Book review: Carrie by Stephen King

I have been intrigued by Stephen King for a very long time. My father is a huge fan of his books and his writing, so I tried reading a few of his books when I was in high school, but I never got into them. Earlier this month, however, I decided to give Carrie a try. 

To give a brief synopsis, Carrie is a 16-year-old girl who is going through a tough time in school and at home. She has no father and no siblings. She only has her mother, who is a bit of a religious psychopath. Later on, in the book, we realize that Carrie actually has special powers that have been hidden from her for the majority of her life. After certain incidents happen at school and during one particular night, “all hell breaks loose.” 

When I first started reading, it seemed like it was going to take forever to get to the end of the book. The novel has no chapters, only three parts. It takes a lot of effort to stay focused on the story because it gets long. I realized that Stephen King’s writing is all about the backstory and build-up, which culminates in a crazy ending. Not knowing this at the beginning made my read a little difficult. However, once I got to the end, it all made perfect sense. It was so impressive to see how he could take all of this information and make it all fit perfectly at the end. 

The story line was also really interesting. I had seen the movie adaptations a few times, so I knew the basics of what the story was going to entel. However, the book made me realize how bad the movies actually are. Because there is so much information about Carrie’s life in the book, there was obviously no way to put all of it in a movie. However, you miss a lot of reasoning behind Carrie’s behavior in the film. Reading the book just made everything make sense. 


In all, I definitely would recommend reading this book. It is not too long and I personally don’t think it is one of his scariest novels. Having now read three of his books, I am glad that I started with Carrie. Stephen King’s writing is so smart and fluid you go through the book faster than you would think. Overall, 4 stars for me!