Book Review #121: Carrie

[jethrien]

Title: Carrie
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Horror
Thingummies: 4

Synopsis: Traumatized, telekinetic teen goes on a rampage after the worst prom ever.

Thoughts: The fact that this is a freshman novel is obvious; the fact that King is a supremely gifted writer is also obvious.

The novel mixes third person narration with interviews, transcripts, police blotters, and excerpts from memoirs and scholarly works. The fact that everyone knows the plot of this book does not actually constitute a spoiler--it's declared from the beginning. Much of the book is set after the events, as people study the evidence of the disaster years later. So you know from the beginning that Carrie is going to destroy the town and nearly everyone is going to die.

Which is part of why this book is so interesting. It's not really suspense, since you know what's going to happen. The inevitability adds to the growing menace. And it's the tiny details that really bring home the horror--the offhanded reference to someone's fingers being severed as he tries to open a door, for example. But King is just as interested in exploring the psychology of the characters as he is in scaring people. There are the two dimensional monsters one expects from horror, but they are minor characters--the Bible-thumping mother, the Mean Girl. The titular "monster" is a sympathetic, finely-drawn character. You cannot condone her actions, but you can understand them and mourn for what might have been.

This is somehow less horror and more tragedy. It has all the requisite gore and tension, but it also has a deep compassion that makes it stand out from other examples of the genre. There's a reason King's writing sells--it's just that good.

Comments

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I read that book in one sitting. The only thing about it that really bothers me is the menstruation horror.

[negativeq.livejournal.com]

I recently re-read The Shining. I had not read it since high school.

I loved the book then, it was genuinely unnerving and scary. I still do now, but the horror is from a different angle. In fact the adult perspective makes it more horrifying. I won't say why, in case you have not read the book. The Kubrick movie is extremely different from the book, they can't be compared.

[freekofnature.livejournal.com]

I met Stephen King at a book signing, in between autographing his book when things quieted down (it was not very busy) he would grab his laptop and pound out a page or two of his latest book. When he saw me, he paused and asked me a bunch of questions about my life and where I came from and what I did etc.... Oddly enough, he was very interested in the work I do and aspects of M-theory I am working on. For a fiction writer he was pretty up on scienc-y things... He asked a lot of good questions on celestial mechanics and stellar evolution too... wish some of my students showed as much insight and curiosity...