Carrie

Reviews

• Laurynn

  Finished July 17, 2026

  Carrie follows Carrie White, a shy, socially isolated high school girl who has spent her life under the oppressive rule of her deeply religious mother while enduring relentless bullying from her classmates. As Carrie begins to discover strange telekinetic abilities, the cruelty she has suffered pushes her toward a breaking point. What starts as a coming-of-age story quickly spirals into one of horror's most unforgettable tales of revenge and tragedy. I was excited to finally read Carrie, especially since it's Stephen King's debut novel and such a horror classic. I really enjoyed the story itself and honestly just wanted more of it. My biggest struggle was the way it was written. Throughout the novel, the story is interrupted by excerpts from newspaper articles, interviews, and books written after the events took place. It gives the novel a documentary-like feel, and every time I started getting immersed in the story, it would shift to one of those excerpts. Unfortunately, that style just isn't for me—it kept pulling me out of the atmosphere instead of drawing me deeper into it. That said, I can also appreciate that this was written so early in King's career. It's easy to see the creativity and potential that would later make him such an iconic author. Carrie is absolutely a classic, and I don't think it's a bad novel by any means. It just wasn't what I was expecting, and the documentary-style storytelling wasn't my favorite. What I did really appreciate were the themes King chose to explore. Carrie is ultimately about the devastating effects of bullying and religious extremism, and more broadly, the damage that any form of extremism can inflict on vulnerable people. Watching Carrie endure cruelty from every direction and then seeing those same forces turned back on everyone through her growing powers made for a powerful message. And to me, that's King's signature. He has a gift for taking ordinary, everyday horrors and making them monstrous. We may not have telekinetic teenagers walking among us, but for the people living through abuse, isolation, fanaticism, and cruelty, those monsters feel just as real. That's what King captures so well, and it's why his stories continue to resonate long after the final page. [Find my reviews on Bookstagram🫶🏻](https://www.instagram.com/literarily_laurynn?igsh=aTh6eTZ6dGwxMXpy&utm_source=qr)

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• Wispy
  darkemotionalmysterioussadtenseSlow-paced

  Started April 22, 2024 · Finished April 25, 2024

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• Charley
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• KatieM

  Finished September 2, 2013

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