After being teased by her classmates when she gets her first menstrual cycle, Carrie White remembers and strengthens her telekinetic powers -- with deadly consequences when the bullying continues on prom night.

I did not realize until I had finished reading it that this was Stephen King's debut novel. I knew it was an earlier one and recognized themes and ideas that he's continued to play with and refine over the years, including telekinesis in minors, deadly fires, small towns upended by traumatic events, and -- most importantly -- that the true horror is not the supernatural, but people themselves. In this case, that takes the form of abusive religious zealotry and small-minded teens that won't stop teasing/pranking no matter how much harm they commit. Like the character of Sue Snell, I found myself pitying Carrie more than anything else. Yes, her reaction is outsized and she takes out innocent people alongside those who did her wrong, but she never really had a chance -- especially with her dangerously unwell mother.

The novel is a mix of typical narrative and bits of other (fictional) materials, such as court testimony and survivor memoirs. It makes for an interesting read that builds tension; you know something bad is coming as referenced by these materials. It's the kind of foreshadowing that King does so well. Even with a story as massively popular as this one that I knew most of the plot beforehand, I still felt the anticipation of waiting for the big 'reveal' of what would happen.

For the audiobook, Sissy Spacek does an excellent job as reader. There are parts of the book that haven't aged super great, but that's to be expected with an older title. Overall, it's still a good read worth the time. ( )

I read this book multiple times in junior high and high school, so I can't list all the read dates, but I plan on re-reading it again. ( )

Carrie oh my. this is such a good story. I got so surprised doing it and got me to feel different on every page. With the way, he wrote it. It blows my head off just reading this book. This story went past my expectations and it was nothing I expected it was so awesome. This is a super duper book.

I felt bad for Carrie right from the start. Her home life was horrible and the way that she was treated at school only made things worse. Carrie lives with her religious mother and is forced to follow a harsh set of rules. In the beginning in the locker room when she was geting bulled by all the girls in ther when she was takeing a shower and she hade her period for the first time. You can see her thoughts and the revenge building up inside her.

This story is like a mind game you never know what going to happen next.I recommend Carrie By Stephen King because all his books are super scary and fun to read. But if you do not like horror or bad words this book is not for you. So if you like horror and excitement this and all his books are for you.

The theme of this book is you never know how bully can effect someone. She keeps geting bullyed in the book and like eveyone hates her.So then see fingered out she had power and wanted revenge on the people that hurt her. So she went after the bullies and her mother because she was fed up with everything and everyone.

Honestly, not as good as The Shining, although still quite enjoyable. Sadly I looked up the plot to the movie (or was it the book?) a couple months ago for some reason, so I knew all that was gonna happen. Yes, I know, *everyone* knows that it's about a girl named Carrie who gets pig blood dumped on her during prom and kills everyone, but that's not the same as knowing that she's invited to the prom with good intentions and so on.

Still, it was good, and I liked how it cut between articles/book excerpts/interviews and a regular narrative, although the book could have formatted this way better (it says 2006 but this does not look like a book published that late, I can only assume nothing has changed since it was originally published).
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3.5 Stars ( )