Product Description

A modern classic, Carrie introduced a distinctive new voice in American fiction -- Stephen King. The story of misunderstood high school girl Carrie White, her extraordinary telekinetic powers, and her violent rampage of revenge, remains one of the most barrier-breaking and shocking novels of all time.

Make a date with terror and live the nightmare that is...Carrie

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80184 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-01
• Released on: 2002-11-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .79" h x 4.15" w x 6.77" l, .28 pounds
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 272 pages

From Amazon.com
Why read Carrie? Stephen King himself has said that he finds his early work "raw," and Brian De Palma's movie was so successful that we feel like we have read the novel even if we never have. The simple answer is that this is a very scary story, one that works as well--if not better--on the page as on the screen. Carrie White, menaced by bullies at school and her religious nut of a mother at home, gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers, powers that will eventually be turned on her tormentors. King has a way of getting under the skin of his readers by creating an utterly believable world that throbs with menace before finally exploding. He builds the tension in this early work by piecing together extracts from newspaper reports, journals, and scientific papers, as well as more traditional first- and third-person narrative in order to reveal what lurks beneath the surface of Chamberlain, Maine.

News item from the Westover (ME) weekly Enterprise, August 19, 1966: "Rain of Stones Reported: It was reliably reported by several persons that a rain of stones fell from a clear blue sky on Carlin Street in the town of Chamberlain on August 17th."

Although the supernatural pyrotechnics are handled with King's customary aplomb, it is the carefully drawn portrait of the little horrors of small towns, high schools, and adolescent sexuality that give this novel its power, and assures its place in the King canon. --Simon Leake

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From AudioFile
Stephen King's first published novel offers a warning to bullies in the person of Carrie White, a high school misfit who wreaks her revenge in a now-famous prom scene. While the story is no less fresh today than it was in 1974, this audio edition promises a "brand-new introduction from the author," which is not, in fact, included in the recording. The story is narrated by Sissy Spacek, who played the title role in the movie. While Spacek perfectly understands the protagonist and amply projects both her hopes and misery, this listener found it unsettling to hear a story about Maine natives in a Maine town read in a clear Texas drawl. Spacek's consistency and acting ability somewhat make up for this incongruity, but King's "Mainiacs" still sound more performed than real. R.L.L. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine