Carrie by Stephen King

Carrie is the book that first got me really reading. I read it in junior high and I recall actually sitting in a pretty uncomfortable position for hours, devouring it page by page.

There is a danger in revisiting old literary loves. You never know if they are going to be quite like you remember. I wanted to reread this for a few reasons, though. I work with a few junior high girls that keep asking me for horror books. I've been getting into Stephen King a lot more recently. Also, I kind of wanted to know if it still stacked up.

I still love this book. It is decidedly juvenile and the first scene is kind of rough. It's embarrassing and harsh but it really sets the mood for the rest of the book. Even better, it is perfect to hook a twelve year old girl. I imagine that I related with Carrie when I was twelve. I felt like a loner and was hurt by the other kids. Then it was amazing (but still horrifying) to read about Carrie destroying the town, punishing the people who hurt her. Now that I am an "adult," I took something completely different from it. I felt bad for Carrie. I felt bad for the people who died, who never got to learn their lessons really. In today's world of school shootings this is a paranormal twist that might make kids think about violence differently.

For a first novel this is phenomenal and it's really not surprising that King developed into the author who brought us such masterpieces as The Stand, The Dark Tower, and The Green Mile.