King is one of my favorite writers because of the sort of worlds he's able to create and how utterly credible and both ordinary and extraordinary they appear.Carrie was his first book and already a smashing success (it's been in print since 1976, enough said).
It tells the story of a teenage girl everyone likes to pick on. Her life is miserable, in school and at home, where her widowed mother is a religious fanatic that wastes no occasion to remind her daughter that she's the spawn of the devil.
Luckily for Carrie, not so much for anyone around her, she possesses a special power that allows her, in the end, to take revenge over her abusers.
The book was captivating and totally engaging as read by Sissy Spacek, the actress who, incidentally, played Carrie in the movie version of the book. She was mesmerizing in her ability to render not only the characters' voices but their very existence. The best audio book reader so far for me.
The story was also the first to ever arouse such strong feelings in me from an imaginary character. I felt so bad for that poor girl, teased by all her schoolmates and abused by an insane mother who was totally clueless of the world and valued the Bible more than her own daughter's life and happiness.
A couple times I actually had to put the book aside for a while because it was just too painful to witness what was happening to her. Which showcases another great skill of King's, the ability to make you sympathize with the bad guy, no matter what they end up doing.
A must read, absolutely.
Grade: 9
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