"They're all gonna laugh at you Carrie"

In this review I will not only be reviewing the book, but also the 1976 and 2013 Carrie movies.

No shocker here I love Stephen King's writing style so I will always rave about his books but, I also will always be honest. Stephen King did an amazing job interpreting a young woman's emotional state off mind as well as what they go through in high school, I was very impressed with this. I had a very hard time putting Carrie down, it was a very perplexing read. Carrie wasn't a long book relatively compared to other King novels that I have read so it only took me about three days. This book really throws you on an emotional roller-coaster, definitely a telekinetic terrifying read.

SPOILERS AHEAD

As the book starts King did a great job of switching between past and present; one chapter being present an the next past. We learn that the town had broke out in a huge fire and multiple people were injured and killed. The police department is trying to understand the whole story of what had happened since everyone left alive in town is blaming Carrie White. The police force is interviewing Sue Snell who witnessed everything throughout the entire book to understand why Carrie would do such a thing as well as use her to identify the body. Carrie is abused mentally and physically by her mother Margaret White, Margaret believed that she had a cancer growing in her while she was pregnant with Carrie. When she did give birth to Carrie, Margaret actually contemplated killing her right there because she could "sense evil in her". Margaret lives and breathes the bible she has an evil misconception of her christian faith and uses it to abuse Carrie. Margaret locks Carrie up in a closet under the stairs (like Harry Potter) tells her to pray for forgiveness and will leave her in the closet for hours; not letting her out to use the bathroom. There are multiple times as Carrie is a child she soiled herself and had to sit in it while locked in the closet.

Not only does Carrie get abused at home, she gets it around town and at school because of her crazy bible thumping mother. Carrie is bullied everyday at school; she wasn't aware of what a menstrual cycle was and while in gym class she goes to shower and think shes dying because she is bleeding. The biggest bully of them all Chris Hargensen and her followers including Sue Snell throw tampons at Carrie and yell "PLUG IT UP" at her as shes screaming for help and crying on the floor. This causes the gym teacher (Miss. Desjardin) to come in and see what all the ruckus is about, she tells the girls to leave and tries to help Carrie get a hold of herself. Carrie continues to scream so Miss. Desjardin slaps her to get her to stop screaming, explains to her that it's just her period. She realizes how confused Carrie is so Miss Desjardin helps her clean herself up and they go to the principle together to excuse Carrie for the rest of the day. While in the office they tell her that they will have to call her mother to let her know what has happened Carrie is mortified and doesn't want them to call Margaret. Once Carrie leaves Miss. Desjardin explains to the principle that she wants the girls to be punished for what they did because it was so cruel. He of course doesn't understand just how barbaric the girls were towards Carrie and agrees that a punishment should be given by her choice. She decides they will have to do a week of training with her in gym class or they wont get their tickets to go to the prom.

This is the event that sets everything into motion...

Chris Hargensen the spoiled, rich, popular girl finds out that if she doesn't go through with the punishment from Miss Desjardin that she will not be able to buy prom tickets, she becomes furious and explains that the gym teacher has no right and will fight her on this threatening to bring in her dad (well Chris looses this fight). Meanwhile Sue Snell is feeling super guilty about what she did to Carrie and decides that she wants her boyfriend Tommy Ross to take Carrie to the prom. She explains to him that Carrie deserves just one night to feel carried about and beautiful and he agrees only if it is what Sue truly wants because he loves her. This is when Carrie starts to break away from her mother because she realizes that yes she loves her mama, but that Margaret has been lying to her about a lot of things. Carrie just wants to be a normal girl and have some friends, Margaret throws her in the closet and tells her she needs to pray for forgiveness. Carrie begins practicing her telekinesis powers and becomes stronger an stronger every night she practices while her mother thinks she is gets ready for bed.

Tommy Ross asks Carrie to the prom and she says no right away because she thinks its a trick she explains that she doesn't like being tricked or made fun of. After a few more proposals Carrie finally agrees to go to the prom with Tommy. Chris of course finds out that Carries is going to the prom and plans on making her prom queen so they can ruin her night and dump pigs blood on her. Carrie returns home with items to sew herself prom dress and explains to her mother that she is going to the prom and that is the end of their discussion. Her mother losses her mind throws hot tea on Carrie and tries to make her go to the closet; well of course Carries powers are at there highest point and she throws the table against the wall with her mind. Her mother then explains that she wanted to kill Carrie when she was a baby and wished she had because now she has a witch in her house. Carrie tries to explain what she has learned about her telekinesis powers and that shes not a witch, but her mother wants nothing to do with it at all.

Carrie begins to sew her prom dress the book goes into amazing detail about this dress it is absolutely beautiful. Tommy picks her up in a limo and they head to the prom, it takes Carrie a little while to finally open up and feel comfortable she sees that her and Tommy's names are on the ballots and begins to have a small melt down because she doesn't want to go up there. Tommy convinces her that she deserves one night and to vote for herself, the votes are in and they've won. Carrie keeps telling herself this is the best day of her life she is so nervous about going in front of everyone but is so happy in that moment. They both get crowned and she hold her flowers and that is when the pigs blood is dropped on her and the bucket comes down hits Tommy on the head and basically breaks his neck he drops to the floor right away and dies. Everyone is laughing at Carrie now it started as just one person and then the room escalated with nervous laughter. Carrie begins to break the fire sprinklers, electrocute people, closes everyone into the gym and a fire starts. As she goes through the town taking out her bullies fires continue and she cuts the water from all of the fire-hydrants so they have no access to stop the fire. Carrie goes home to find her mother waiting with a knife, she stabs Carrie in the heart and is bleeding everywhere. Carrie stops her mothers heart with her mind explaining that she loves her, but she gave her no choice. Before the fight breaks out between them Margaret explains the story of how Carrie was conceived at the town bar with her boyfriend. Carrie heads to the bar where she finds Chris and her boyfriend trying to escape in a car; they see Carrie and Chris tells Billy (her boyfriend) not to run her over he doesn't listen. He heads full speed at Carrie she pushes them into the bar wall where they both die on impact. Carrie lies in the middle of the road where Sue meets her they have a telekinetic conversation and Carrie explains how she is so alone and dies, while also causing Sue to finally have her period (losing the baby).

In conclusion I had a hard time determining if Carrie was the monster I put myself in her shoes and honestly if I was abused by not only my mother but everyone at school I would have done the same exact thing. Obviously killing an entire town isn't the correct course of action but what would you do if you had that much personal trauma?

Now for the movie reviews

1976 movie I think they did an okay job, they didn't match the book well at all. They gave no history of what happened to her as a child making her out to be a monster. I don't think they did a great job with the dress at all the way it is described in the book compared to her slit looking dress disappointed me. As well as they didn't make her mother seem crazy enough for me also. Margaret stabs Carrie and her powers go out of control she locks her mother and herself in the house and sets it aflame. Chris and her boyfriend try to run Carrie over and she flips their car and it explodes. Sue never comes to Carrie in this version instead she is at the high school screaming to see Tommy. Overall I think they did an alright job with this one as it didn't match the book well. This is a common issue when it comes to Stephen King and moves based off of his books.

The 2013 version I was way more impressed with. They followed the book way better than the original movie. They gave a small history of her mother which puts things more into perspective, all of the bullying events match the book to a T! I was also not impressed with the dress in this movie either. Everything follows great right up until the end, which was where I became disappointed. Carrie goes home and her mother drowns her while she is in the bath, while she is doing that Carrie stops her heart. Sue Snell finds her pulls her out of the tub and brings her back to life, Carrie forces her out of the house and causes rocks to fall on the house while shes holding her mother because she feels guilty about killing her. You think it ends there but Sue actually helps Carrie escape to start a new life somewhere else, so basically she didn't die. Great movie I am glad they somewhat followed the book, but TERRIBLE ending.

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on if you read the books or saw the movies or both and what you thought...

Thank you so much for reading my blog review and I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!!

Until next week stay reading Selena Torres