Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Carrie

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Carrie by Stephen King

72 reviews

remuslibrary's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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orlabutler's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Maybe I would have enjoyed this book more if I wasn't already familiar with the story from the film but it wasn't really engaging. Also I hate the lack of chapters, this is a pet peeve of mine but in particular for this book it made it feel like it would never end.

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jaedia's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A nice quick read and a classic for a reason, Carrie tells the legendary story of Carietta White, the daughter of a crazed fundamentalist Christian woman who is fiercely bullied at her high school and the repercussions this life has.

Only lost points because the random mid-sentence thought brackets were very off-putting, occasionally would switch scenes with absolutely no indication towards doing so, and the numerous references to racist caricatures (while yes, a result of the time period) were unnecessary and gross. I'm aware these kinds of things come up in King's early books but they very much do affect my ratings.

Otherwise, enjoyed the reading experience immensely.

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sylvester749's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

king's writing style was there from the get go (if you ignore the many other non-published non-novel writing he did before this), and its interesting to see how confident his prose is right away (including his less than savory ways of describing people). really liked the epistolary structure of it - the build up to the actual event was incredibly tense and well paced, especially since it lived up to the hype. overall very strong, very sad, and very engrossing!

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macabrebookwitch's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I haven’t read really any horror novels before, so thus begins my goal of reading every stephen king book in release order. As it’s the first book, I was a little underwhelmed. I also didn’t expect to feel so bad for Carrie,

honestly like getting me to think the town deserved it. Or at least, her bullies and mother did.

I want to watch the movies now, but I’m cutting King some slack since I know its the first one. The religious trauma is strong in this one. I also feel like there are some questionable phrases and themes in this book (although I know it takes place and was written in the 70s, its not much excuse). But I trek ever onward through King’s bibliography.

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zakcebulski's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Well, I finally got there! I finally read the King book that started it all, and while I thought the book was very well done, I don't know that I enjoyed it- let me explain.
I think that King's first outing novel was very well done. The story follows 16 year old Carietta "Carrie" White- a girl who cannot catch a fucking break.
Carrie is a girl who deals with so much bullshit day in and out. This is not limited to bullying at the hands of her high school peers, but, with religious mania stemming from her mother's pathological following of her Christian faith.
Carrie also holds a secret- telekinesis (TK in the book)- which she will later use to full effect to get revenge on all of those who have wronged her (and even those who didn't).
Now, I would be utterly shocked if anyone did not know about the ending of Carrie specifically the Prom Night sequence. I knew about the prom sequence, but, I did not know that Carrie ends up destroying damn near the entire town of Chamberline, Maine. This is like the ending of another one of King's books.
Prior to this, however, the narrative follows Carrie through the struggles of life as she is constantly put down upon by people for no fucking reason. I found it interesting that by in large the story is pretty simple. It is a narrative following the life of a bullied girl. Gradually, there are interspersed vignettes from lab reports, police interviews and books discussing the events of "The Black Prom" and Carrie White. I thought that this was a very smart addition by King as he was able to pepper in foreshadowing while still building a sense of elation. Very well done.

Eventually one of her classmates- Sue Snell, who, feeling guilty for some particularly horrific bullying- the shower scene- convinces her boyfriend to take Carrie to prom. It is at this point where the reader falls into a sense of near glee for Carrie when it seems that things are finally starting to turn around for her.

But, a vindictive bully- Chris Hargensen and others decide to play a prank on Carrie where when she is crowned prom queen with her date- Tommy- pig's blood will be dropped on them. This act of bullying, this "prank" is one step too far for Carrie who unleashes her full TK powers and ends up not only decimating the school, but, levelling much of the town and killing in excess of 440 people.
This is obviously horrific, and I think that it is an interesting play by King where he writes Carrie to be so sympathetic and nearing pathetic, and switches her on a dime to be abhorrent, and deserving of zero sympathy.
I will say that people like Billy and Chris- I didn't have a great deal of sadness for them.
One of the most interesting points of the book to me is the relationship with Carrie's mom- Margaret and her relationship with Carrie due to her religious beliefs. Margaret is pathologically devout, considering most things to be sinful. It is later revealed that Carrie was a result of a marital rape from her drunken father, which Margaret enjoyed. I think that though this is sickening to read about, it is a very interesting character defining moment, as it illustrates why Margaret harbors such a vicious scorn toward her daughter.

After reading many of King's later works it is interesting to read his first book and to see all of the tropes and see the progression of his writing style.
I think that I would have liked this book more should more of the characters been more fleshed out. At the end of the day it was Carrie, Margaret and Sue that were the most in depth characters. I found people like Billy and Chris to be very one-dimensional, and ultimately not very believable as evil characters.
I thought that this book was truly heartbreaking as someone who was truly innocent is pushed and razed to the point where they become something truly profane and evil. I thought that the emotions which King was able to conjure up when Carrie gets asked to prom and when she is voted as Queen were some of the higher highs I have experienced reading one of his books. His ability to take that positive momentum and turn it on a dime to be truly hellacious is astounding.
I am truly glad that King continued writing. This book is a clear illustration, to me, of the potential which King had even in his first book.
Long live the King.

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jem_carstairs's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book started off quite slow but it didn’t feel like an issue, but even when I was told it would pick up in the second half it felt quite repetitive. We were given the same information from sometimes three or four different perspectives at times.

Additionally, there were a few passages I felt belonged on r/menwritingwomen

All that said, I did enjoy Carrie - it was a good introduction to Stephen King - and I probably will go on to read more by him.

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mxsaramx's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense

3.5

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jana07's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

4.75

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ivegotyourpaperback's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this debut novel from a little known author who you may or may not have heard of. 😉

I find this book to be very ‘readable’ (I could easily binge this in a few hours if uninterrupted). I don’t have to work hard to understand the meaning behind the words and the story flows well. I hope this is a trend that continues with King’s works.

I thought the pacing was good up until Prom Night, then quickened dramatically (the best way I can describe it is as if I’m on a downhill run of a roller coaster).

The format of the novel was really interesting. It’s multiple POV and told in both 1st and 3rd person narrative. The telling of Carrie’s story & the events surrounding her life are interspersed with excerpts from fictional news clippings or texts written after the events in question. I feel like this is a technique commonly used in visual mediums (tv & film), so it’s unsurprising this story has a couple of film adaptations. I think it could also work really well as a tv show.

What I didn’t enjoy about the format was when a character’s inner monologue would interrupt a sentence (this happens a lot).

Something that I found quite jarring was the inclusion of some degrading terms pertaining to black people. I understand the usage of it in the context (ie, the story being written and set in the 70’s when racism/intolerance was more prevalent, and the character’s thoughts about what it meant to ‘conform’ to society at that time) and don’t believe it’s indicative of Mr King’s personal beliefs. However, I can’t say that I think it was wholly necessary to use those terms. Others may disagree. To my 2022 brain, the appearance of these words was quite a shock.

As far as target audience goes, or what age a reader of this story would be, I would liken this to an M15+ rating on a film - I think readers 15 and up can glean enjoyment from this but also have the emotional maturity to handle some of the content that could be ‘triggering’.

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Content warnings:

⚠️Bullying

⚠️Assault

⚠️Murder

⚠️Matricide

⚠️Toxic relationship

⚠️Racial slurs/terminology (rarely used)

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