I cannot express to you how excited I am to be back in my reviewing game. It's been a long time, and I believed I lost some passion for books... man was I wrong. I think I simply lost passion for writing about them. But that passion has returned, so I won't dawdle too long on the details of my absence. I am, however, so stoked to write this review. This has been a book I've wanted to read and review for a long time, so here we go: Carrie by Stephen King.
First Impressions:
- This book is hotly popular, mostly because of the movie based on it. I find that I enjoy reading a novel/story without seeing a popular movie adaptation quite a lot (Haven't seen this particular King-based movie).
- I was pleasantly surprised at how much this book is generalized in reading circles and other blogs. Typically Carrie is known for pig's blood, a girl getting bullied, and telekinesis... but this book, I found, is about much more than these things. More on that later.
- I very much enjoy King's writing style here; I like how he includes first hand accounts, news reports, and all kinds of POVs in the story. Really makes the book seen multifaceted. Big plus.
- Overall, my first thought was this was going to be a rollercoaster.... I wasn't disappointed.
Plot:
- This book begins right out the gate. It is centered around a young girl named Carrie White. She lives with her mother and attends high school in Maine (King's natural setting). She is raised in a horrifically religious household and is treated extremely harshly and crudely by her mother, as her father is deceased when the story begins. This is obviously a huge piece of contention and plays into Carrie's problems with herself, her classmates, and her home situation.
- Carrie gets heavily hazed by her classmates. She is an outcast who is deemed ugly and awkward. One of the beginning scenes of the book is her showering in the girl's locker room after a gym class. She gets her first period, at sixteen, but doesn't have any idea what that is. Her mother, as a direct result of her feverish religious beliefs, doesn't allow Carrie to be feminine in any way. Therefore, an entire locker room of girls makes merciless fun of Carrie for her ignorance about her own anatomy. This is when the first inkling of her "abilities" occurs. She is able to bust lightbulbs. Her gym teacher comforts her after her girl classmates shower her with thrown sanitary pads and tampons.... screaming at her to "plug it up." The ringleader of this taunting is a young woman named Chris. Sue is also a pivotal character, as she is the only one who feels true sorrow and remorse for Carrie's troubles.
- The book continues, shedding more light on just how difficult life is for Carrie. Her mother is extremely brutal with her discipline, making Carrie sit in a closet along to "pray" while staring at the Wrathful God (a painting on the wall of the closet depicting Jesus tossing souls in to hell).
- I don't want to write too too much about the entire plot. But it is made aware to the reader that the prom is coming up at Carrie's high school. Sue, being extremely popular, decides to ask her boyfriend to go with Carrie to the prom. She does this partially to help Carrie come out of her shell, but it is also clear she is doing a good deed to perhaps relieve the guilt she feels for making fun of Carrie's ignorance about feminine cycles.
- Sue's boyfriend, Tommy, agrees to ask Carrie to prom. He does this because he loves Sue. Meanwhile, Chris gets seriously reprimanded for bullying Carrie. Chris gets banned from the prom, sparking an angry streak in her that leads her to formulate a master plan to humiliate the poor girl.
- Carries makes her own prom dress, crushed velvet in red. Soon, however, her mother notices and screams to her daughter how she attempted to kill her many times but "became too weak". Carrie exposes her powers and warns her mother not to try and stop her from attending prom. For a moment, her mother is subdued.
- Tommy picks Carrie up, and everything seems to be going perfectly. She is slowly being brought into the world... slowly being showed kindness and compassion and acceptance from her fellow classmates. Carrie believes with her heart that they are all doing this for her good, that they are starting to care about her. But in her mind... she knows that this could all be an elaborate prank to hurt her.
- Sadly... this ends up being the case. Chris schemes a nasty plan... as Carrie and Tommy are being crown prom king and queen, Chris (with the help of her sleazy boyfriend Billy) dump two large vats of pig's blood onto Carrie and Tommy as they accept their crowns. They begin laughing and pointing, publicly ridiculing Carrie. A bucket smashes into Tommy's head, killing him instantly. Carrie, fraught with rage and embarrassment, proceeds to lock all the doors and turn the sprinklers on with her mind. Little does she know, the cables connecting the amps and the sound system are exposed and a massive fire begins, sparking and electrocuting students as they remind trapped.
- Carrie then goes on a massive spree of hatred and destruction. She sets fire to the school and enters the town, setting fire to buildings, destroying water sources, blowing up gas stations and demolishing churches. She finally makes it to her home. Her mother is waiting with a knife. She stabs Carrie through the shoulder, injuring her badly. But Carrie has the upper hand, willing her mother's heart to stop beating with her powers.
- The story ends with Sue clutching onto Carrie as she is bombarded with the girl's thoughts. Screaming how sorry she is to her mother, how they finally got her one last time. Sue seems to be the only one who feels her pain and accepts her tragedy.
Opinions/Other Thoughts:
- This books makes me extremely sad for many reasons. The helplessness Carrie must feel... being unloved by everyone, even her own mother, is hard to imagine.
- I believe the fact that her classmates finally tried to be nice to her, and it was working, then such a nasty prank happens... it just breaks my heart.
- To me, this book is so much less about telekinesis and horror. But rather, this book is about a poor girl who was completely unloved and unwanted, mocked and poked fun at. Then, one small act of kindness helps this poor girl come out of her shell... only to be shot down by ugliness and hatred. This story breathes anti-bullying as much as it breathes science-fiction.
- My biggest take away from this story was: be kind, be genuine, be compassionate, be understanding... if you see someone in pain caused by others, try and put a stop to it. This book broke my heart.
Overall, I could not put this book down. I finished the whole thing in one night, one sitting. I cried like a baby, I smiled like an idiot. I highly recommend this book, and I believe it will be a classic for many years to come. Thanks for reading along, I'll see you next time.
As always, knowledge is power,
Katie.
