Carrie, credited as Stephen King’s first published novel, is best described as a horrific epistolary that reads as a research paper derived through a typical narrative structure. Excellently adapting sharp and precise prose alongside casting a grim exposure upon the themes of religion, supernaturalism (specifically telekinesis), and social deviance, Carrie is undoubtedly a classic masterpiece that should be in every reader’s collection.
For those of you who don’t know, Carrie is about a young girl named Carrieta White (Carrie), who is born with the supernatural gift of telekinesis. Unfortunately, due to her unusual gift and her excessively religious mother, Carrie is 
barred indoors throughout most of her life, either praying, or locked in a closet to repent for her sins. As result, Carrie is mostly unkempt, which makes her a target for bullies at her school. As they are unaware of Carrie’s gift, Carrie’s bullies push her closer and closer to the edge, until her eventual and unavoidable eruption—morphing the novel into a revenge tale, where Carrie finally lets out her true feelings upon every last person who has ever tormented her.
As mentioned, Carrie is an epistolary novel, meaning that rather than consisting of chapters, the story is told through various different forms of documentations—of which, are expressed by several different characters point of views. In the case of Carrie, these documents range from diary entries, journal articles, memoirs, research papers, and more. Consequently, while reading Carrie, it is easy to be overwhelmed by a sense of realism that pushes the intrigue and suspense of the fictional story outwards into the realms of reality. Moreover, with the dark and torturous storyline, the book pushes the readers emotions as the epistolary literary technique exposes vulnerability and empathetic undertones towards your feelings towards all the characters. I, personally, have never felt so much shock, hatred, sorrow, guilt, and at times comedy from reading any other book. Subsequently, with only three hundred pages, I have to credit Stephen King for both his creativity, and his story-telling, as Carrie burns through countless different themes, moods, and moral values in such a small amount of pages—all the while, keeping me entertained thoroughly.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It is a quick read that is shocking, disturbing, and at times very comedic. The writing is perfect, the literary elements are exquisite, and all in all, it is probably one of the best books I’ve read in a while.
madcritic 