What Amazon says
An unpopular teenage girl whose mother is a religious fanatic is tormented and teased to the breaking point by her more popular schoolmates and uses her hidden telekinetic powers to inflict a terrifying revenge.
My review
Carrie, by Stephen King, is one of his shortest novels. It is also the King novel that had the greatest impact on me from a philosophical point of view as King expresses viewpoints about teenagers, and how they form themselves into social groups of different status, which are true and chilling. His unerring ability to strike to the core of teenage human nature and their driving need, as a group, to hunt in packs and to be accepted by one another, as well as their intolerance of difference, is frightening to read.
Carrie has been a social outcast since her first day at primary school when she gets down on her knees, as she has been taught to do, and says prayers before lunch. From that moment, Carrie is labeled “weird” and a “religious freak” and she has no hope of ever redeeming herself, no matter how hard she tries. Carrie is the product of a single parent home and her mother is willing to abuse her daughter, mentally and physically, in order to ensure she complies with her rigid and extreme religious views. Carrie is caught between trying to please a mother she does love, despite her abusive behaviour, and attempting to be accepted by her peers at school. We discover early on in the book that Carrie isn’t an ordinary girl, but possesses some rather extraordinary powers. Her mother has had a taste of her powers in the past and is extremely frightened that they are gifts from the devil.
When Carrie becomes the victim of a school girl bullying event which involves the majority of her fellow students, one of the student’s, Sue, is so overcome by guilt, she decides to try and make amends for her bad behaviour. Sue convinces her boyfriend, Tommy, to take Carrie to the prom instead of her so that she can have a lovely evening to remember. Surprisingly, Tommy agrees and this starts of chain of events that quickly spiral out of control.
I am a great fan of Stephen King’s older works and I really enjoyed this book and the movie by the same name. I am not quite sure Carrie fits exactly into the horror book mold but it is certainly a gripping and fascinating story.
roberta-writes.com 
Great review! This was my first Stephen King book years ago when I was in Jr. High School, I believe, and my dive into a new genre!
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My first King book was Salem’s Lot. I read it when I was 10 (I ran out of children’s books in the library and borrowed this one form my mother – without her knowing, of course). It scared me half to death.
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That was a chilling read. I have to reread it someday!
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Robbie, thanks for this mindful review. Believe it or not… especially considering my age when this book was published…and how famous it is — I have never read the book or watched the movie. You’ve made it sound much more interesting and insightful than I imagined. Hugs on the wing.
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Thank you, Teagan. I think authors share a lot of their personal views and thoughts when they write. This book is intriguing especially in view of the rising number of school killings there have been in the US.
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Nice review! I liked both the book and the movie. Carrie didn’t scare me as much as other King books did, but it was still a fun story.
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Thanks Priscilla, I agree that Carrie was not really a horror book in the same way as, for example, Salem’s Lot, but its topic was more chilling because the social behaviour included in this book is true.
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I am a huge fan of SK’s early works. “the classics” The fact that Carrie had pig blood poured on her at the prom and then went on a maniacal killing spree makes it a horror book to me. 😉
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What a great book 😃😃
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Thank you, Willow
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I meant I read it years ago 😆💜
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Carrie was my first Stephen King book. I read it in high school, which was a loooong time ago, but still remember parts of it vividly. After that, I grabbed everything he published for the longest time. An excellent review that brings back memories, Robbie!
Oh, P.S….I heard back from Kensington about HH #3. They had some problems with their digital distributer but it should be worked out by now. Perhaps wait a week or so and try again??? Many thanks for letting me know and for the support!
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Hi Mae, okay, that is good news. I wondered what had happened as that is the first time I’ve had a pre-order cancelled. I will re-order it when I do my next Amazon shop. I wish I could read as fast as I can purchase [smile]. Carrie is an intriguing insight into the US school murders psychology which I found interesting as well as King’s brilliant writing, of course.
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Thanks, Robbie. I wish I could read as fast as I purchase, too, LOL.
It’s interesting that when King wrote Carrie it was a different world, There was no such thing as school shootings or kids turning on their classmates with violence (sadly there was bullying). But it all comes down to psychology and the nature of people, whatever the times!
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Yes, you are right about that. Maybe he had foresight.
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Ideas it years ago Robbie 💜
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It has been a number of years since I read Carrie..Stephen King is one of my favourite authors and he has a very good social insight…A great review Robbie and a book I might read again with new eyes 🙂 xx
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I have read most of Stephen King’s older works a few times, Carol. I re-read Carrie recently and I appreciated a lot more about the philosophy of what he wrote.
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I think you are correct… He is a brilliant writer .. I think I need to do the same. 💕💕
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Boy it’s been many, many years since I read this one. You’ve prompted me to want to go back for a re-read!
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Thank you, Jessica. I had read this one before and I enjoyed it even more the second time around. I am a big King fan and have re-read his older works a few times.
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Me too – I owe a lot of my writing style to Mr King.
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This was a refreshing review. Much different from most review I read.
Carrie is a classic. One of earliest works.
This was a pleasure to read.
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Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed this review
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