A review by katdotniche
Carrie by Stephen King

dark emotional reflective sad 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

 Given the reputation both Stephen King and Carrie have, I was expecting the book to be much more horror-filled; it seemed quite tame in comparison to my expectations, and I don’t know if that is because I was anticipating something much more like IT, or if it was because I sympathised so heavily with Carrie. 

There was of course horrifying parts, including the prom and the aftermath – the image of a girl covered in pig’s blood going on a revengeful rampage is about as horror as you can get, and that’s before you take into account the telepathic broadcast Carrie gave to the entire town, letting them know who she was and why she was doing it. I loved the insight into her thought process through other people’s testimonies of that night, it was the one thing that really made me think it was a horror novel. I suppose it was King’s first published novel and therefore does not have the characteristics he developed in his work, but it did disappoint me. Perhaps if I had read this book when I was younger, the horror aspects would have stood out to me more but reading it now I was more focused on the symbolism King manages to pack into the narrative.


In particular, I enjoyed the contrast between Carrie who is implicitly an avenging angel, come to punish the town for their crimes, and her mother who is a perfect example of religion when it ceases to be religious and transforms into fanaticism. Despite being written in the 70s, it has many observations on religious trauma and abuse that are still applicable today- perhaps that is a little sad, that this is still something that people experience, nearly 50 years later, but I think it says a lot about King’s ability as a writer and his understanding of society that he manages to keep his work relevant so far on.


His use of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, letters, and excerpts from books is another thing that stood out to me from the book; the transcripts from the White Commission were incredibly clever as a narrative device – when Carrie is the leading force of the novel, with everything following her perspective, albeit in third person, the careful input from the other characters and the way it illuminates their perspective and understanding of the events is a chilling cut away from her carefully logical rampage. Using these to push the character of Sue Snell was one of my favourite parts.
 
I enjoyed the first person insight into her retrospective perspective, the quiet acceptance of the events that shone through her words, and it was interesting to see how the perspective had changed in the years since the event happened when comparing her transcript to her own writing. 

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