Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Carrie by Stephen King

335 reviews

avana_bana's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Racial slurs and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

andrewhatesham's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Carrie is intriguing from the start, it doesn't take long to get pulled into the plot. We have this teenage girl who's relentlessly bullied, seemingly for no reason, and you want to know: what's her deal, and why does everyone hate her? You know kind of early on, how the story ends. So rather than a mystery, it's more of a "how did we get from point A to point Z" type of read.

The way the plot is structured is pretty cool, it's kind of like an epistolary novel, but instead of just letters, it has fictional news clippings and excerpts from books within the Carrie universe.

You get to experience things through the characters' perspectives, as well as retrospectively, through the fictional news clippings, book excerpts, and interviews of some of the characters. There's also Carrie's inner monologue, which was creatively woven throughout the story, that was my favorite element to the whole book! 

The build up to the final act is great. But then you get to the final act, and all that tension just fizzles out. It drags on and on. That is where the book fails me, I actually prefer the ending in the movie (1976 version), while I prefer everything else in the book, leading up to the end. There's more character development and background context, though it's still a quite short and fast paced book which I appreciate.

This sort of reads more like a crime thriller, with a sci-fi twist. I did know going into it that this was King's first novel and one of his less scary ones, so I'm not bothered by that.

Male-gaze-ickiness aside, this is mostly an enjoyable read, I would recommend it to those of you who like fictional crime stories and elements of sci-fi, or anyone who wants to pick up a King book but doesn't want to go for one of the scarier or lengthier ones. This is more sad than scary.

I will probably continue to read books by SK but I'm not in a rush to move on to the next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Sexual content

bluestar_apologist's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

tbd24's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual assault, Blood, and Religious bigotry

haojjreqds's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Blood

molars's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

insane how stephen king wrote a woman this well and then never did it again for the rest of his career

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Blood

Minor: Eating disorder

ravina_b's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.5

Forty years after its release, this iconic novel certainly still holds its own.  It is an account of how our words and actions may impact other people, a theme that is referenced a number of times through internal and external dialogue: “this would have happened if X person hadn’t done Y action”, “if only Z event didn’t happen”, etc.  It is of course a more dramatic caution to consider how you treat others, but it is hardly unimaginable that a sixteen year old may want her revenge having been bullied for years, completely humiliated when she has her first period, and has her prom ruined by a prank recalling said period.  This is a more supernatural novel than horror, I particularly enjoyed the interwoven chapters discussing the science behind the telekinesis gene and the idea that it was triggered by puberty — the concept of one life-altering event triggering another.

Whilst I quite liked the structure, the introduction of the cross-examination towards the end felt a bit like padding — maybe because King’s introduction brings attention to the fact that it started as a short story which was expanded to become a novel.  I think it would have been fine and just as impactful at 200 pages.  It’s a good story, fast paced, engaging, and I much preferred it to IT and THE SHINING.

📌 Set in Chamberlain, Maine, the United States.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Blood

lethargicbat's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

emilie_readsthrillers's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, and Murder

lochnessvhs's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Confinement, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis