blumen liebte 8 Punkte
Einen auf den Weg 7,5 Punkte
Die Frau im Zimmer 7 Punkte

Matheus Villa

Esse foi meu primeiro contato com o King e foi uma experiencia relativamente mediana, o livro é bom, mas o formato dele não me agradou muito, essas paginas de jornais e entrevistas são legais e acrescenta muito a história, mas para mim como leitor achei meio “bléh”. Da cena do baile para frente fica muito frenético e eu amei demais. Enfim, eu tinha pretensão de ler o King por ordem de publicação, mas acho que vou pular Salem e ir para O Iluminado primeiro kkkkk.

A Volte Ritornano

Good enough book given the time it was wrote. Felt really sorry for Carrie. Loved Tommy and sue. That girl Chris and the guy deserved what they got tbh 

Katie Roberts

this book is awesome, i could clearly imagine everything going on and the ending was very unexpected in a way.

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

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.

Carrie

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