The year was 1974. Blazing Saddles was the top-grossing movie in America. All in the Family was the #1 show on TV. James Bond was going after The Man with the Golden Gun. Elton John’s Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road was the best-performing album. And Stephen King made his mark in the publishing world with his debut novel, Carrie.
I’ve been reading Stephen King’s books for over two decades, and I never got a chance to read Carrie until recently. The 50th Anniversary Edition includes an Introduction by author Margaret Atwood. It’s an excellent primer before reading the novel.
Carrie White is a misunderstood and shy teenage girl bullied by her classmates and her overly-religious mother. When a traumatic incident in the school shower ramps up the torment from all sides, little do those around Carrie know what power she possesses inside of her: telekinesis. As her telekinetic strength grows, Carrie quickly discovers her true abilities, and those who cross her will pay the ultimate price.
A few times while I was reading, I had to put the book down; Carrie’s treatment by her classmates and mother is often too abusive to bear. But as the story unfolded and Carrie realized her true power, I was excited to see how things would end for those who had treated Carrie so poorly. I was not disappointed.
King does an excellent job switching between points of view and including excerpts from studies, articles, and memoirs related to the book’s events and Carrie’s life. This allows the reader to receive lots of intriguing foreshadowing about the climactic events of the story without seeming forced.
Carrie is a cautionary tale that shows the dangers and pitfalls of bullying and highlights how religious zealotry can lead to dangerous and abusive practices. It is through the pairing of these themes with the supernatural twist of telekinesis that we are given Stephen King’s first tale of terror—the first of many over the past five decades.
I highly recommend the book for King fans who haven’t experienced Carrie. If you want to read Stephen King’s work for the first time, Carrie is a great place to start. Sure, you could take the easy route and watch the 1976 film starring Sissy Spacek and directed by Brian De Palma, but to truly experience and understand King’s work, you have to read the 1974 novel.