Timeless Carrie issues

[Denise Marsden]

Just re read Carrie, facinated by how yet again SKs timeless magic applies .Carrie first captivated me because I related to being bullied at school,I also had a religious fanatic for a grandfather who lived with us from my age 10 to 15 .He would quote the scriptures at me much of the time in a very victorian way.Thankfully I didn't nail him to the wall with kitchen knive though I was often tempted,my love for him got in the way.:love:

[fairy76]

Carrie was my 1st SK book. I was in the 7th grade! From then I read all I could get my hands on, and she is definitly a character I revisit at least once a year

[MrsMarsten]

a book i can read repeatedly and always find something i missed.

[Breger3]

I too love Carrie cause I can also relate to her.

When I first read it as a teenager I could totally identify with Carrie. I was picked on through out my childhood, many many times. (Although thankfully not to the extent Carrie was) I never had the best clothes, had a different home life, and I wanted to fit in desperatly. My grandma is pretty into her religion, but Margaret makes her look like a heathen...lol. I so wished to be friends with Carrie or to have her powers and the two of us could go around the world smitting bullies. LOL!

Now when I read it, I still identify with Carrie, and want to help her so much. BUT I can also feel a LITTLE bit of compassion for Margaret. The woman is off her rocker, don't get me wrong, she has MAJOR issues, but I truely feel that she wants the best for Carrie, that she's trying to protect her in her own strange way. Maybe I'm off on that, but as a mom of a girl who is overweight and has Autism I just want to sheild her from everything, so I'm wondering if that's what Margaret was trying to do.

I do think this is something every Freshman, or Middle Schooler should read, as a warning against bullying.

[ScarecrowJoe]

okay, you doods have convinced me. i'm gonna read it next. i found a copy at burpee's this weekend. just need to save up a little more cash to get it.

[pixiedark]

I also identified with Carrie when I was a teenager. I was picked on and bullied when I was in junior high and high school.
This book also influenced me by making me not want to shower in public school. When I read about then saw the infamous shower scene, I decided I would quit school if they made us take showers in gym class! (Thankfully, my school did not do this.)

[MadamMack]

okay, you doods have convinced me. i'm gonna read it next. i found a copy at burpee's this weekend. just need to save up a little more cash to get it.

Good choice Joe! Burpee's has it all, huh?

[ScarecrowJoe]

i think the guy probably has nuclear weapons back there if you dig far enough. if he doesn't have it, it isn't worth buying, that's what he says.

[nikkij124]

I first watched the movie carrie years ago i thought it was the best horror i had ever seen i was wrong the book was ten times better:wow:
I was never really bullied at school. im the youngest child of four ive got three brothers two of them are twins who were 15 when i was born the other was 13 so my bullies lived in my home:mad2::mad2:
i would have loved the powers carrie had my brothers wouldnt have known what hit them lol:laugh:

[ginapenn]

Burpee's? I really need to get out of my cage more often...we don't have those in Ohio.

[ScarecrowJoe]

it's not a chain -- it's named for the guy who runs it. romeo burpee. funny guy. looks a little like elvis.

[Breger3]

Burpee's? I really need to get out of my cage more often...we don't have those in Ohio.

We don't have them in Michigan either, sound like a cool place though.

[wally wonder]

isn't burpee's the place you buy seeds? i was bullied at school...but, all those people are dead. :dunno: ka.

[michal]

I agree and I think that it applies to many of Mr. King's books - the way they remain relevant and even change their meaning for you when you reread them years later. I believe that's because he is dealing with human ideas, emotions and motives and those - like it or not, are pretty much a constant.

[dtorrec]

I just started carrie yesterday, amazing, I can't stop reading!

[AnnekoMartian]

4th-8th grade, if you asked me what my favourite book was, my answer would have been Carrie.

To be fair, in fourth grade, I had not yet read Carrie (or even seen the film), I was still working my way up to 'grown up horror'*, and still quite a bit squeamish. But I grew up in what I affectionately refer to as 'The Vampire House', with people all-too-easily dubbed 'The Addams Family', and was thereby blessed with a basic understanding of the plots of anything scary.

I could not envision a happier ending. I mean, not in real life. All too often, the idea of developing killer telekinetic powers seemed to my childhood self far more realistic than the idea of blossoming from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

(I was not diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome until I was in college and already knew some people who liked me for my crazy self. I am still not a beautiful swan-- maybe an overweight and somewhat pimply swan-- but I also haven't killed anyone with my brain, so all in all perhaps I'm breaking even.)

Constantly Reading,
Anneko Martian

[Ryan "The Reader"]

To this day, Carrie, has been the SK book that I have read the most amount of times. It has the most emotional resonance to me, as I feel like I was Carrie in middle school. I think if I had her powers, some kids at my school would have been fried.

[ScarecrowJoe]

just finished this last night. fantabulous book. makes me want to stay in middle school forever, tho!!

[ginapenn]

Scarecrowjoe: I can't say I blame you there. So happy to hear that you like the book! You make me want to re-read it. It's been a while since I've been been engrossed in that one.

[randallFlaggfan1]

Carrie is great, especially when one considers that it's King debut.

[constantreader1313]

I am reading the book right now for the first time. I have seen the movie 4 or 5 times so I am really really having a hard time not going by the movie as I'm reading it. It's hard to make the characters different in my head when I have faces from the movie already there. I am enjoying it though, I just wish I hadn't seen the movie so much before I actually read the book.

[feeblepizza]

I think I read this book when I was 11. It's a great read and should be required reading for teens.

[jack butler505]

Burpee's? I really need to get out of my cage more often...we don't have those in Ohio.

We don't have them on Long Island either lol

[jack butler505]

unfortunately it would never happen

[Narwhal98]

I think I read it when I was about 9? 10? I thought it was good, but I thought it was even better when I re read it a couple of years ago, seeing I understood way more. I re read it at least twice a year.

[Homer403]

I read Carrie a couple of months ago and enjoyed it! A very easy read.This book seems to "stand the test of time"!!

[jkcrue]

I'm currently reading Carrie for the second time. The first time was many years ago when I was a teenager myself. Do I have any different views on Carrie now than I did when I first read it ? I don't think so, I felt I could relate to Carrie back then a little bit and now I feel I have more sympathy for her and maybe a better understanding of how tough things were for her.

To date, it's the only King book I've read more than once. Love the book and definately would recommend it to anyone wanting to experience King's work.

[altekocker]

I just saw the movie, "Matilda", yesterday (with Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, etc.) and noted that the theme of the "troubled girl with telekinetic abilities" was familiar. The movie was an adaptation of a book by renowned children's author Roald Dahl.
So I was surprised to discover that Dahl's book was published in 1988... some years AFTER "Carrie".
I was surprised to think that Roald Dahl would have borrowed from SKing... but there it is.

[senca the lemon]

Carrie was the first SK book I red. I saw the movie before reading the book but that actually didn't lower any quality of the book nor did it made it less enjoyable to read. (imo)

[days be strange]

SK made Carrie real...it was an amazing book

[Sungrey]

I agree that "Carrie" is a great book even if short on character development. I like that, if you remove the telekinesis (which really doesn't become a major factor in the story until late in the book), "Carrie" really is just a novel about bullying, high school social dynamics with the Outcast, religious fundamentalism and guilt.

[JessHK]

I have read on the interwebs that "Carrie" was rejected by 30 different publishers. Does anyone have a source for this fact? Thanks!

[Moderator]

Not true. It was submitted to and accepted by Doubleday.

[doowopgirl]

Carrie has held up for me over the years. Probably because of the theme of outsiderism, bullying, etc. Also how creepy is her mother?

[Owlnuggets]

I just watched the newer 2002 adapation of the film.
I was really impressed :D

[Owlnuggets]

I read a wonderful little story from King... I can't remember where... probably On Writing.
Anyway, mister Steve wasn't in a happy place in his life when he wrote Carrie.
In frustration, he balled the whole thing up and tossed it in the trash.
His wife found it while cleaning the next day, smoothed it out, read it, and waited.
When he got home, she showed him what she had done and told him it was very good and he should send it in.
And a star was born.
Thank you Mrs. King for knowing better!!!!

[dsurrett]

I have read on the interwebs that "Carrie" was rejected by 30 different publishers. Does anyone have a source for this fact? Thanks!

King goes into the publication process for Carrie, partially anyway, in On Writing. As an aspiring (perspiring) author, I've enjoyed that part of the book many times.

[RichardX]

As a long time King fan, I had never read this one for some reason. Maybe because of the film. It's kind of a sad and painful story where no one is truly the good guy. I also noticed a reference to the JFK assassination. Interesting how that comes up time and again. If you wanted to stretch matters a bit you could say the basic storyline of the prom is taken from JFK assassination. Carrie's date to the prom was JFK (killed in pubic at a moment of glory), she is Jackie (splattered in blood), and the hidden culprit who pulls the cord on them is Oswald. The book has held up well in my opinion. The weakness or maybe strength is that you are pulling for Carrie hoping things come out alright but then she becomes a mass killer. Was she evil all along or is it purely the result of her treatment by others?

[kingricefan]

As a long time King fan, I had never read this one for some reason. Maybe because of the film. It's kind of a sad and painful story where no one is truly the good guy. I also noticed a reference to the JFK assassination. Interesting how that comes up time and again. If you wanted to stretch matters a bit you could say the basic storyline of the prom is taken from JFK assassination. Carrie's date to the prom was JFK (killed in pubic at a moment of glory), she is Jackie (splattered in blood), and the hidden culprit who pulls the cord on them is Oswald. The book has held up well in my opinion. The weakness or maybe strength is that you are pulling for Carrie hoping things come out alright but then she becomes a mass killer. Was she evil all along or is it purely the result of her treatment by others?

Wow, you might be on to something there! Jackie's outfit was pink and Carrie's gown was pink (in the movie). Hmmm, maybe something to ask the director and/or costume designer?? Very interesting hypothesis!!

[hairyfairy]

The first time that I picked up a copy of "carrie", & read it, it seemed almost as if it had been written about me. I didn`t have relgious parents, but they were domineering,& I was so shy that I couldn`t stick up for myself at all, & other kids gave me a hard time. When I was a teenager it got worse as I ate for comfort & put on weight, also had loads of spots just like her. Thankfully I had a happier outcome than she did, but I`d have loved to have had her powers, then I could have shown those losers a thing or two.

[hairyfairy]

I`m so glad that I didn`t grow up in the USA, because of what Iv`e seen of schools over there, not just in the movie Carrie, It seems that american teenagers are evil to anyone who doesn`t fit in. I shudder to think what would have happened to me in an american high school!