Stephen King´s Carrie

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Most book reviews of Stephen King's 1974 novel, Carrie, were generally positive. With Steve Calvert's review, he focuses on the structure of Carrie. These reviews differed in minor ways but overall the reviewers admire Stephen King's work and enjoyed the story of Carrie White.
In Josie Kafka's review, she talks about how the book was able to hurt and horrify the audience. She explains how the hurt and horrifying experiences lead up to Carrie White's horrific explosion. She also makes a point that this is a book about women and their manipulation to obtain power or control. She provides examples of manipulation and control with Chris, the bully, who used the power of manipulation to constantly hurt Carrie; Sue who has the power to save Carrie; Miss. Desjardin who use her authority (power) over her students; and Carrie, with her telekinetic abilities.
While I agree with the point made about power and manipulation, I strongly disagree with Kafka's review that defined Carrie as "the most memorable creature". The dictionary definition of creature is an "animal, as distinct from a human being". One of the most controversial topic of the book is whether Carrie White was the victim or the monster. High school can be a cruel place, the memorable shower scene at the beginning of Carrie can supports that cruelty factor. As a reader with the knowledge of her dysfunctional family situation and her never ending nightmare at school, Kafka chose to acknowledge her as a "creature" rather than a character and that is a realistic example of cruelty.
In Trevor Palmer's review, he references the story of Cinderella in his review, relating the characters in Carrie to the character in Cinderella to provide an easy understanding of what the characters'...

... middle of paper ...

... reflects the horror genre. The specific example he used was the imagery of the "tortured and bleeding Jesus hanging from the walls"(Calvert) in the house. This image reminds me of the other imagery of Margaret abusing Carrie physically and psychologically.

Works Cited

Calvert Steve. "Carrie". Steve Calvert. Np. Nd. Web. 6 Nov 2013.
Kafka Josie. "Lost Lit: Stephen King's Carrie". Doux Reviews. Np. 2009. Web. 6 Nov 2013.
Palmer Trever. "Carrie, by Stephen King Review by Trever Palmer". Horror Drive-In. Np. Nd. Web. 7 Nov 2013. .
King, Stephen. Carrie. New York: Anchor Books, 1974. Print.
Reviews, Kirkus. Carrie. Doubleday, 1974. Print.

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