Don't Fuck With Carrie White!

"I just want them to know me"

Carrie, written by Stephen King, is the horrifying novel about Carrie White. A regular high school student with a not so regular power. Carrie has TK or telekinesis, which means she can control things with the power of just her mind (I would love a power like this). Surrounded by an overtly religious mother, and her peers, who attempt to make her life hell, Carrie is what happens when you push someone too far.

As book-nerdy as I am this is surprisingly my first Stephen King novel. It's ironic that it's also the first novel he ever wrote. Not bad! When I was younger I really tried to give Stephen King a chance. I remember checking out The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon from the library but for some reason I just couldn't get into it like I wanted to. Maybe it was because I was young,who knows. Putting my failed attempts aside, I thought I'd give the horror "King" another go, and I'm happy I did. I thought Carrie was a great piece of fiction that has obviously stood the test of time. By taking a regular girl and subjecting her to almost typical high school bullying Carrie combines creepiness with just enough humanity.

In a world where bullying has gotten much worse, is it wrong to see the bullied get justice? Granted, Carrie didn't have to destroy an entire town, killing many "innocent" people, but it almost poses the questions, how much is a person supposed to take before they fight back and is anyone really "innocent" in this novel?  For a girl, getting your period for the first time is a horrifying experience in itself but to share that experience with a bunch of nasty girls who throw tampons and sanitary napkins at you while making you the butt of a joke, that can be life shattering. Then...PROM! Prom is supposed to be one of the "best nights of your life" for a teenage girl, but then to get asked to prom by the star quarterback just to get a bucket of pigs blood dumped all over your dress, that is soul crushing and humiliating. Two big events in a girls life... ruined by blood! 

Can we just talk about Carrie's mom for one second? She continuously claimed that Carrie was possessed by the devil, but in my opinion, the mom was definitely overcome with something ungodly! That kind of over zealous religion scares the living daylights out of me. Carrie was just as much a victim of the bullies as she was of her mother's crazy religious views. The mother was probably the creepiest part of the novel. 

If Stephen King's work only gets better from here, I can't wait to see what his books, Pet Sematary, The Shining, Misery, & 11/22/63  are all about. Look out for reviews for these novels later in the challenge!

S.