This was the first Stephen King novel I read. I remember grabbing it from my dad’s nightstand and claiming it as my own. I was eleven. Eleven. It is the book that fueled my desire and lifelong love of reading. But eleven?! Reading it now I’m a little horrified that I read it at such a young age. It has quite a bit of sex and disturbing scenes but I turned out relatively normal so I guess no damage was done ;)

This is your classic bully revenge tale and it is as relevant today as it was back in the day. Carrie White was drawn with such painful vulnerability that it’ll make you ache for her and cringe at many of the scenes. Carrie’s an innocent, abused by her religious wingnut of a mother who never consoles but is quick to mete out punishment for the most ridiculous of offenses (such as talking to a neighbor).

“Go to your closet and pray!”

When Carrie doesn’t want to eat her pie.

“It makes me have pimples, Momma.

“Your pimples are the Lord’s way of chastising you. Now eat your pie.”

Can you imagine growing up with a mother like this? How can you not feel for Carrie?

Anyway, there isn’t much for me to say here. I remembered it being a straight-forward tale told by Carrie but I think that’s because I’ve seen so many of the movie versions between the book and now. It wasn't written that way at all. I enjoyed the flashbacks, news reports, victim on the spot interviews and such that composed the story and I’m glad I finally got around to rereading it. It held up incredibly well and the audio version that I listened to was skillfully read by Sissy Spacek who really knows the part.