Carrie / Stephen King
August 13, 2012 § 1 Comment
On my quest to conquer King’s oeuvre (yeah, I’m coming a little late to the table) I decided, hey, why not start at the beginning.
Enter, Carrie.
Ok, I’m not a complete virgin to Stephen’s pen. I did have four titles already checked off his vast bibliography :
The Stand 
The Gunslinger
The Drawing of the Three
and The Colorado Kid
But it’s been seven years since I’ve had a crack, and last week I got a little itch to give King another go.
Carrie’s had nearly 40 years to enchant readers. But have you actually read the book? You probably saw the movie.
Prom night. Pig Blood. Sissy Spacek.
That was the totality of my thoughts when someone mentioned King’s first published novel.
Plot points need not be rehashed here. However, what I do want to stress is that Carrie is a damn fine book. Short and sweet. A pre-doorstopper text. In Carrie, King may have crafted one of his most sympathetic characters (says the guy who’s actually only now read 5 of his books) regardless that she takes out over 400 fair citizens.
Now in its fifth decade Carrie has aged well. A timeless tale well told.
Cheers, Mr. King. Three taps to the head.
I’d be very interested in your reaction to my two favorite King books: Thinner and Pet Cemetery.
While I haven’t kept up completely with King’s books, my overall off-the-cuff impression is that his writing since 2000 (post van accident in 1999) is not quite as good as his earlier writing. I especially seem to like his pre-1990 or even pre-1985 work. I don’t know – the recent stuff is maybe too “processed” for my taste.
Thoughts?