I picked up CARRIE because I read Steven King’s autobiography, and was curious to see what the book that changed his life was like.
It was his first novel,and he almost fainted when the publisher offered him $400K for it, because he was barely paying his bills at the time. He’d actually thrown the first draft in the bin, and it only made it to the publisher at all because his wife fished it out and insisted he go on with it. To read his autobiography, you’d think by this stage he was on the verge of past it, about to sink into a life of low income jobs, nearly missing his potential. In reading the back cover I discover he was actually only TWENTY-SIX. For god’s sake, Steven, I don’t think it’s even possible to waste your life already when you’re just in your twenties. It’s only in your forties you start looking down that particular barrel. Unless of course you commit a murder and get caught. I was listening to a podcast recently about a man who killed someone at 15, and is getting out now, 40 years later. First thing he is going to do is have an omelette, he said. Second thing is go to his parents graves to apologize for throwing his life away.
It’s possible this post is going off course. Back to CARRIE. What I found surprising was how straightforward it was, how little plot it had, and how little real ‘horror’ was involved. It’s essentially a “worm turns” story, though in this case the worm devours its hometown after turning. For those who don’t know SPOILER ALERT the book is about a girl who is badly bullied at school and ends up blowing up her prom with her telekentic powers.
Apparently when this was written, horror was very much about shadowy alleys and old parchments, so it was revolutionary in its ordinary setting and conventional protagonists. It no longer feels revolutionary, but is still a solid, engaging read, and captures very well what it was to be a teenage girl (not that surprising because Steven King you were SO YOUNG WHEN YOU WROTE IT I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT HOW YOU FELT YOU WERE WASTING YOUR LIFE.)