Carrie

Spoilers ahead: As a huge fan of the 1976 film "Carrie," I decided to buy the book to read the story as first told. I figured a movie that made me feel so sad had needed to be looked into a little further to seek to understand it a little better. Maybe this way, I wouldn't feel as sad about Carrie's tragic life and ultimate end. However, the book made me feel just about as sad. Carrie White is a student at Ewen High School. She is an outsider who is constantly bullied by her peers due to her unappealing appearance, her shyness, and her mother's erratic behavior. She also discovers that she has the incredible power of telekinesis. When she has her first period in the showers, her classmates mock her by telling her to "plug it up!" and by throwing sanitary towels and tampons at her rather than helping her. The terrified girl has no idea about what a woman's menstruation is and believes she is dying, as no one taught her about it. Her gym teacher Miss Desjardin helps Carrie through this and punishes the girls for their behavior, which is one week's detention with her. Chris Hargensen, who is the ringleader of the bullies, leaves detention early and is suspended, and ultimately forbidden to go to the Senior Prom. This, in her mind, is all Carrie's fault. Meanwhile at home, Carrie's unstable and religious fanatic of a mother (Margaret White) punishes her for having her first period by locking her in a "prayer closet." This is something that is accustomed in the White household as the book explains Carrie sometimes spends days in the closet, leading to exhaustion and sleeping in her own waste. It's just so sad reading parts of the story like this. One of the bullies, Sue Snell, feels sorry for what she did to Carrie so she asks her boyfriend (Tommy Ross) to take the girl to the prom. He asks Carrie to the prom, which unlike the movie, she accepts almost right away though awkwardly. Margaret is unhappy with this of course and tries to make Carrie stay home from prom, which she is unsuccessful at. Carrie and Tommy are elected prom king and queen as part of a plan devised by Chris Hargensen and her boyfriend Billy Nolan. Their plan is to dump pig's blood on both of them as a prank for getting Chris in trouble. Once the blood is dropped on both of them, the bucket falls on Tommy and kills him. Carrie runs out of the gym in humiliation as everyone yet again is laughing at her. She then remembers her telekinetic powers.... From outside, she locks all of the gym doors and what at first was a plan to just throw the prank back on all of the other students, turned into a massacre. Students and faculty are electrocuted, burned, and suffocated inside the school by the use of Carrie's powers. Unlike the 1976 movie, Carrie's vengeance continues throughout the town. She is able to use telepathy to communicate to the citizens of Chamberlain that she is in fact the one wreaking havoc on the town. Carrie visits a church to pray before going home, where her mother is there waiting there to kill her as she think that Carrie is using Satan's powers. Margaret White stabs Carrie in the shoulder when she returns home. Carrie kills her mother by stopping her heart in self-defense. Carrie then travels to local bar called The Cavalier to confront Chris and Billy, who had been sleeping together there. She is able to kill both of them by slamming their car into the side of the building. Sue Snell is able reach Carrie at the bar, who is dying. Carrie and Sue use telepathy to speak to each other. It is revealed to Carrie that Sue had good intentions all along and is forgiven by Carrie. As a last action before death, Carrie makes Sue miscarry her child that was conceived with Tommy as her period arrives. We then learn from the last few paragraphs that other people may in fact possess the great power of telekinesis. This is a great book that I literally read in one setting. I couldn't put it down because it is so intriguing. Once again, like the 1976 movie, we can't help but feel compassion for Carrie. The story is just so tragic. A tortured girl who just wanted to fit in and be normal, but was never given the chance. Stephen King uses a lot of court room dialog and news articles to tell certain parts of the story, such as the time a very young Carrie created a rain of ice stones to fall on the White house after a confrontation with her mother. I thought this was an excellent way to tell the story by giving us many different points of view. The book really makes you feel Carrie's isolation and sadness. The part that actually made me cry was the poem she wrote in her 7th grade class. The quote is posted on the picture I posted for this review. It's just so sad to think a child feels that helpless and alone. The description of the very small closet that she is forced to pray in also is unsettling. Stephen King was at the top of his game with his first published novel "Carrie." It is a very well written book that fills the reader with emotion and makes us want to reread it. I now know why the 1976 movie was so great: the novel in which it was based upon was excellent.

I decided to revisit the first novel of my favorite author after all these years. Unlike Salem's Lot or The Stand or even Misery which I've read a few times. I read Salem's Lot every so many years. this is only the second time I have ever actually read Carrie and the first time since it first came out in paperback a lot of years ago. I'm actually more familiar with the movie than the book and I listened to Sissy Spacek read the Audible version along with my own reading of the novel. It has been so long that it was like a first read. Any memories I had were of the movie meaning the Sissy Spacek original and not any of the remakes. First the Audible version is excellent and Sissy Spacek does a great job of reading it. Being from Alabama I kept picking up some of her Southern or should I say Texas accent at times. But, it was only on a couple of words and she did a really good job of reading the story of the exceptional and troubled young girl from Maine. This story still holds up and if you are looking for a good Audible listen you can't go wrong with this one. Now, to the story. Carrie as a story really hit home for me since I was raised in the Bible Belt and honestly Carrie's mother reminded me of some of the adults from my youth in a Penacostol church. Even the name of Carrie's mother reminded me of a lady that was really religious back then. Not as deadly with it or as mean spirited of course. Anyway, one of the reasons that Carrie was a challenging read for me back then was my churchy upbringing. Was it a sin to read a book with such irreverent religious imagery of my then Chritsitan faith which brings me back to the story. Stephen King if he were a churhy person which he is not seems to align from the few times I've heard him discuss it with a more calmly mainline Methodist mindset. Carrie had the beaten down just get it over with attitude of many of us who were born into a religious fundamentalist family. Thankfully I was born into an actual family and my religious relatives were not toxic. The fictional Carrie's family certainly was. Although she had only her mother left. Stephen King does a great job here especially for a first published novel. He hits the right note of the poor downtrodden bullied teen and the casual cruelty of youth As a male I think it might have actually worked better with the bulliyng parts from a male perspective. I know how mean teenage boys can be. On the other hand I bet some females will recognize the meanness of teenage girls in the narrative. I sometimes hesitate to read books from my youth and young adulthood. They tend to seem dated. But, this one about kids from around my time really kept my attention. This is the young Stephen King. Still full of potential and stories about haunted cars and haunted hotels. Vampire's over running a New England town and a quiet man with a gun and an obsession for a Dark Tower are in the future. This is the start. Not of the Tower or the haunted hotels and cars. But, of the writer. It's a good trip and well worth the time.

Très beau livre

Il primo romanza di King è un classico dell'horror che non può mancare nelle letture degli appassionati

Já sabia que a qualidade de impressão não seria 100% por ser pocket, mas me surpreendi, atendeu minhas expectativas!

元々ブライアンデパルマの映画版が大好きで、一番好きなはホラー映画を聞かれれば必ずキャリーと応えているくらい。でも改めて原作を読んで、映画は映画で良かったけどとてもじゃないけど及ばないなぁと思わされてしまうような面白さと驚きがありました。映画がキャリー自身に凄くスポットを当てていたのに対して、小説はどちらかというとSue Snellに感情移入するような、キャリーを客観的に描いている感じ。だからこそ結果的に街一つを再起不能にしてしまう程の強大なパワーを持ちながら子供のようにママに助けを乞いつづけるキャリーの哀れな姿やぐちゃぐちゃの心情がSueを通して痛いほど伝わってきます。そしてそんなキャリーを助けることができない無力さにやるせなくなります。プロムの虐殺だけではキャリーの怒りは収まらなかった。そんな彼女を産んでしまった差別まみれの環境に苛立ちすら覚えます。 スティーブンキング作品を英語で読んだのは三作品目なのですが、今作に限らず具体的かつ捻ったような表現方法が多いしキリスト教関係の見たこともない単語が結構出てきて結構難しかった。これに比べるとシャイニングは結構簡単に思えるかも。 まだスティーブンキングは10タイトルくらいしか読めてないけど、映画が原作を超えてると感じた作品は一つもないので、映画だけを観て終わってしまう人たちが多いのは本当に勿体無い。映画でストーリーを知ってしまっている人も是非読んでみてほしい。

Cuesta al principio pillarle el ritmo a las partes epistolares y la narración de los hechos acaecidos. Pero sin duda es de los mejores libros de King