‘Carrie’ – Stephen King (Hodder)

 

Page Count: 248 Pages

Everyone knows that there’s a new TV adaptation, of Stephen King’s ‘Carrie’, showing on Prime Video at the moment. Hardly anyone knows that there’s also a copy of ‘Carrie’ on one of my bookshelves that I haven’t got round to picking up. Which version did I get to first…? The page count gave it away ;o)

I’d heard that the TV adaptation takes things in a slightly different direction and while I will get to it, yesterday seemed like the right time to go back to the source for a re-read (the first time in a long time) And I’ll be honest, I was at the point where I was thinking, ‘if I don’t read a novel now, I never will…’ ‘Carrie’ was a quick win ;o)

It’s a lot more than that though…

Carrie White has a gift – she can move things with her mind.

To be invited to Prom Night by Tommy Ross is a dream come true for Carrie – the first step towards social acceptance by her high school colleagues.

But events will take a decidedly macabre turn on that horrifying and endless night as she is forced to exercise her terrible gift on the town that mocks and loathes her…

I know, I didn’t really need to include a blurb here but like I said the other day, old habits and all that… I’ve certainly read the book/seen the film(s) enough time to know exactly how it goes.

That feeling makes it all the more special then that King’s debut novel remains a book that after fifty two years, still has the capacity to shock and un-nerve in the way that it does. I’m pretty sure that whenever I read ‘Carrie’ next, I’ll feel exactly the same way.

It’s the sheer weight of inevitability that gets you… People may not know exactly how Prom is going to go but to one degree or another, everyone knows that it’s not going to end well. Even Carrie herself knows, deep down, that everything is just a little too good to be true. There’s no stopping events playing out though and we are drawn into Carrie’s orbit by an accompanying sense of just how tragic this all is. Chris Hargensen is out for revenge, Sue Snell just wants to make everything better, for Carrie, and Tommy Ross is happy to help her. And so much of this is beyond Carrie’s social ability that she is swept up in it all. No matter what their intentions, it doesn’t end well for any of them. And that’s not counting the students who were at the Prom, or the townsfolk who make the mistake of stepping out of their homes to see why everything is burning…

Carrie’s actions, at the end, are horrific enough but King doesn’t shy away from where the true horror of the piece lies; in the kind of people that we are likely to bump into in real life, if we haven’t already. King really captures the viciousness of children, surviving in a world they don’t quite get by making someone else the target instead. And Carrie is a very easy target to aim for…

Set this against a backdrop of adults who are too complacent to realise the extent of the problem and King makes it clear that Carrie was never going to be able to win. Maybe there’s a touch of the heroine about her for trying anyway? King doesn’t stop there, setting Carrie on a collision course with her Mother who is totally insane. Like I said, it’s the inevitability that gets you in the end.

Given the state of the town by the end, you’d be forgiven for thinking that King would just end things there. You’d still be wrong though ;o) King leaves us with an ending that sits uncomfortably in your stomach. What if there are others like Carrie? It’s something that King hints at in other novels but what a way to end things here.

‘Carrie’ remains an awesome read then and I’ll be honest, it doesn’t feel like the book even really has to try that hard. I’d genuinely be surprised if you haven’t read ‘Carrie’ but if you haven’t… There’s no better time to do something about that.