Roll over image to zoom in
Carrie
£8.70£9.50 (-8%)
Stephen King’s legendary debut, about a teenage outcast and the revenge she enacts on her classmates, is a Classic. CARRIE is the novel which set him on the road to the Number One bestselling author King is today.
Carrie White is no ordinary girl.
Carrie White has the gift of telekinesis.
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 . . .
Read more
Additional information
| Publisher | Hodder Paperbacks (13 Oct. 2011) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 272 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1444720694 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1444720693 |
| Dimensions | 12.8 x 2.2 x 19.6 cm |
by Kim
I bought this a while ago and when I loaded it up it was actually doctor sleep. I’ve since deleted it and repurchased. And the same thing has happened again it’s doctor sleep. So confused
by Noah Guest
The only reason it was complicated was that it is written in a really weird way. Half way through a paragraph it would cut to some other book or books that are real in the world the book is set in and it gives you information you don’t need to know to read the book
by Emily :))
I really enjoyed this book, probably my favourite novel by king so far!
Only thing is I’m not really fond of the sudden and frequent switch in focus throughout, however once overcoming this I really loved the storyline and style of writing.
by Amazon Customer
Excellent
by Anna P
I’m probably one of the few people in the world who has never seen the 1976 film version of ‘Carrie’. But I’m not naive enough that I’m not aware of the story. Everyone knows that the menstrual euphemism “taking Carrie to the Prom” is a reference to a blood-soaked Sissy Spacek. And yeah, I had a pretty good idea of how the plot ends. ‘Carrie’ is such a huge piece of pop-culture that it’s hard to avoid it. So basically, I came to this novel with some prior knowledge and yet I was still floored by the book.
I think that’s probably Stephen King’s major talent. His novels are never simple, they always have some substance to them. I think what really surprised me when reading ‘Carrie’ is how much of Stephen King’s voice and story-telling technique is present in his first published novel. I was expecting it to stand out a bit, to be a little less polished, a little less, well Stephen King-ish. The narrative was suitably dis-jointed, jumping from one Point of View to another, interspersed with articles from magazines and extracts from scholarly books. The way that King presents Carrie White’s story, it’s easy to believe that this girl really did exist, that the terrible events at the Prom and afterwards really did happen. And that’s what I love about Stephen King and this novel especially, you never have cause to question the reality of his supernatural elements. They simply are.
Carrie White dreams of going to the Prom. She just wants to be your average teenager. But with a religion-obsessed mother and no friends, she is lonely, vulnerable and the perfect target for the school bullies. Her classmates, her teachers, even her Mother, all beat Carrie down. And those that don’t are blind to the events, to the hatred and the acts of violence going on around them.
But quiet, mousy Carrie can’t be your average teenager because she’s no average girl. She hides a terrible secret. She has the power of telekinesis. She can make things happen with the power of her mind. And the more the bullies try to weaken Carrie’s reserves, the more her power builds inside her. Until, as the bullying reaches a horrifying climax so does her inner strength and she unleashes her telekinetic power on those who caused her pain.
This is a liberating novel. For anybody who has been bullied, Carrie’s explosion on Prom night is kind of like the daydreams you’d hold close to your heart as the taunts rained down on you. Who hasn’t wanted to destroy those who try to destroy them? And that’s one of the most endearing things about this novel. We’ve all been in Carrie White’s shoes. We’ve all experienced the horror of repression, of people trying to hold us back. Deep down we all just want to be accepted, to fit in, to be loved. We all have our own version of Prom Night, that thing we’re yearning for and feel we’ll never get to experience. Carrie gives substance to our own teenage experiences. She embodies our own morbid fears.
And that is probably what I love most about Stephen King – his ability to write characters that get under your skin and stay there. I wish I’d been exposed to this novel as a meek, vulnerable teenager who needed validation, who needed somebody to identify. I think I would have seen something of poor Carrie in myself. And it would have let me dream.
by Miss R L Bevan-Jones
Good enough copy. Thank you
by Simon Edwards
It was like love at first sight when I first picked up this novel at the age of thirteen, loving the front cover of a girl with blood dripping down her face. I was attracted to it immediately and it would be a love affair that has lasted fifteen years.
I had just lost my dad and was completely depressed. Within the first few lines of this debut novel by my all-time favourite write Stephen King, I immediately forgot all my troubles and concerns and was engrossed within the story of the “ugly duckling girl” that was tormented by her peers, tortured emotionally and physically by her religiously demented mother and had a rare gift – the gift of telekinesis – that allowed her to move objects with her mind. I felt sorry for Carrie and suddenly started wishing that I had a gift like this, but the genius of King is the way he is able to twist this wonderful rare talent into the ultimate nightmare.
Carrie is a simple story of how a girl who has no friends, suddenly discovers the idea of women growing up and discovering her first period, a trauma for her brought on by the fact that she believes she is dying, as well as the fact that her peers believe this is just a funny joke that they can use to abuse Carrie with. This is the catalyst that starts the whole horror of what the novel Carrie really is. Through the use of false interviews and made-up articles written by King himself, the reader learns the true horror of what this girl possesses and what she has to go through to get to the point of prom night where she will use her power to enact vengeance on those that have tortured her.
The real horror is more so for the reader who is drawn into the entire drama, waiting to see what happens, wondering just where the horror will end – the way in which Carrie is treated both by her peers and her mother, and what she is forced to endure is probably more horrific than the way in which she enforces her power on the towns-people.
Carrie, the book, has often been criticised by a lot of readers as being very raw and only showing the tip of the ice berg towards King’s talent. Yes, this is a debut novel and King is still finding his way through his talent, but the rawness and naivetés is what makes this one of King’s most popular and enduring novels that bounds the reader under some sort of spell in which they cannot put the book down. I have read this numerous times and I never get tired of it. It shows King as a great story teller who really knows how to engage his audience and make them want to come back for more.
I first read Carrie fifteen years ago and I have never looked back since. Over the years I’ve discovered new books by King and discovered his talent doesn’t dim but grows and he is one of those rare writers where if you were to read the same book again, it will become better for you rather than tedious. I do not consider Carrie to be the best of his novels – how could it be with all those other works of genius he has written, but it is one of my favourite and most treasured as it was the first of his novels that I read; I read it when I was going through the worst period of my life and it got me through some really bad times. It is a fantastic story with a great heart, a well written tale of sweet revenge and consequence. It is one of those books that a lot of people can identify with as it gives a clear understanding of what school is really like, both for the victim and the bully. I cannot rave about this novel enough. It is a truly wonderful book and if you haven’t read Stephen King before, this is a good place to start. If you have read him before, you are in for a treat and will not be disappointed – if you have read this novel before, read it again. It’s just as good, if not better, the second time. It’s the debut of one of the most talented writers who has ever put pen to paper. It made me become a fan!
by tweenage sonsmum
Terrifying tale, superbly written. Love SKs work.