#Book #Review: 4 out of 5 stars for Carrie by Stephen King @StephenKing #SignetBooks @PenguinBooks

TITLE: Carrie

AUTHOR: Stephen King

PUBLISHER: Signet

PUBLICATION DATE: April 1, 1975 (first published 1974)

FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 245 pages

GENRE: Fantasy/Paranormal, Horror

ISBN: 0451150716 

A young girl grew angrier and angrier - and a town writhed in pain...

Carrie was not quite aware that she was possessed of a terrifying power. But it was enough to transform a small, quiet New England town into a holocaust of destruction beyond the imagination of man. Innocent schoolgirl or vengeful demon, Carrie will make you shudder...

MY REVIEW:

I saw this movie when I was a kid, and it scared the dickens out of me! As is often, the book is even better than the movie.

Carietta ("Carrie") White is a 16-year-old girl, but she has not had a normal upbringing. Her father passed away months before she was born, and her mother has brought her up in a very strict religious household. Mrs. White conducts three-hour sermons in her living room, and Carrie at times spends hours locked away in a closet praying for God's forgiveness for things she hasn't even done. Her mom is a bit of a nutbar with her own warped religious views.

Carrie is the girl at school that is dressed primly and properly, and she has no friends. Everyone thinks she is weird. When she gets her first period in the shower at school, she has no idea what is going on and thinks she is bleeding to death. The other teenage girls throw tampons and sanitary napkins at her and tell her to "plug it up", but Carrie hasn't a clue what to do. She is traumatized by what has happened. The ringleader, Chris, who is the most popular girl at school is not allowed to go to the prom as punishment.

One of girls, Sue, feels terrible about her role in making fun of Carrie. Her brilliant idea is for her boyfriend, Tommy, to ask Carrie to the prom. She means well, and she hopes that this will bring Carrie out of her shell. When Chris finds out that Carrie is going to the prom, she hatches a plan to further humiliate Carrie on what should be a special night. Then we find out what it is about Carrie that her mother was so frightened of.

King intersperses excerpts of news articles and scientific papers into the storyline, so we find out about Carrie's telekinetic ability and what happens on Prom Night before it actually happens. For me, this really built up the anticipation.

I want to re-watch the 1976 movie starring Sissy Spacek and also the 2013 remake which I haven't seen yet starring Chloe Grace Mortez.

MY RATING:

4 stars!! It was really good, and you should put it on your TBR list if you enjoy horror or paranormal books.

This book qualifies as:

#8 for my Strictly Print Reading Challenge
#11 for my Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018
#2 for my The Official 2018 TBR Pile Challenge
#4 for my 2018 Reading Assignment Challenge
#16 for my Beat the Backlist 2018 Challenge
#14 for my The Backlist Reader Challenge 2018
#14 for my 2018 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge
#7 for my 2018 Badass Books Reading Challenge
#13 for my 2018 Full House Reading Challenge
Task #6 for my 2018 Reading Challenge (Linz the Bookworm)
#7A for my 2018 Literary Escapes Challenge
#16A for my Good Rule Reading Challenge
#3 for my 2018 Charity Reading Challenge
#1 for my Epistolary Reading Challenge 2018
#7 for my 2018 Paranormal Reading Challenge
#7 for my Science Fiction vs Fantasy Bingo 2018
#7 for my The 2018 Swords & Stars Reading Challenge
#2 for my 2018 Book to Movie Reading Challenge
Task #7 for my Goodreads Winter Scavenger Challenge: Northern Lights
#5 for my The Stephen King Challenge

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