I first read Carrie when I was about twelve-years-old, which was a long-ass time ago. As a young teen I saw mean kids picking on those who didn’t quite fit in. I felt for Carrie, but couldn’t relate to her mother, and didn’t understand the importance of Sue’s character. Reading this as an almost-forty-year-old mother, and Educational Assistant, was a new experience that felt real, raw, and moving.

About The Book

My Review

 › Setting
This is the story about Carrie, a teen girl struggling to distance herself from her religious-fanatic mother so she can learn how to fit in at school. Her father died before she was born, her mother remained single, raising her daughter to be paranoid about the devil. When Carrie was three-years-old, stones rained down on their home during a toddler meltdown. Now Carrie is sixteen-years-old, attending Ewen High School in Chamberlain, Maine (a real town). No one realizes she has telekinetic powers which will give her the power for revenge.

 › The book has three parts:

Part One: Blood Sport – events and details leading up to Prom Night

Part Two: Prom Night – May 26, 1979

Part Three: Wreckage – 4 months after Prom Night – September, 1979

 › Characters
Margaret White: religious fanatic who believes menstruation is a sin, having breasts is a sin, the prom is a place where teenagers go to sin. She often made Carrie go into the closet and pray for hours on end. When I read Carrie as a young teen I didn’t realize that Margaret must have been suffering from a mental illness. Definitely anxiety, but perhaps something more. Her husband died in a tragic accident. Her daughter was displaying some strange abilities. She had already left the church, and other than her job, she had isolated herself from the world. This led to her creating a new “religion” in her mind, melding aspects from many churches into this idea that the world is full of darkness which is going to come and take her daughter away.

Carrie White: sixteen-year-old protagonist with dormant telekinetic abilities. She’s been bullied for years by her mother and the kids at school. One day, while in the shower after gym, Carrie’s first period starts. She didn’t know what menstruation was, begins to cry thinking she’s bleeding to death, as a group of mean girls laugh and mock her. She becomes hysterical, the noise attracts their gym teacher, Miss Desjardins.

Miss Desjardins: walks in to the girl’s shower to discover a group of girls throwing tampons and pads at Carrie who’s crying on the floor. Carrie was hysterical, and Miss Desjardins admits to the reader that she took pleasure in slapping Carrie, but later finds out why Carrie was crying and feels bad for the girl.

Chris Hargensen: the popular rich, mean girl. I really, really, really, really hate Chris and her boyfriend Billy.

Billy Nolan: Chris’s boyfriend. Billy and Chris have an abusive relationship.

Sue Snell: she found herself mocking Carrie with the other girls after Carrie started her period, however, Sue felt really bad about it right away. She tries to help Carrie by asking her boyfriend, Tommy, take Carrie to the prom.

Tommy Ross: Sue’s boyfriend. He’s smart, athletic, kind and generous.

“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.”

 › Writing Style
King used excerpts from university articles, letters, interviews, news reports and narrative to tell Carrie’s story. I just love how he creates characters that feel like someone you know. The pacing is perfect. It’s strange to say Carrie is an entertaining read because it is very sad and horrifying, but this is truly a page-turner. I didn’t want to put it down.

“They were still all beautiful and there was still enchantment and wonder, but she had crossed a line and now the fairy tale was green with corruption and evil.”

 › Carrie is sad and disturbing. This poor girl only has a few moments of happiness. This is about a volatile mother/daughter relationship, the dangers of isolation, the impact of abuse. There’s an interesting message here about government covering up strange phenomenon. Carrie is a work of fiction, however, King gives it a non-fiction feel by talking about the genetics of telekinesis, and using media from multiple sources that give the appearance of being authentic. Many of these articles and news reports are dated post-prom night, and some are dated even post-publication date for the novel.

 › I can’t believe this was King’s DEBUT NOVEL! Can you imagine reading this in 1974!

“What happens if there are others like her? What happens to the world?”

› Final Thoughts
Although Carrie is a horror novel, this is really about humanity, and about how we treat each other, and what that says about our society. I’m looking forward to reading King’s next published novel, Salem’s Lot.

Here’s a great video of Stephen King talking about how Carrie came to be his first published novel. https://youtu.be/agGuYCmJIIw

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About The Author

• His father left when he was 2, raised by his mother
• Spent his childhood in Indiana, Connecticut, and Maine
• Graduated from high school in 1966
• While attending University of Maine he wrote for the school paper. Graduated in 1970 with a B.A. in English.
• Met his wife, Tabitha, in University, they married in 1971
• Worked in industrial laundry while seeking teaching job, writing short stories for magazines
• 1971 became an English teacher, continuing to write short stories and novels.
• His first novel, Carrie, was published in 1974
• He’s published over 50 novels
  
  www.stephenking.com

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