Carrie

Rating:
Summary: Really Good
Review: I Think that seeing the movie first kind of ruined the book for me but anyway I love the book because it gives soo much more detail then the movie did. This is my first Stephen King book and I think I will be reading a lot more after I finsh Carrie.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!!
Review: This is great for being Stephen King's first book! It was kinda sad how kids were so cruel to Carrie, and how she had such a religious mom who didn't even let her sleep with a pillow. There were some happy moments, like when Carrie was Prom Queen.

I gave it 4 stars because of those little paragraphs about telekenisis. They were useless if you know about TK and Carrie's situation. But besides that, the book is really, really good!

Rating:
Summary: a potent ode to teen angst
Review: Only in rare occasions do movies based on books outshine their source material, but after reading "Carrie," Stephen King's first novel, I have to say the film version (directed by Brian De Palma) is more worthy of someone's time. The story is fairly simple--a teenage girl living with her crazed, religious-fanatic mother is tormented in school, realizes she has telekinesis (the ability to move objects with the mind), and when she's asked to the prom, it serves as the setup for a cruel, deliberately drawn-out prank in which her gift is put to full use in an appropriately vengeful sequence. This bare-bones outline certainly sounds good, and King does a decent job of giving the small-town setting an aura of reality, but what brings "Carrie" down are brief interludes (magazine articles, book excerpts on TK, etc.) that really put a snag in the narrative action (it's very much stop, start, stop, start again). Perhaps King's intent was to give the proceedings a documentary feel, which is understandable, but these sections come across as pulpy, and in more than a few instances, gratuitous.

To a teenager who likes King's work, by all means check this out. As a non-pandering literary ode to teen angst, it doesn't get much better than this. I think I've just outgrown this stuff.

Rating:
Summary: The movie is the BEST..............Until you read the BOOK!!
Review: Most people feel that after watching the movie, you shouldn't read the book because it will be exactly the same. Not the case here!!!!!! The destruction Carrie causes in the movie is nothing compared to the destruction she causes in the book! It is far from being exactly the same, and even if you have seen the movie and "think" you know the plot, the ending of this book will surprise you nonetheless.

"Carrie" is the story of a lonely, outcast girl with no friends or people to talk to. She is stuck with a religous fanatic, and quite frankly, a madwoman for a mother. Carrie is the butt of every joke, the person you can always make fun of and torment. Finally, after gym class one day, when the girls are in the locker room showering, she is pushed almost to the limit when she gets her period. She doesn't know what is happening (her crazy mother never bothered to tell her because she thinks that having a period is a sin), and thinks she is bleeding to death. The girls all laugh and throw things at her. But that is only the beginning of the story.

Carrie soon discovers that she can do strange things with her mind, such as move an object, lock a door, or make a candle fall over. She discovers that she can take control of a situation using her powers, and she also discovers something else...she can get revenge.

One night at her prom (someone arranged for her to have a date, otherwise she never would have gotten one), she is humiliated one time too many, and finally snaps, using her powers to cause death, destruction, and mayham!

Want to find out how this all ends? Read the book, whether or not you've seen the movie, and behold the true power of Carrie White!

Rating:
Summary: So much better than the movie, unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: If you have seen the movie "Carrie" and say to yourself, "well, I've seen the movie, why read the book?" than you are making a huge mistake! The book has so much more than the movie, a whole lot more! For example: in the movie, Carrie sets the school on fire. In the book, Carrie ruins the WHOLE TOWN!!!!! Now tell me that isn't a big difference! If you saw the movie, and thought it needed more, read the book and I guarantee you will be satisfied!

This is a book with everything a Stephen King fan could ever want. Horror, suspense, and a girl and her mother who are just plain twisted! The plot is awesome, the book's length makes it a quick and easy read, and it will leave you wanting more!

Take my advice, do not judge the story of "Carrie" by the movie, judge it by the book!

Rating:
Summary: sa weet
Review: this book kept me turning pages and has kept me in suspense (not to mention away for all school events) horrifying to the end money very well spent

Rating:
Summary: The very first
Review: Strangely enough, Carrie may be as far as Stephen King ever deviated from straight narrative storytelling in his entire career. It's not very far at that, but it is far enough apart to make the story interesting and engaging. Rather than simply following a course of events, King frequently breaks the course of the narration to include excerpts from various fictional publications regarding the event that the novel itself revolves around. The method is effective, mixing technical discourse on telekinesis with the emotional content of the story to draw the reader along. In keeping with another common theme of King's work, there's also no real "villain" involved in this story, simply a confluence of forces yielding an undesirable conclusion. The end result is that this story feels very real. Compare Carrie, for example, to 'Salem's Lot, with it's singular villain at the lead, and you can see the difference. While the Lot may be charming, it is this story which carries (no pun intended) more impact to the reader simply because it hits closer to home. This book isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, though--don't get me wrong. While it's truly amazing for a first publication, it's still more than a little rough around the edges. It fortunately does not suffer from King's occasional ... of the word processor, but the storytelling style and voice that became more and more evident as Steve's career developed is much less apparent in this story. Who would I recommend this book for? Well, as usual, the book is good for anybody who has some time to kill and wants an engaging story. King has been occasionally accused of overdeveloping his backstory, but I think that in this case the backstory is integrated well into the overall story, allowing it to stay engaging, rather than dragging in places (as, say, Insomnia might). Parents may or may not want to steer their children clear, as it does include some rather frank discussion of menstruation, and the book itself concerns itself in a higher sense with the trials of puberty, but there's not much here that I would find objectionable. All things considered, the only thing that stops me from giving this piece five stars is the fact that it does feel just a bit rough around the edges, without the flow and fluency that is typical of King's later work. Overall, however, a wonderful read.

Rating:
Summary: The perils of being in the "out" crowd
Review: Perhaps the most remarkable thing about reading this book in 2001 is that I read it in the shadows of such horrific real-life tragedies as the Columbine High School shootings, and the more recent shootings in San Diego. I certainly don't want to be an apologist for Carrie, or for her real-life counterparts, but this novel should be a lesson--whether King meant to teach it or not--that the bullying and teasing and harassing kids can do in school has severe, negative emotional consequences on the victim. So first and foremost, this book is excellent because King is able to make his readers root for a character who exacts revenge on her tormentors in a most spectacular fashion.

"Carrie" also is a good read because of the use of "book" and "commission" references King sticks in throughout as a device to move the action along. This allows the reader to get a "distance" perspective of events even as the events are unfolding. It also lends "credibility" to the story, giving the reader the feeling that this story is factual, and as such, far more scary.

Rating:
Summary: Very good Book!!
Review: This is early SK. The Raw power he exudes from this book is tremendous. The story about a high school girl with TK(telekenises) is fabulous! Definetly worth reading! The death & carnage that is left in Carrie's wake is amazing! I also liked the in-between parts with news tickers from AP & excerpts from other "books"("The Shadow Exploded", "My Name Is Susan Snell" etc). They kind explain the TK phenom & give personal accounts of what happened. Worth the time to read. A real Page turner!

Rating:
Summary: WoW!!
Review: I found this book to be very good because for one, I enjoy mysteries, and books that have to do with blood. Also, it puts problems that teens are dealing with all the time and not just what ever comes to mind like some authors. Unlike other authors, Stephen King likes to express his ideas in ways that others find gruesome. I enjoyed this book mainly because I felt like I could be there and see everything that was going on. Lastly, it was just like the movie, except for it was more in-depth and explained everything a whole lot better than the movie itself.