Carrie

Rating:
Summary: One of his best!
Review: This is one of the first books by Stephen King I read and it really got me hooked. The overly religious mother and her treatment of Carrie gives the book it's terrifying edge just as well as Carries "gift". After the first few pages I couldn't stop reading, just like every King book I've read. I recommend this book to any beginning reader of Stephen King.

Rating:
Summary: A promising debut
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Pick this up horror fans.
Review: If you are new to Stephen King I would certainly suggest reading "Carrie" first. It is one of the most twisted and disturding books I have ever read, but one of the best at the same time.(as it seems for alot of people) "Carrie" is my first Stephen King book, and I will read alot more of his work.

Rating:
Summary: Creepy as hell.
Review: I sat down and read this book in about one hour, I just couldn;t put it down. It was very creepy, and King does and incredible job or letting you inside the characters heads. Although the transitions inbetween characters can be confusing at first you soon get used to it. Wonderful book. I would recommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: briliant!!!
Review: Master writer stephen king has done it again in carrie. This book is extreamly unique and great. It is about a girl named carrie who has the gift of tk. This book was so great I finished reading it in 2 days. If you like stephen king you wont be disapointed if you read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Stephen King's First and Best Novel
Review: Despite it's rawness, CARRIE is a brilliantly conceived novel. It is noticable- if you have ever read one of King's later books- how much his writing has matured since this-- his first-- novel. Those of you who have already seen the movie (I LOVE IT! It is my favorite movie!) already know the plot-- a shy wallflower named Carrie White is picked on and taunted by her classmates (who don't know she has telekinetic [the power to move things with your mind] powers), some of which plan to play a vicious prank on her at the prom... with which she is going to with the most popular boy in the senior class (his girlfriend wanted to make it up to Carrie for picking on her by asking him to take her). But it is much more than that. It is more a psychological novel than it is a horror novel. Yes, the prom scene is truly horrifying, when Carrie unleashes her powers to get revenge on those who have mocked her; but you have to look at the other sides of the novel.

Carrie's mother is a religious fanatic who will stop at nothing to make Carrie's life even more miserable. Throughout the novel, she punishes Carrie for doing things (such as having her period) which she thinks are sins-- which we know are just natural facts of life. Carrie does nothing wrong, and ultimately, we feel sorry for her, and, in some cases, can actually relate to what is happening to her.

For most, this will truly be a frightening novel for anyone who has ever picked on a weaker person. It may make you wish you hadn't picked on them after all...

Rating:
Summary: A very horrifying novel.
Review: Carrie is one of Stephen King's best novels. It is also one of my favorite books. Carrie is about a teenage girl with telekinesis. She is continually picked on and tormented at school. Carrie soon learns she is different when she find out she can make things happen around her. Carrie's mother, who is obsessed with her religion, does not allow Carrie to do anything because of her own beliefs. Carrie tries to control things with her power whenever other kids and her mother torment her. One of the girls who makes fun of Carrie feels guilty and decides to have her boyfriend, who is class president, ask Carrie to the prom to make up for her actions. When he asks Carrie to the prom, she is weary about whether it will be just a practical joke or a nice thing.

Carrie is one of the best books I have ever read. I like this book because it is interesting throughout the whole story. It is a book that never gets to a boring point. This was Stephen King's first novel that he wrote. This book is also one of Stephen King's shortest books, which doesn't take very long to read, but it is still very entertaining. It is a suspenseful story and it actually has some good horror parts. Carrie is a very good book that I think is definitely worth a read. I would recommend for anybody to read this book who likes Stephen King whether a fan or not.

Rating:
Summary: Thanks Tabitha for Digging it out of the Garbage...
Review: Yep, when Steve first starting writing Carrie, he gave up on it and through it into the garbage. His wife Tabitha saw it in there, took it out, read it, and convinced him to finish it. So, I think we all owe much thanks to her for that. Who knows? Maybe Stephen would never have gotten his break if it wasn't for that? And what a break it was! At the time, he was married, had two children, was working as an English teacher, and was selling short stories to magazines. He was living pay check to pay check and had to pick up extra jobs in the summer. He could hardly afford anything (even proper medecine for the kids!), so when his agent called and told him that the paperback rights to Carrie sold for four hundred thousand dollars, you can bet that it changed his life!

And now on to the book. This is on of the finest written debut novels ever. Steve gets inside not only Carrie White's head, but all of the other characters: from Carrie's religious fanatic mother, to the sex-crazed teenagers. I've always been amazed at how well King develops characters that are nothing like him, and unless Steve is keeping a really big secret, I doubt that he has ever been a teenage girl, struggling with a psychotic mom and newfound telekinetic powers. I think we should credit Tabitha (a fine writer herself) again for helping out. Not only is King good at character development, but he also knows how to move a story along. This is a short novel, so of course the pace is pretty fast (I read it in a day), but even on longer novels like It (let's pretend Insomnia and Dreamcatcher never happened) he keeps the plot going and knows what is important to the story and what to cut out of it. Overall, Stephen King's constantly brilliant writing ability absolutely astounds me. And, as a fellow author (yet to be published), also makes me a bit jealous.

This is definitely a book you should read. It's not one that will go down in history, but it is an exciting, entertaining book that you won't put down until the final page has been read, and when you think about it, not only is that an accomplishment in itself, but it is all that a book really needs to be.

Rating:
Summary: I read it with the lights on...
Review: This book was creepy and so good. I read it when I was 13 (10 years ago) in a little over a weekend and found it hard to turn the lights off and go to bed, I was that scared. If you want a scary and riveting page turner, you've come to the right place. This is one of King's bests!

Rating:
Summary: Not spooky but still excellent.
Review: This was not as spooky as it was made to sound. Not the best King novel but I dont rate on that. A must read for anyone. It's easy enough to understand and not very long(about 250 pages), unlike It and The Stand. The novel is about a high school girl named Carrie White and her involvement with telekinesis(or TK as the novel calls it). This is all I can reveal without giving away the plot and the ending.