I have been meaning to try reading some Stephen King books for a long time now, since he is arguably the most prolific horror writer out there and has some great classics. I’ve seen a lot of the movie adaptations and loved them, so I always thought it would be great to go back and read some of his books. So, I figured what better place to start than his very first novel ever: Carrie. I normally don’t like going back and reading novels for movies that I’ve seen, but Carrie is luckily very accessible, being one of King’s shorter books out there, ranging from 200-300 pages depending on the version you have.

The interesting thing about Carrie as a novel is in the way that it’s written, and what effect that has on the story. There is definitely a significant portion of the novel that’s written in a traditional narrative format, but there’s also a good bit of it that’s written as an epistolary novel, where we’re given clippings from fake articles and books about what happened to Carrie.

The reason why this is so interesting is because of how it presents the story. Part of the reason why I’m not crazy about reading novels for movies I’ve seen is because I generally know where the story goes. This is especially true for something like Carrie, because to me it seems a little pointless to read the journey when the destination is really what the story has become famous for. However, since it’s written in an epistolary fashion at times, Stephen King actually tells you pretty early on in the story how it’s all going to end. The basic story is really simple, with a girl named Carrie that’s been ruthlessly bullied in school for years. She starts to realize that she has telekinetic powers, and so one last giant prank towards the end of the story makes Carrie snap and use her powers to take revenge upon her classmates. I thought it might be a spoiler to know where the story ends up, but the news clippings allude to the tragedy pretty early on in the story, so you’re completely in on what’s going to happen very early on.

I’m not sure what effect this might have on someone that’s not familiar with the story. Perhaps it’ll make you wonder what the purpose is of sharing what’s going to happen at the end of the novel. But for someone like me that’s already familiar with the story, I found this to be a very interesting way to consume it. It’s for this reason that I still think Carrie is worth reading, even if you’ve already seen one of the movie versions of it.

With that being said, I don’t think that Carrie is one of King’s best works. It’s definitely a great debut novel, and a clear standout that’s gained notoriety for good reason, but the story can definitely feel a little simplistic at times. I think its strength is in its analysis of its characters, giving great insights not only into Carrie’s psyche as she’s becoming more unstable, but also into some of her bullies. I think the most striking thing about the novel is actually seeing how its events affect everyone.

Otherwise, it can be a little bare bones, so for readers that are looking for a tale with many twists and turns, you’re going to want to look elsewhere. Even at its short length, it tends to stretch its simple story pretty thin at times, and so it’s hard not to notice that there’s not a whole lot of meat on these bones. Even so, I really liked Carrie for what it was. I think that this story really works for what it’s going for, and I also think it’s worth reading even if you’ve seen any of the movies. While Stephen King has definitely made more in-depth works later on, Carrie is still a pretty great debut novel.

4/5