Carrie - Book Review

I started this year with a resolution in my mind that I must read one Stephen King each month. What could be a better start of this resolution with his classic and perhaps the most loved “Carrie”. I admit that I chose this because of its comparatively thinner size than his other books but don’t let the size of this book fool you, Carrie is as terrifying as his other books could be.

“Carrie” is a teenager who wants an ordinary life but she never gets it. She has telekinetic powers but the biggest hurdle of her becoming normal like her school mates is her mother who is a religious maniac and define rules for Carrie. Consequently, Carrie is edgy and is bullied at school. Carrie is able to cause a lot of destruction when agitated to the edge.

What I like about the book is the way story flows in the form of interviews, back story, reports and references about a telekinetic catastrophe in Maine around May, 1975. The story flows fluently and yet you never miss the plot. The suspense and horror scenes are so intricately described. The superpower of Stephen King, the characterization, is brilliant even in this classic when it was his one of the earlier works.

Those who haven’t read Stephen King yet do know Stephen King as a master of horror literature are missing a lot. He not only writes horror and suspense but also about humanity and its values. His novels are mostly about bullied people who are mistreated and caused destruction in the pretext of revenge.

Carrie is not, particularly, a horror book for me but it definitely left me emotionally drained. What could have been done differently by us as a society so that people like Carrie (with Telekinesis) don’t end up using their powers to destruct the society.

Grab “Carrie” if you want to verge into Stephen King’s territory of horror and suspense.