Carrie

Rating:
Summary: King's Debut, But Far From His Best.
Review: I LOVE Stephen King. His writing in incredible, his detail extraordinary and his characters amazing. His novel, 'The Stand,' is the best book I've ever read, and despite it's length, I've read it six times, twice original version, four times uncut.

Now, understand, this is not a bad book. It's a good book, really good. But, coming from Stephen King, I found it a dissapointment. It was interesting, and I could sympathize with poor Carrie, and I loved the way the book would change from Carrie's pint of view to Sue's point of view to chapters from fictional books to newspaper clippings and to court interviews. That meant the storytelling was unpredictable and provided the thoughts of lots of different people.

So, what's wrong with this book? Well, it's coming from Stephen King. And he's written so many modern classics, and this just fell short of his other great works. This is, of course, understandable, since this was his first published work. And it shows. The characters in this aren't particularly memorable, not even Carrie. I felt bad for her, and all, but she just didn't do enough until the end, and you didn't get in her mind enough. I don't know how to quite say the problem with the story, but when it was over, it just seemed to hallow for the master. He greatly improved with his second book, Salem's Lot. His amazing detail is rather absent in this story.

Also, and this is a very rare case for me, I found the movie to be FAR better than the book. The movie was simply amazing, one of the saddest, most tragic things I've ever seen. The music, acting and camera angles all added up to just an amazing work of film. It expanded upon a lot of things from the book and just added so much more character development. Usually, the book-to-movie for King is totally opposite of this, but this is the exception.

So, this is a good book but not up to King's high standards. If you've never read a King book, this might make a good start, but i suggest you read it BEFORE seeing the movie because if you do it the other way, you might be dissipointed with the book.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly assured start
Review: Considering that this was a first novel, it is wonderfully assured. And to this day, i am convinced that it remains one of Stephen King's very best books. For a start, it is one of his shortest, and thus more concentrated. Its a very emotional and powerful book, telling a simple story in a simple way. Personally, i could describe it most aptly as a huantingly beautiful tale.

Carrie is great character, and the way she is treated by her peers brings a tear to the eye (as does King's foreword in the english version, telling how he came to write the story. Heartbreaking, if you're of that kind of disposition.) However, the only place this book may fall down under close scrutiny is the fact that there is perhaps not enough detail of past events in Carries life involving her classmates constsnt mocking of her. Indeed, some may call that adding unnecessary cruelty to the book, but personally, i feel it would have given the book even more emotional impact, and made Carrie's final actions even more believeable, scary and yet empathiseable with. We are told that Carrie is bullied, but we aren't shown. Not quite enough, anyway.

Needless to say, this is an excellent novel, full of power and emotion. It comes straight from the heart, to attack the reader. For we have all commited similar sins against people like Carrie. This book works so brutally well because of several reasons. The guilty of the reader, the sorrow of the reader, the sympathy of the reader with Carrie, and the disgust of the reader against Chris, even though i suspect many of us see elements of her in actions we have commited in our pasts.

The inclusions of entries and excerpts from letters/textbooks/diaries is good. Some people say that they are only there to make a short book longer, but if you actually take proper notice, all of them help towards telling a little part of the story. They are merely a different aspect of King's narration, but still valid.

This is an incredibly good book, and i am positive that it is still one of Stephen King's very very best. (Alongside "it" "The Stand" "The Dark Half" "The Shining" "'salem's Lot" and "Pet Sematary".) I feel that he deserved a round of applause when this was published. And i am sure he is worthy of it as it continues today.

Rating:
Summary: It was scary...
Review: ...back in 1971, when it was published. Today, in light of the fact that we have "The Ring," Freddy vs. Jason," and other scary movies, and "Rebecca," "Dracula," and other scary books, Carrie loses its horror. I mean... Edgar Allen Poe was considered the scariest writer of his time, and today? Well, I've read have his stuff and he still doesn't scare me, but i still like him.
Anyways... this book doesn't need to be scary. It's good. And I'm sure everyone can relate in someway. I know I can. If you're looking for nightmares, then this is the wrong book. But if you're looking for Stephen King's first classic, his awesome prelude to some 50-odd amazing stories, then this is the book for you. I liked it, and I am an avid fan (and positive critic) of Stephen King. This IS a classic!

Rating:
Summary: Kings First, and STILL One of His Best
Review: 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.)

Rating:
Summary: a spectical of a novel!
Review: '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.

Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK NOW!!
Review: Carrie (by Stephen King) is wonderful example of occult and suspensful writing. Ahhhhhh who am i kidding im not that fancy!! ^_^ THAT BOOK IS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ SENSE ( did i spell that right??) 'Salems Lot (also by Stephen King) It's about a school girl named Carrie White. She is abused in school mentally and outside of school she has a psycho mom that is a overly religous ad locks Carrie in a closet and mkes her pray. then her classmates abuse her in a way that im proably not allowed to put on the internet!! ^_^ you'll hafta find out how the do it by reading this wondeful occult mystery (go to Stephenking.com IT ROCKS )

Rating:
Summary: Carrie - Chilling and Thought Provoking
Review: Few books I have read have provoked a response like Carrie did. King leaves out nothing in his first novel which he said he just had to write for all of the Carrie White's of this world. Things shocking and downright horrifying are told in great detail by King leaving me stunned. Unlike most of his novel which take the first 100 pages to really develop, King draws you immediately into Carrie's world in the opening scene. We are left shocked and sympathetic for poor Carrie, just like Susan Snell. King also provokes sympathy for Carrie through the horrible treatment from her mother. We are kept glued to the pages till we can't wait to see what will occur on prom night. I won't ruin prom night for you but let's just say that there are a lot of surprises, especially if you know nothing about the book or movie like I did. The format of the novel is a little peculiar and it takes awhile to get used to. At times, I just wanted to get the story moving along but the articles give useful and vital information to knowing what was happening outside of Carrie's world and mind. Carrie is also not as long as most, but King utilizes every word on every page to touch our every senses of the imagination. The dialogue looks to be a beginner's but is still very good. I am just finishing up high school and I see the kind of behavior of Carrie's nemesis' all the time. Every high school in America probably has a scapegoat like Carrie in it. It helped me especially to really think about the things that I say to people and the way I treat them. After reading Carrie, it amazes me the way we hurt each other every day in life whether we mean to or not. I can't blame Carrie for acting the way she did, and do not feel any smypathy for the kids that died that treated her the way they did. Carrie is the real victim in this story and it's a tragedy that there are too many Carrie's out in the real world that just want someone to love them. I loved the book and I'm sure you will too. It will really make you think about yourself and how you interact with people every day of your life.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book, well worth reading.
Review: I enjoyed this book a lot, I had trouble putting it down. Part of the reason for this was the lack of chapters, but it was mainly because this is such a good book.

Carrie is a character that I empathised with a great deal. She faces daily abuse at home and at school -I was myself bullied at school although thankfully my home environment was supportive. I see her as being a kind and attractive young lady who does not deserve any of the abuse she receives. During the course of the book, she discovers that she has powerful telekinetic abilities. I do not see what her actions near the end of the book as revenge, but as what happens when a tortured individual 'snaps'. She didn't plan what she did, it was merely a reaction to the dispicable way in which she had been treated. No one deserves to be bullied, but it happens throughout society. This book sends out the message that bullying is unacceptable.

This book is excellently written with a good storyline and a strong main character, I would recommend it to anyone, this is truly a 'must read' book.

Rating:
Summary: PLUG IT UP
Review: I loved this book. It was the first Stephen King book I ever read, and because of it i suddenly fell in love with his writing.
This novel is about a young girl named Carrie White, who is faced with the everyday challange of trying to fit in. But when the Prom Night arrives for all the kids in Carrie's middle school, and when Carrie gets persuaded into going, hell is to pay when Christine Hargenson plays her grande finale joke!

Rating:
Summary: Stephen King's First; Disappointing Compared With the Movie
Review: Stephen King made a big, bloody splash with his first novel CARRIE, written in the early 70's and published in 1974. It ushered in a new era in Horror fiction. Instead of Gothic Horror dealing with vampires, or Frontier Horror dealing with werewolves, this was the genesis of Modern Horror: taking a modern-day dramatic situation using ordinary, everyday characters and letting the horror grow out of the situation and the characters.

I can see that, when the book was released, how CARRIE was lauded as a modern masterpiece. I guess it is; after all, it put Stephen King on the map and began the career of the most successful American novelist of our times. The advent of Modern Horror was momentous---and a cash cow---for the fiction industry. But I saw the film first (actually, at least three or four times before buying and reading the book), and by comparison, it disappointed me. I liked the narrative of the film better, I found Carrie more sympathetic in the film (for example, in the book, she knows she will kill her mother when she gets home) and I just flat-out enjoyed it more. However, for any Stephen King fan, I definitely recommend going back to the beginning, where it all started for him---and us.

RECOMMENDED; AGES 14 & UP.