Carrie, where do I begin..

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skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
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I remember years ago not reading Carrie (I'd never seen the movie) because I didn't find the idea frightening. I mean, a girl with telekinesis? Whatever. This time I read it because I'm trying to read more of King's work and because I felt as if I'd missed something. I did watch the newer movie with my older kids a couple weeks ago (it was ok). But once I was reading it, I saw the fright in it. I mean, a hormonal, mistreated teen-age girl, raised in a weird and distorted religious swamp, with no outlets for her personality, who has the power to kill on a whim...that is frightening. Makes me think about how important it is to raise our kids carefully, and right.

Kelly

I've never found Carrie frightening, but it's pathetic in the classical sense. I felt so damned sorry for Carrie--she had absolutely nothing going for her in life. Having nearly always been the 'weird kid', I could emphathize with her a bit, but there's always the sneaking relief that I was never strange enough to get bullied much. In a way, it made me more content with largely being left alone.
 

krwhiting

Well-Known Member
Jan 5, 2015
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I've never found Carrie frightening, but it's pathetic in the classical sense. I felt so damned sorry for Carrie--she had absolutely nothing going for her in life. Having nearly always been the 'weird kid', I could emphathize with her a bit, but there's always the sneaking relief that I was never strange enough to get bullied much. In a way, it made me more content with largely being left alone.

I was bullied sometimes. I'm short and I was mouthy as a kid. So older and bigger boys often whacked me. Like John Cougar's song "Cherry Bomb": "Couple guys had to put me in my place..when I see those guys we just laugh and say 'remember when."" But my best friend was ridiculously popular, and extremely athletic, so it didn't happen much.

But I certainly felt for her. I've lived alone as an adult, before I got married, and I've been alone. Loneliness is nothing to trifle with. Dangerous and unhealthy. And Carrie was very much alone.

Kelly
 

booklover72

very strange person
Jan 12, 2014
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Oh man where do I began with Carrie. I guess ill start by saying that every now and then a book comes along and violently blind sides you, its words triggering a monumental shift in your thinking like a magical incantation. You never see it coming, but when it does it ruthlessly plows through your mind smashing concepts into dust and turning on lights. In the end It leaves you reeling, confused and suddenly questioning everything. Such a book changes you, and in a way becomes a part of who you are.

Thats how Carrie was for me and Ill tell you why if you have the patience. I was just a kid when I read it. It was the first non kids book I ever read and once I started I couldnt put it down. As the story of Carrie revealed itself to me i remember feeling a sliver of disquiet, like I was doing something wrong.

As I came to understand the plot that sliver of disquiet flared into full blown anxiety. Carrie is a simple and unapologetically brutal story about a victimised girl who finally says "enough", she takes a stand and holds those who harmed her accountable, and that scared me for some reason. But I continued reading regardless. Uncomfortable or not I suddenly felt this powerful compulsion to finish it. I had this overwhelming certainty that there was something in the story I needed to see, something important between the lines. So, grabbing a flash light I crawled into the small storage space under the stairs, shut the door and continued to read.

My anxiety grew as I read through the first half. I knew there was something there, something crucial, I needed to understand but for the life of me I couldnt grasp it. I remember feeling a sense of panic at this point. I was afraid I would miss it or get caught by my uncle for reading and never get to finish. At this point I was no longer reading a fiction, i was reading a survival manual though I didnt know why.

Then, half way through the story it hit me. Anger, I was suddenly angry at the people who abused Carrie, angry because they where wrong, and because Carrie didnt deserve it. By the time I finished the book I felt shaken and confused. The confusion came from my anger, because in my world abuse was a normal part of day to day life. I never even considered the possibility that it was wrong for them to treat me that way, or that it didnt happen to everybody, untill now.

Being kicked around was normal and expected, but more than that it was the only way I got attention. Now that I knew it was wrong i found myself afraid it would stop. Because that would mean getting no attention at all, leaving me ignored and alone.

Being a kid, I ignorantly believed that the physical abuse would stop once I told them it was actually wrong. So when I finally worked up the courage to tell them as much it went over like a turd in punch bowl. I quickly discovered I didnt need to worry about being ignored because after our talk they paid a LOT of attention to me. That beating was the worse I ever caught, but it was also the first time it made me angry. Needing an escape, I read Carrie again and my eyes where opened even more.

Eventually the beatings stopped, I got big enough to hit back, and as they say, the rest is history. I owe a lot to Stephen King for writing that book. Not only did It showe me that people didnt have the right to be abusive or disrespectful towards, it opened my eyes and encouraged me to stand up for myself.

Sorry for the rant, I just wanted to share my experience with Carrie.

So my question to you is this, have you experienced anything similar with a book? If so which one?

-Erik
Hi Erik

The only (sort of ) thing, i felt was esape from misery, Me ma(grandmother) died in 2007 and Duma Key was releqsed in jan something or other and it saved my sanity. It helped me escape from the bitterness, the hatred(why she had to die) etc. Steve has made me very very happ.
 

Pucker

We all have it coming, kid
May 9, 2010
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All this talk about "bullying" makes me wonder why bullying is wrong when it's a big kid picking on a little kid, but not when it's a special-interest group picking on taxpayers?

I'd probably be too old to understand, even if anyone would answer that question.

When we were kids we used to discourage bullies by making it difficult for them.

I guess kids don't do that anymore.
 
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blunthead

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Aug 2, 2006
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Carrie was my first SK experience too. Although I wasn't bullied in high school I was an outsider and never felt like I fit in anywhere. So I identified. Telekinesis would have been fun, though.
It occurs to me though that Carrie's, for lack of a better word, "gift" was something she despised despite using it at times, as no matter how normal she could ever become she would always know that everyone, including herself, was correct in thinking of her as a freak.
 

doowopgirl

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It occurs to me though that Carrie's, for lack of a better word, "gift" was something she despised despite using it at times, as no matter how normal she could ever become she would always know that everyone, including herself, was correct in thinking of her as a freak.
I see your point. Even if she had a normal mother, or had been able to stop using her gift, it would always be there.
 
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blunthead

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I see your point. Even if she had a normal mother, or had been able to stop using her gift, it would always be there.
Yes, like a demonic second head. I chagrin to admit that I don't recall whether the novel depicts that there were times when her powers acted as if on their own, that she had little memory afterward of something she'd done using them. I think that idea was presented in at least one of the movies versions of the story.
 
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doowopgirl

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Yes, like a demonic second head. I chagrin to admit that I don't recall whether the novel depicts that there were times when her powers acted as if on their own, that she had little memory afterward of something she'd done using them. I think that idea was presented in at least one of the movies versions of the story.
I've only seen the original one. I think that when she felt very angry or stressed it kind of took over.
 
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blunthead

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I've only seen the original one. I think that when she felt very angry or stressed it kind of took over.
Yes, so she knew she couldn't control it. What a helpless, terrifying way to live, which of course would add to the frustration and stress of anyone's life, but especially hers living with psycho-Mom, so she exists in a kind of vicious supernatural cycle striving not to hurt anyone.
 
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doowopgirl

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Yes, so she knew she couldn't control it. What a helpless, terrifying way to live, which of course would add to the frustration and stress of anyone's life, but especially hers living with psycho-Mom, so she exists in a kind of vicious supernatural cycle striving not to hurt anyone.
I think thats part of the continual fascination of Carrie.
 
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