Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Carrie by Stephen King

144 reviews

nasab's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

أول تجربة حقيقية لي في تصنيف الرعب وأول تجربة لي مع ستيفن كينج. شجعني حجم الكتاب كونه لا يتعدى الثلاثمئة صفحة.
لم تكن لدي فكرة مسبقة عن الرواية، أو هذا ما ظننته حتى قرأت الصفحات الأولى وتذكرت وصف صديقتي المشوش لأحداث الفيلم المقتبس من الرواية قبل حوالي عشر سنوات عندما كنا في الصف المتوسط لقتل الملل أثناء المحاضرة التوعوية في المدرسة ☺️ ذاكرتي لا تكون بهذه القوة عندما أحتاجها فعلًا، ولكن لم تتأثر تجربتي لأن الكاتب نفسه كان يحرق الأحداث بين الحين والآخر.
أسلوب الرواية في عرض مقتطفات من جرائد وأخبار وكتب خيالية راقت لي جدًا وعززت من اندماجي.
لدي مشكلة الترجمة، هي لم تخطئ المعنى ولكنها لم تكن سلسة تمامًا بالنسبة لي ووجدت قراءة النسخة الإنجليزية أسهل، ولا أعرف ما السبب بالضبط.
نأتي للقصة،
بالرغم من معرفتي المسبقة بما سيحدث كنت لا أزال خائفة وأتمنى أن تنقلب الأحداث لصالح بطلتنا. 
كاري قد تبدو شريرة في ظل أحداث الحفل المدرسي وعدد القتلى والمصابين الناتجين عن أفعالها التدميرية، لكني لم أستطع منع نفسي من دعمها في انتقامها، والرغبة في أن تُلحق المزيد من الأذى على من تنمروا عليها. يبدو من العدل أن تمتلك هذه القوى المتفجرة لتسوية الأمور معهم، ولكنه من المؤسف أيضًا أن الأذى النفسي الذي واجهته يساوي الأذى الجسدي الذي عرضتهم له.
موقف سو سنيل الأخلاقي مهم جدًا لعرض التخبط الذي يشعر به الإنسان عند التوفيق بين المبادئ الشخصية والرغبة في الاندماج مع المجتمع. سو سنيل لم تكن لتتنمر على كاري من تلقاء نفسها ولكن رغبتها في إرضاء كريس (الشخص المهيمن في المجموعة) جعلتها فردًا من القطيع منعدم الرأي إلى أن استيقظ ضميرها وأدركت ما تفعله وتقوله. سو ندمت حقًا ورغبت بالتكفير عن خطئها بالطريقة الوحيدة التي تؤكد لها صدق ندمها. لم ترضى بعقاب المعلمة فقط حتى لا تخسر تذكرة الحفل، بل عوقبت وتنازلت عن الحضور بإرادتها. موقف سو سنيل يعطي أملًا بأن الإنسان يستطيع التغير للأفضل.

لم أتوقع أن تؤلمني رواية رعب بهذا الشكل العميق، شعرت بعدم الراحة طوال القراءة
سوى في مقاطع قصيرة من السعادة اللحظية التي عاشتها كاري قبل أن يتشوه كل شي في الحادثة التي هدت السد المتهالك الذي أقامته وأدت إلى فيضان الغضب الذي دمرها وجرف كل شيءٍ في طريقها.





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ashkitty93's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes

3.0

I have to wonder if Roald Dahl read this before he wrote Matilda. 

I can appreciate the use of in-universe “reference materials” (the various interviews and book excerpts, etc) but I think SK also runs the risk of keeping readers detached from the story that way.

At any rate, I think this is one of those stories where, if you know the ending, that’s all there really is to it. The book is short enough that you’re not missing much in the way of character development if you just watch the movie instead — which is something I rarely advocate for.

I’m also giggling at the way the universe aligns things; I hadn’t planned on reading two books back-to-back with prom night tying them together.

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laurzj82's review against another edition

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

5.0


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booking_along's review against another edition

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dark sad tense 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

3.5

this reread ended in a bit of a surprise for me: i didn’t dislike this book this time around. 

when i first read this book some years ago, i got hung up on specific moments and situations in the that i think could have been done better -especially the bullying situation about the topic of becoming your  period and getting made fun of for that and that becoming the catalyst for it all. 

i still wish King could have picked something different as the big moment that it can all be pointed back at. 

but at the same time King did a pretty good job in rounding the entire situation out and building it around blood and the release of it. 


this time reading carrie, i just felt horrible for carrie and how horrendously hard her life would have been and how instead of trying to help or getting a child out of the clutches of a horrendous mother that clearly isn’t fit to be rising a child everyone overlook those things and instead just went right on teasing carrie as soon as they could. 

and in many ways sadly those things and reactions are too realistic. 

as i said i still wish King would have chosen a different starting point - i don’t know why but having a man write about a teenage girls body and her breasts and her sensitive reactions of her body in her period… that still gives me a bit of an icky feeling (King is not the only author i have that with, i have that with all (but especially male) authors that sexualize teenage (girl) bodies and describe how they look and how they feel) 

but as i also already mentioned i understand and see how it all rounds up and together, he could have done it differently and still got the same results BUT overall it’s not the worst (he still could have left out the scene werte carrie touches her breast and pinches her nipples for no reason at all?)


i do think that this book -even 50 years later- still packs an incredible punch and showing the consequences of bullying. sure in an unlikely and unrealistic way with the supernatural powers and all that but still, the bullying was the thing that pushed it all into horror. 

the constant harassment and battering, the mistreatment and abuse from everyone in carries life was sadly something realistic and i wish especially those moments would have become as unrealistic as the powers. 


overall the writing was good, the characters horrible but well writing and the story as a whole well done. 
small changes could have made it even better but those moments also added some shock or normality to the story overall.

also the ending was very well done and especially with king that’s something that can’t be taken for granted. 

i think it’s still a very readable and relevant sadly even relatable story for some people. 


and interestingly this book went from one of my least favorite king books to one of the good to better ones of him. 

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hiddenfallacies's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

4.5

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Carrie is a landmark achievement in horror for many reasons. It's the start of King's long and celebrated career, a novel that centers around women and places their pain at the epicenter of its plot, and it created a cultural memory that endures to this day - one that empathizes with Carrie rather than demonizes her. Told over three parts that function as three long chapters, the novel tells Carrie's story in retrospect through a collection of articles, interviews, and varying point of views. Going through the past, present, and future of the ill-fated prom night, the reader gets to know Carrie and all she has endured. Above all else, this novel is a tragedy about Carrie White's last hope to become a person and the ways in which society crushed that dream.

The first of the three parts suffers the most, lacking the natural momentum and masterful framing that surrounds the prom night itself and its aftermath in the story. This fact alone is what keeps this novel from garnering five stars for me. The novel is also littered with the artifact of being King's first, lacking some of the grammatical and structural prowess he cultivated over time. It's also important to note that there's a fair bit of racism present throughout the novel, dropped in small phrases and cultural references that leave the modern reader wondering if King meant to include them to indicate moral failings of certain antagonists or the time period itself, or if he simply was ignorant of certain biases he held himself. I believe informing potential readers of this is crucial, as I was blindsided by their sporadic inclusion while reading, taking me out of the story.

Although King has published better novels, as well as worse, I believe Carrie deserves a space not only on an essential reading list for King, but for horror as a whole. It remains culturally significant and moving to this day. May Carrie White never be forgotten. 

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thewoodlandbookshelf's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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heikosstories's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

2.5

My first Stephen King novel and here are some thoughts:
- This was super racist. I don't care that the book came out in the 70s. The original passages are giving me the ick and show that Mr. King was viewing characteristics of PoC as a tool to degrade his characters. Not. Cool.
- It's not scary. It had some moments that were chilling and at times I was actually quite hooked but..not scary.
- Stephen King is not a good writer. Especially for an English teacher. His writing style is very simplistic, you can either enjoy or it not, but what bothered me was the frequent repetition of the same literary devices over and over.
- This book felt longer than it should have been. This makes sense after reading the afterword: "Carrie" was originally only 98 pages long and Stephen King was then asked to make this longer. 

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icephoenix44's review against another edition

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

3.5

its okay, i guess? i feel like the writing style could be a little better though. some of the parts describing the female characters felt male gazey.

i also dont like the attempt to replicate accents, it makes the writing more weirder and clunkier to read, instead of feeling more authentic.

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mightyfrenchbookworm's review against another edition

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dark sad 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

3.5

C'est le 50e anniversaire de publication de ce livre et je ne peux pas dire que ça a vieilli comme du bon vin! Certaines expressions, traduites faut dire, ne voulaient rien dire pour moi. Je tiens aussi à dire que je n'ai pas vu le film. Encore. J'ai failli abandonner quand j'ai emprunté ce livre à la couverture franchement moche, les pages jaunies et écrit en Times New roman 9 simple interligne. 

Ceci étant dit, c'était vraiment addictif comme lecture quoique portant parfois à confusion. Saut dans le temps passé, présent, futur. Saut de personnages. Sans avertissement. Ce qui est étonnant c'est que, le lecteur sait dès le départ la fin du livre. Au fur et à mesure que le livre avance, on en sait davantage, on a des rapports de la commission d'enquête, etc. Le personnage de Carrie n'est pas tout à fait facile à apprécier et c'est voulu (je crois). On veut avoir de l'empathie pour elle et ce qu'elle subit mais elle n'est pas vraiment aimable non plus. 
Bref, je suis satisfaite d'avoir lu ce "classique" de la littérature si s'en est un. 

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skye189's review against another edition

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sad tense medium-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

4.0


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