I liked it because it was different. It made me feel good in a youthful way.

STORY BRIEF:
Carrie was abused by her religiously fanatic mother and reviled and bullied by her classmates. When she reaches puberty she gains a telekinetic ability. She can move things with her mind.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
Others have called this “haunting sheer terror” and “gory and horrifying.” I feared the horror would keep me awake at night. But it did not. Actually it put me in a good mood.

I saw the movie years ago and I had no desire to read the book. I erroneously thought two things would depress me: a high school girl being bullied and (view spoiler)[ the mass killing of people. (hide spoiler)] To my surprise I was not depressed. Maybe because it was so outrageous, or it had a comic book feel, but it was fun somehow. Whatever magic you’re using Steve, I’m buying. It feels like the author is a teenage boy who likes to write comic book stories with Pow - Kapow. Steve doesn’t rip me up emotionally like the male authors of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and The Book Thief did when they killed characters. And most female authors have depressed me when killing good characters. Steve writes differently.

The subject of bullying is usually depressing, but it wasn’t here. When Carrie was being bullied in the shower, I felt some sympathy, but it was more like “watching an ick traffic accident.” I was watching rather than identifying with the victim. The history of other abuse to Carrie by her peers and her mother was done mostly through telling (referring to after the fact) rather than showing. So that lessened the suffering experience. But then, more importantly, Carrie showed dignity. I admired her actions and standing up for herself related to going to the prom. The things she said to her mother and Tommy were so normal and perceptive that she didn’t have a victim feel. I didn’t expect her to be this way. For example, a teacher came up to Carrie at the prom and said “You ... are ... beautiful.” Tommy asked Carrie what the teacher said. Carrie said “I think she wanted to say she was sorry.” The author surprised me with unexpected things.

I like stories with someone getting revenge. But I don’t want to label this as revenge. I didn’t feel typical revenge feelings when Carrie was doing her thing. Although in a minor part of the story, I was happy to see something bad happen to one character and Carrie’s revenge on two characters.

Writing style: many points of view. Many scenes are narrated with different points of view. Some scenes are excerpts from articles written in the future. Some scenes are surviving witnesses being questioned by authorities. It was a little unnerving - jumping around like this. But it worked, and I really liked being in various characters’ heads.

This was the author’s first published novel. It is about half the length of typical novels.

NARRATORS:
Sissy Spacek was the main narrator and she was fabulous! I loved her interpretations. A man with a deep bass voice narrated three titles. The last title was “Part 3 (pause) Wreckage” The way he said it made me chuckle. It had a comic book feel. He said Wreckage the way someone would say Kapow, but slow and subtle.

DATA:
Unabridged audiobook reading time: 7 hrs and 28 mins. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual content: no explicit sexual words but there were three sex scenes referred to more than shown. One of them was rape. Setting: mostly 1979 in Chamberlain (western Maine). Book copyright: 1974. Genre: soft horror.

OTHER BOOKS:
I’ve reviewed the following Stephen King books. Dates are copyright dates.
5 stars. Carrie 1974
4 stars. Salem’s Lot 1975
4 stars. The Shining 1977 (3 stars for some readers - depressing subject)
5 stars. The Stand 1978 & 1990
3 ½ stars. Firestarter 1980 (not enough at the end & not happy enough)
4 stars. The Shawshank Redemption 1982 (novella in the anthology “Different Seasons”)
4 stars. The Body 1982 (novella in the anthology “Different Seasons”)
4 stars. Christine 1983
3 stars. The Talisman 1984
2 stars. Misery 1987 (depressing subject)
3 ½ stars. It 1980 (jumping in time and interrupted scenes)
3 ½ stars. The Dark Half 1989
3 stars. Needful Things 1991
2 stars. Insomnia 1994
5 stars. Rose Madder 1995
4 stars. The Green Mile 1996
2 stars. Bag of Bones 1998
4 stars. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon 1999
5 stars. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft 2000
3 stars. The Dark Tower series - overall rating for 8 books published 1982 - 2012