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A review by booking_along
Carrie by Stephen King
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Sexual content, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder