My Review and Thoughts:
The birth of the Master of Horror. The very first, one of
kind book Carrie published in 1974. The shocking aspect is this was King's
fourth novel. It was for a magazine Cavalier and amazingly the first three
pages of this book ended up in the garbage thankfully his wife took them out
and told him he should finish the story. And so, the birth of Carrie and the
birth of a published master started.
This was the third Stephen King book I read when I first
started getting into his writing. The first being IT and the second being Night
Shift. I first read Carrie in 1989 and decided to give it another go because of
the new cover released by Anchor Books and felt it needed to be reviewed and I
wanted to adventure again into classic King at his best.
I can't say enough about this book because I was a
mistreated child and bullied in school, beat, made fun of and basically
destroyed in many ways and so I looked at Carrie as a somewhat fantasy and
savior due to the fact Carrie fights back and I wished during those horrible
school times to be able to have those powers and fight back against those who
enjoyed destroying me. The whole book is a powerful written story of horrifying
chills that grabs the reader and shakes them violently into the story placing
you there in all the wonderful amazing masterpiece word play that is
throughout.
A perfect haunting masterpiece of eerie atmospheres,
characters and a deep thick storyline that plays inside the readers head. Pure
imagination runs wild in this book, King's powerful imagination flows upon the
page and out upon the reader.
If you think you know Carrie because you have watched the
movie or the mini-series, then you don't know Carrie and you are not a true
Stephen King fan or horror fiction fan unless you have read this book. The book
has a lot more story, back story and the aftermath. The book is a flawless
example of what to do to create a perfect flowing book. Carrie reeks with
images and emotions that the reader becomes a part of in many priceless ways.
This is a book that stands the test of time and is as good
in the 70's as much as it is today. The characters are flawless. Momma is one
of the greatest fictional lunatics to ever grace the written page and is a
character that haunts you and sticks with you as a truly insane person and pure
evil in herself and her ways. Her parts are so well written you get thick
emotions such as anger and hate toward her as you read showing the talent of
the master craftsmanship of the writing skill put into this book.
Like I say no true horror fan or Stephen King fan can get
away with saying yeah, they know Carrie because of the movie, that's an insult
to the power of this book and to the world of written fiction, taking a movie
in the place of the original concept. The movie yes is good but strays on my
things, from Carrie's childhood to her true self, the movie changes her image
all together, and she looks nothing like what the movie betrays.
This is a power book that after reading it again after 21
years it still works in all its original ways. A flawless book of characters,
situations and horror. A pure tour-de-force of written quality that only a
master storyteller can create.
Like I say if you think you know Carrie because of the
movie, you’re all wrong. The movie is great, and the acting is flawless, but
the book and movie are really two different entities in their own ways. The
book has the back story, the different prom ordeal, the showdown between Momma
and Carrie is different, Carrie not only takes out the prom kids she takes out
the whole town in one climatic showdown that must be read to understand even
the ending of the book is different and might I add a flawless classic ending.
This is a flawless book, a masterpiece of written word. A true powerful example
of how to write a lasting book that still holds up today as it did then.
A must read, must own.
My Rating: 5 out of 5