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Carrie
by Stephen King
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Signet (1975-04-01)
ISBN: 0451131134
EAN: 9780451131133
Paperback
SKU: 419
Condition: Good
Comments: Binding: Softcover. Condition: Good. Slight wear along spine.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
An unpopular teenage girl whose mother is a religious fanatic is tormented and teased to the breaking point by her more popular schoolmates and uses her hidden telekinetic powers to inflict a terrifying revenge. Reissue.
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Amazon.com Review
Why read Carrie? Stephen King himself has said that he finds his early work "raw," and Brian De Palma's movie was so successful that we feel like we have read the novel even if we never have. The simple answer is that this is a very scary story, one that works as well--if not better--on the page as on the screen. Carrie White, menaced by bullies at school and her religious nut of a mother at home, gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers, powers that will eventually be turned on her tormentors. King has a way of getting under the skin of his readers by creating an utterly believable world that throbs with menace before finally exploding. He builds the tension in this early work by piecing together extracts from newspaper reports, journals, and scientific papers, as well as more traditional first- and third-person narrative in order to reveal what lurks beneath the surface of Chamberlain, Maine. News item from the Westover (ME) weekly Enterprise, August 19, 1966: "Rain of Stones Reported: It was reliably reported by several persons that a rain of stones fell from a clear blue sky on Carlin Street in the town of Chamberlain on August 17th." Although the supernatural pyrotechnics are handled with King's customary aplomb, it is the carefully drawn portrait of the little horrors of small towns, high schools, and adolescent sexuality that give this novel its power, and assures its place in the King canon. --Simon Leake
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Customer Reviews
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I Have Read It Many Times
Rating  (5)
Date: 2009-01-02
I was taken by this book when I first read it and it still remains one of my favorite King novels.
The atmosphere is dark and oppressive and you can feel Carrie's pain come off the words of the page as she deals with general alienation and an extreme and painful home life.
It is a quick read compared to many of King's works, such as The Stand or even shorter books by him where the reading is a bit more difficult to get through than this.
A classic of horror with the usual twist of humanity, and in humanity, that are in all his writings.
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A perfect metaphor of imperfection
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-12-23
Carrie is, of course, a metaphor. Like all of King's novels, the story can be taken as a parable, and in this case it's all about mothers and daughters. As the product of a domineering woman, I immediately bonded with Carrie and her struggle to individuate. Her telekinesis, clearly symbolic of her budding sexuality, serves to demonstrate what happens when a controlling mother realizes that her grip is slipping. This novel is such a perfect depiction of the struggle between the two that it's hard to believe it was written by a man - and a man with a supportive and loving mother, no less.
Carrie's downfall comes when she lets her power run away with her. This is a lesson from which we can all take away something. Though she begins as an innocent girl who cannot control her rage, by the story's tragic end, she is fully in control of her power and chooses to enact self-destructive revenge. She is the supernatural version of the repressed teenage girl who finds relief from her inner turmoil by allowing herself to be used by men.
In this story there are protagonists and antagonists, but no heroes. In that way, despite its fantastical elements, it's a very real, very raw, and very powerful story.
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Classic, a must for any reader of horror or sci-fi...
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-11-24
King's first real success is a novel that brings the meld of weakness and retribution to an extreme degree. An oft fantasized example of the prey turning the tables on the tormentors. It's a story that many can relate to, though most will not admit. This time vengance is not served cold.
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Everyone isn't bad, Mama! Everything isn't a sin!
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-11-01
As much as I love Stephen King (and I do) I'd never read Carrie. Perhaps figuring it wouldn't hold up to Brian De Palma's masterful film version. I picked up Carrie as part of a Stephen King reading group I joined. I'm glad I did.
Carrie is a lean and mean tragic thriller. The structure of the story is most likely already known to most people: Social misfit Carrie White is a pariah at school and has a very dysfunctional home life with a domineering mother. A surprise invitation to the prom leads to tragedy.
However, even knowing the story the book was very much worth my time. Even here in his first published novel, Stephen King is a masterful storyteller. The novel uses a semi-epistolary form with King's narrative broken up with sections containing excerpts from government reports (The White Commission), bits of testimony, song lyrics and even graffiti scrawled on desks. His characters are very well drawn (as is usual for Stephen King) and his narrative draws you in and keeps you wanting to turn the pages.
I found the book very enjoyable and well worth my time. I only wish I hadn't put of reading it for so long.
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Excellent Book
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-09-01
I have watched the movie Carrie in the past and couldn't wait to get my hands on the book. When it finally arrived I couldn't put the book down. I still want to get Stephen Kings to sign this book when he starts signing books again and get another Stephen Kings book since I will only get to send two books in my life time.
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