Book Review: Carrie by Stephen King
First published in 1974, King’s debut novel found itself a major hit among readers, with its paperback rights being sold for $400,000, which was an incredible lump sum of money for an authorial debut that garnered King fifty percent or $200,000 of the book’s sale.
Introduction
Carrie by Stephen King is an example of masterful storytelling in the horror genre. First published in 1974, King’s debut novel found itself a major hit among readers, with its paperback rights being sold for $400,000, which was an incredible lump sum of money for an authorial debut that garnered King fifty percent or $200,000 of the book’s sale.
Along with the title’s financial success, it would become cemented as one of the most influential and popular horror stories of the century when it was first adapted for the silver screen in 1976. Decades later, the novel’s popularity would experience a renaissance when it was adapted into a TV film in 2002, and again later as a second silver screen adaptation in 2013.
Stephen King’s Carrie has proven itself time and time again as an icon of both pop culture and the literary world.
Characters
Delving into the pages of Carrie, readers are plunged into the turbulent world of Carrie White. Carrie is King’s central character who is a sixteen-year-old young woman with burgeoning telekinetic powers. Her powers start to appear when she is teased by other girls in the gym shower when she experiences adulthood for the first time and panics because she thinks she is dying from blood loss. Carrie is not just some teenage girl with superpowers; she is a kind and caring young woman.
All she wants in life is to have friends and live a normal life like everyone else. However, all the other kids despise her, which is a part of what gives way for the tragic conclusion of the story’s narrative. Despite being bullied and treated as an outcast by the other kids, Carrie is invited to the prom by Susan Snell’s boyfriend Tommy because Susan feels bad for what happened in the showers. Things were starting to look up for Carrie in a world filled with antagonists. However, the other kids are not the only ones out to get her.
Her mother, momma, Margaret White, is a peculiar fanatical woman who tries to control nearly every aspect of Carrie’s life. Readers are given insights into who Ms. White is. She is a highly religious woman who believes almost everything is a sin, and she is not afraid to stand up for her beliefs. King effectively reveals this throughout the novel by describing interactions between Carrie and Margaret, such as when Margaret comes home after finding out what happened to Carrie at school.