Scan barcode
A review by nnnightime
Carrie by Stephen King
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Not a bad book but not amazing either, I was interested enough to keep reading but there was definitely some excitement or something lacking.
All the characters, even Carrie were not likeable, I found Carrie to be kind of pathetic and only slightly less as the book went on. I guess Sue was okay, even though she's basically the reason all the shit went down. But I suppose that's what King is getting at, that people are awful and even good people can be awful, on purpose or not. The ending was both interesting and not, with the reveal of another girl being noted with telekinetic powers, but I'm not sure if it was supposed to leave the reader scared or with a sense of "oh no it could happen again!" Because I kinda don't really care, sure a lot of the town were bystanders but they all knew or had a pretty good idea that Carrie was being abused by her mother and/or bullied at school and did nothing to help her. So I find it difficult to feel sorry for most of them.
I thought it was interesting that we knew what was going to happen the whole time, jumping from past to the present and the future it was pretty well done and easy to follow. But I'm not sure if knowing what would happen took some of the mystery and excitement away.
I don't think I'll ever read it again and the only reason I'd recommend it to someone would be if they wanted to see how well King rights awful people, and because it's short. I'm genuinely interested I why some people rate this book 5 stars, other than the kind of person who just rates everything 4 or 5 stars, I can't really understand anyone finishing the book with any other response other than being mildly happy that you'd completed a book and everything ended the way the book told you it would at the beginning.
Ugh I sound super harsh, it wasn't a terrible book, I probably wouldn't have finished it if it was, but it just wasn't all that interesting either.
All the characters, even Carrie were not likeable, I found Carrie to be kind of pathetic and only slightly less as the book went on. I guess Sue was okay, even though she's basically the reason all the shit went down. But I suppose that's what King is getting at, that people are awful and even good people can be awful, on purpose or not. The ending was both interesting and not, with the reveal of another girl being noted with telekinetic powers, but I'm not sure if it was supposed to leave the reader scared or with a sense of "oh no it could happen again!" Because I kinda don't really care, sure a lot of the town were bystanders but they all knew or had a pretty good idea that Carrie was being abused by her mother and/or bullied at school and did nothing to help her. So I find it difficult to feel sorry for most of them.
I thought it was interesting that we knew what was going to happen the whole time, jumping from past to the present and the future it was pretty well done and easy to follow. But I'm not sure if knowing what would happen took some of the mystery and excitement away.
I don't think I'll ever read it again and the only reason I'd recommend it to someone would be if they wanted to see how well King rights awful people, and because it's short. I'm genuinely interested I why some people rate this book 5 stars, other than the kind of person who just rates everything 4 or 5 stars, I can't really understand anyone finishing the book with any other response other than being mildly happy that you'd completed a book and everything ended the way the book told you it would at the beginning.
Ugh I sound super harsh, it wasn't a terrible book, I probably wouldn't have finished it if it was, but it just wasn't all that interesting either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Car accident, Cursing, Fatphobia, and Gore
Minor: Miscarriage
Probably just don't read this book if you're sensitive to anything.