Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Carrie by Stephen King

171 reviews

nakole's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

𝓒𝓪𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓮 

By: Stephen King 

Thriller 

 

𝒪𝓋𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁𝓁: 3.5/5

 

𝑅𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌:  This is the first Stephen King book I have read, I have a whole bunch on my shelf so that will soon rectify itself though. I have, however, seen several of the movies based on his books, including Carrie. The book, in my opinion, was better than the movie, as is the standard for book to movie adaptions. There is just more emotion when reading than can come though on a screen, especially for a book like this. 

 

𝒯𝓇𝒾𝑔𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈:  Bullying, death; blood; child abuse; emotional abuse; murder; violence; gore; religious bigotry; fire/fire injury; physical abuse; body shaming; domestice abuse; toxic relationships; child death; sexual assault; gaslighting; car accident; injury detail; grief

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

hiddenfallacies's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Carrie is a landmark achievement in horror for many reasons. It's the start of King's long and celebrated career, a novel that centers around women and places their pain at the epicenter of its plot, and it created a cultural memory that endures to this day - one that empathizes with Carrie rather than demonizes her. Told over three parts that function as three long chapters, the novel tells Carrie's story in retrospect through a collection of articles, interviews, and varying point of views. Going through the past, present, and future of the ill-fated prom night, the reader gets to know Carrie and all she has endured. Above all else, this novel is a tragedy about Carrie White's last hope to become a person and the ways in which society crushed that dream.

The first of the three parts suffers the most, lacking the natural momentum and masterful framing that surrounds the prom night itself and its aftermath in the story. This fact alone is what keeps this novel from garnering five stars for me. The novel is also littered with the artifact of being King's first, lacking some of the grammatical and structural prowess he cultivated over time. It's also important to note that there's a fair bit of racism present throughout the novel, dropped in small phrases and cultural references that leave the modern reader wondering if King meant to include them to indicate moral failings of certain antagonists or the time period itself, or if he simply was ignorant of certain biases he held himself. I believe informing potential readers of this is crucial, as I was blindsided by their sporadic inclusion while reading, taking me out of the story.

Although King has published better novels, as well as worse, I believe Carrie deserves a space not only on an essential reading list for King, but for horror as a whole. It remains culturally significant and moving to this day. May Carrie White never be forgotten. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Antisemitism, Grief, Abortion, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Pregnancy

thewoodlandbookshelf's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Racial slurs, Rape, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

jpaulcord's review against another edition

dark emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Death of parent

shannonredwine8's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Alot of womanizing/abuse. Mention of animal cruelty. Alot of use of the word GD.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

biammonite's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

I really enjoyed the book. People always compare the movies, but after reading the book I'm not really fully satisfied with any of them anymore, at least the portrayals of Carrie. I read it in practically one day, it was well paced and easy to read in one sitting. Carrie is a brilliant character, and I liked that she was less redeemable. It was good to get several peoples point of view as well as snippets from the aftermath and news stories dotted in, it added a lot to the overall world building. 
Sometimes Stephen King is a bit of a freak with high school students but we already knew that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

heikosstories's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

2.5

My first Stephen King novel and here are some thoughts:
- This was super racist. I don't care that the book came out in the 70s. The original passages are giving me the ick and show that Mr. King was viewing characteristics of PoC as a tool to degrade his characters. Not. Cool.
- It's not scary. It had some moments that were chilling and at times I was actually quite hooked but..not scary.
- Stephen King is not a good writer. Especially for an English teacher. His writing style is very simplistic, you can either enjoy or it not, but what bothered me was the frequent repetition of the same literary devices over and over.
- This book felt longer than it should have been. This makes sense after reading the afterword: "Carrie" was originally only 98 pages long and Stephen King was then asked to make this longer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

gossamerwings's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Murder, and Sexual harassment

mightyfrenchbookworm's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

C'est le 50e anniversaire de publication de ce livre et je ne peux pas dire que ça a vieilli comme du bon vin! Certaines expressions, traduites faut dire, ne voulaient rien dire pour moi. Je tiens aussi à dire que je n'ai pas vu le film. Encore. J'ai failli abandonner quand j'ai emprunté ce livre à la couverture franchement moche, les pages jaunies et écrit en Times New roman 9 simple interligne. 

Ceci étant dit, c'était vraiment addictif comme lecture quoique portant parfois à confusion. Saut dans le temps passé, présent, futur. Saut de personnages. Sans avertissement. Ce qui est étonnant c'est que, le lecteur sait dès le départ la fin du livre. Au fur et à mesure que le livre avance, on en sait davantage, on a des rapports de la commission d'enquête, etc. Le personnage de Carrie n'est pas tout à fait facile à apprécier et c'est voulu (je crois). On veut avoir de l'empathie pour elle et ce qu'elle subit mais elle n'est pas vraiment aimable non plus. 
Bref, je suis satisfaite d'avoir lu ce "classique" de la littérature si s'en est un. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Fatphobia, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

smolherbivore's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder