Book Review – Carrie By Stephen King

If Halloween inspired you for a spooky read, look no further than Stephen King’s classic horror story, Carrie. King is a New York Times bestselling novelist who has written many horror and fantasy novels including Pet Sematary, The Dark Tower, Cujo, Christine, Thinner, It, and The Shining. His first novel, Carrie, premiered in 1974 and has been scaring readers ever since.

The story focuses on Carrie White, a 17-year-old high schooler who is subject to a cruel bullying incident when she is teased for being clueless about her period. As a result, she is sent home and on her way, discovers that she has unexpected telekinetic powers. When her abusive and religious extremist mother learns why she was sent home, she punishes Carrie. To make up for the prank, a fellow classmate has her boyfriend take Carrie to the prom. Then things take a deadly turn. 

My first reaction to reading Carrie was “I can’t put this book down.” This surprised me. Although I have shelves full of books that I read all the time, none of those are horror novels. I’ve never been really interested in reading horror, although I’ve always been intrigued by horror films, mainly because of the thrill of knowing that something could pop out at any moment. I knew that Stephen King was famous for his horror and fantasy novels, yet I had never thought to pick up one of his many books. However, the cover of Carrie caught my eye, and I thought, “Why not?”

When I started reading reading Carrie, I wished that I had picked up one of King’s books sooner. The book is both intriguing and shocking, especially the scenes involving Carrie’s crazy and abusive mother. One thing I love about King’s writing is that he captures your attention so well that you’re 100% invested in it, it’s just so compelling. (Warning: Don’t start one of his books before a big assignment deadline.)  

I found myself feeling sympathy for Carrie, particularly for her abuse at the hands of her mom and the restrictions she places on her. In the scenes where Carrie is getting beaten by her mom, I just wanted to pull her out of her situation and help her. But when Carrie starts to seek her revenge, well, that’s when my feelings made a radical change. (Sorry, no further spoilers here.)

This book kept me on the edge of my seat because King keeps hinting about some big incident for which Carrie is responsible. He’s such a good writer that when that incident actually burst onto the pages, I was totally unprepared. Prepare to be shocked.

The only thing I didn’t like about this book is that the narration is a little jumpy since it bounces back and forth from Carrie’s point of view, to article snippets, to another character’s point of view or a different point in time. So at times it may take readers a moment to understand what’s going on. 

Still, I highly recommend this book to anybody who is looking for a scary and thrilling book, and rate it five out of five stars.