Reviews

Carrie by Stephen King

errski's review against another edition

4.0

I liked this book. The use of news and other characters POV to tell this story kept it interesting. The characters are just stereotypical high school students and parents, it's like a high school story gone bad, and everyone realizes the error of their ways.. to the extreme.

Spoiler

Also I knew that she destroyed the prom and set it on fire before reading this story, but I didn't know about all the rest. I sped through the end of this book. And really liked the character Sue Snell and the end part there.

kalmialaurel's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

barbietheboomop's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

taopez's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

jenmangler's review against another edition

3.0

The scariest thing about this book is not the rampage Carrie goes on at the end of book. Rather, it's the way that Carrie is treated by every single person in her life. There is absolutely no love from her mother, the one person we should all be able to go to for love and comfort. The teachers and principals at her school either don't know who she is, don't give a darn about her, or are disgusted by her. And then, of course, we have Carrie's fellow students. They are never not mean to her, in ways both large and small, in thought and in action. Everywhere she turns she is basically told she is worthless and disgusting (or worse). And when two people actually try to do something nice for her everyone else ensures that just doesn't happen. It's heartbreaking.

I really liked how the book included excerpts from books, papers and reports about ' the incident.' Watching them try to come to terms with what happened - and missing the mark so widely - really added to the story. They wanted to see her as this evil anomalous creature, a once-in-a-lifetime weirdo, because it was easier to believe that. Almost no report paid attention to how Carrie was treated or what she had to endure on a daily basis and how that factored into what happened. To them, she was just evil. The line that stuck with me the most, though, did not view Carrie that way. About 3/4 of the way through the book Sue Snell says, in an excerpt from her book, "This is the girl they keep calling a monster. I want you to keep that firmly in mind. The girl who could be satisfied with a hamburger and a dime root beer after her only school dance so her Momma wouldn't be worried." I thought that was beautiful. Sue refused to dehumanize Carrie, and she was the only one.

cleffeler's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

drblump's review against another edition

dark sad medium-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

kayleighs_books's review against another edition

4.0

I support Carrie’s choices

andrewwwwww's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

somanybooks_solittletime's review against another edition

3.0

I'm sure everyone has either read or seen the movie of Carrie by King, so im not gonna go into the synopsis.
I only just read my first Stephen King book late last year and that was Holly, which I loved! I love the way King writes and the detail and the characters. But Carrie didn't pull me in, in ths same way.

I know this was his debut novel from back in the 70's and im probably in the minority but I found this book hard going. I don't like to DNF a book, so I did carry on through and I'm glad I did, but I won't be making my top books of 2024. To be honest I've never been a fan of the movie, although I may give it another shot now that I read the book. Maybe it clouded my judgement too.
I will definitely read move King, both old and new and hopefully more will be like his latest works.