"Dépêche A.P. 27 mai 1979. 23 h 46.
Un sinistre d'une ampleur tragique frappe la ville de Chamberlain, Maine. Des centaines de morts..."
Une mère puritaine, obsédée par le diable et le péché; des camarades de classe dont elle est le souffre-douleur : Carrie est profondément malheureuse, laide,
toujours perdante.
Mais à seize ans resurgit en elle le souvenir d'un "don" étrange qui avait marqué fugitivement son enfance : de par sa seule volonté elle pouvait faire se déplacer des objets à distance. Et ce pouvoir réapparaît aujourd'hui, plus impérieux, plus impatient...
Une surprise bouleverse soudain la vie de Carrie lorsqu'elle est invitée au bal de l'école par Tommy Ross, le boy-friend d'une de ses ennemies, n'est-ce pas un piège plus cruel encore que les autres ?
--back cover
Mit übermäßig intellektuellem Hang zur Analyse könnte man in dem Roman die Warnung entdecken, man müsse mit dem Bösen immer und überall rechnen. Doch ich selbst halte von solchen Interpretationen ziemlich wenig und auch Stephen King schätze ich so ein, dass er in erster Linie eine spannende Geschichte erzählen wollte. Das ist ihm unzweifelhaft gelungen. Ich musste mich jeden Abend zwingen, den Roman beiseite zu legen, um noch einige Stunden Schlaf zu finden. Mag sein, dass ich dem Stil von Stephen King schlicht verfallen bin, doch wenn es einem Autor gelingt, dies bei seiner Leserschaft zu erreichen, dann kann man ihn getrost als guten Schriftsteller bezeichnen. Zu empfehlen ist der Roman all jenen, die actiongeladene Geschichten mit eine gehörigen Prise blutigem Horror mögen. Feingeister und überzeugte Realisten sollten hingegen die Finger davon lassen.
As a lifelong Stephen King fan, somehow I’ve never read Carrie. It’s one of those things where I’ve picked up all the plot points through cultural osmosis, I’ve seen the movie (the good one), I’ve talked about it with my friends as though I know about it. But I’ve never held the physical copy in my hands until last week.
I liked it. I don’t really have a ton to say about it. It was an extremely short read, and there were a lot of precursors to what would become eventual King hallmarks – overly religous fanatical whackjobs; bullies that were strangely too smart and/or too psychopathic to be believable; and entire towns being destroyed as a way to end the book like a Lovecraftian cleansing bolt of lightning. Happy to finally have read it.
Review of 'Carrie (Los Jet De Plaza & Janes. Biblioteca De Stephen King. 102, 8)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This is another one of those books that, being a Stephen King fan, I can’t believe I’d never read. Second book written, first one published, if I remember correctly (for what it’s worth, I don’t think Carrie was as good as [b:'Salem's Lot|11590|'Salem's Lot|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327891565l/11590.SY75.jpg|3048937]).
I saw the movie a really long time ago, in the 80s or maybe the early 90s. I can’t remember very much of it at all, but I’m almost certain it wasn’t as detailed, or as gruesome or heart-wrenching, as the book.
Carrie is the ultimate story of bullying gone wrong. My book, [b:Stingers|49404106|Stingers|Graham Downs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576660938l/49404106.SY75.jpg|40865726], doesn’t even come close (prove me wrong: read both of them and tell me what you think!). The horrors that girl’s peers put her through... not to mention the isolation her mother put her through. To be a seventeen-year-old girl and not know what a period …
This is another one of those books that, being a Stephen King fan, I can’t believe I’d never read. Second book written, first one published, if I remember correctly (for what it’s worth, I don’t think Carrie was as good as [b:'Salem's Lot|11590|'Salem's Lot|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327891565l/11590.SY75.jpg|3048937]).
I saw the movie a really long time ago, in the 80s or maybe the early 90s. I can’t remember very much of it at all, but I’m almost certain it wasn’t as detailed, or as gruesome or heart-wrenching, as the book.
Carrie is the ultimate story of bullying gone wrong. My book, [b:Stingers|49404106|Stingers|Graham Downs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576660938l/49404106.SY75.jpg|40865726], doesn’t even come close (prove me wrong: read both of them and tell me what you think!). The horrors that girl’s peers put her through... not to mention the isolation her mother put her through. To be a seventeen-year-old girl and not know what a period is, the mind boggles. It’s almost unbelievable, but then it’s just believable enough, because I can absolutely imagine some really cloistered, fundamental Christian parents being like that.
Stephen King always knew how to incite emotion with his writing, and this book is good, but it still feels like a debut novel. It’s better than millions of other debut novels, to be sure, but it’s still a debut novel. The writing’s not as tight, the voice’s not as refined; the editing’s not as good.
Again, I feel like Salem’s Lot was better in those respects. But that might be down to better editing (being the second book to be published, the publisher could’ve been prepared to devote more budget to getting it edited), and anyway it’s unfair to compare them because they’re such different stories.
Anyway, I’m glad I finally read this book. It’s a piece of history. It’s required reading for any Stephen King fan, and it’s given me massive insights into where it all began for the man.
