Carrie - Book Review

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King, S. Carrie. (1974). Hodder & Stoughton. Image Link.

In April 1974, Stephen King released his debut book, a 199-page horror novel called Carrie. The book tells the story of a teenage girl, Carrie White, who discovers that she has telekinetic powers and uses them to get revenge against her abusive mother and bullies at school. The book deals with themes of puberty, adolescence, ostracism, coming of age, female sexuality, shame, conformity, abuse, vengeance, religious extremism, and female rage. Carrie helped launch King’s career as a prolific writer.

In 2014, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Carrie, the Guardian published an excerpt from King’s book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft where he talked about his inspiration for Carrie. His first idea for the book came when he was working as a janitor at a high school. He was cleaning the girls’ locker room and noticed how little privacy that there was. He imagined what might happen if a young girl were to have her first period there while showering but she didn't know what was happening. He pictured the other girls being grossed out and throwing sanitary products at her. He was also inspired by the memory of two girls that he used to go to school with, now long dead, whom he called Tina White and Sandra Irving.

In the opening pages of Carrie, King talks in detail about Tina and Sandra, and how they were both hazed and ridiculed at school, and the guilt that he feels for not speaking against it at the time. He used his memories of Tina and Sandra and everything they went through to help create the character of Carrie. King almost didn’t finish writing the first draft of Carrie because he thought that it wouldn’t be successful. He wrote three pages and then crumpled them up and threw them in the bin. His wife Tabitha found the pages, read them, and convinced him to keep writing. Carrie was a huge success and helped to establish King as a master of horror.

As I was reading Carrie, I was really impressed with the genius of King’s storytelling. I thought he did a really good job building up Carrie’s character and making me feel sorry for her. I found it a little bit unnerving how well King was able to write how it feels to be ostracized at school. I felt so bad for Carrie but I could also see the point-of-view of her classmates and teachers who felt frustrated and grossed out by her at times. King doesn’t paint Carrie’s bullies and abusers as total villains. They are portrayed as real people with a lot of flaws. Carrie’s mother, Margaret White, acts very cruel towards her. She is also delusional and mentally ill and a victim of rape and spousal abuse. I ended up feeling a little bit sorry for Margaret towards the end of the book. She couldn't be a good mother to Carrie because her mind was so warped from religious mania and mental illness.

Another character that stood out to me was Chris Hergensen. Chris is an awful girl who is influential in orchestrating the prank at the prom that drenches Carrie in pig blood. Chris is not a good person but we later see that she is also a victim herself at the hands of her boyfriend Billy Nolan who is abusive towards her. It doesn’t excuse her attitude towards Carrie, but it made me feel sorry for her, and see that underneath her mean girl exterior, she was just a vulnerable teenage girl. The character I felt the most sorry for in the book was Carrie herself. I liked that King showed that Carrie was not a total monster. She is both a victim and a villain. When she loses control at the prom and kills everyone she does a terrible thing but you can’t help but also root for her as she finally comes into her power.

Summary: Carrie is a 1974 horror novel by Stephen King about a teenage girl named Carrie White who discovers she has telekinetic powers and uses them to get revenge on her bullies and abusive mother.
Cost: $12.99
Website: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/stephen-king-3/carrie/9781848940802/
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