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wilderthan) wrote2009-03-05 05:27 pm
wilderthan) wrote2009-03-05 05:27 pm
Entry tags:
Review - Carrie
Say what you like about Stephen King, he really can write a gripping story. I still dislike some of his stylistic quirks,
(like this thoughts in brackets it really irritates me i)
but I always read his books really, really fast. Not the most accomplished, artful writing in the world, really, but it has a straightforward appeal, and it certainly gets its hooks into you. Or me, anyway, I'm sure there are people who don't like it, but there are plenty of people I know who turn their noses up at Stephen King without ever reading a word he's written.
I think I've observed before that he writes about real people and it's only the situations that make it horror/fantasy/whatever. I'm reading On Writing at the moment, so what he says about writing the truth is really obvious to me right now. I think everyone goes to school with a Carrie. I think I probably was the Carrie of my school, in a way -- the one who could never get it right, the one who nobody stuck up for, wrong kind of religion... in my case, wrong sexuality. And then he adds the detail: so what if this girl had a really extreme mother? And telekinetic powers? And what if she broke?
Another thing I found very interesting about this book was the idea of combining different reports on the incidents together, making this a kind of Dracula book -- made up of eye witness accounts.
The result? A book that's actually uncomfortable to read, because you see yourself in the characters. Sue Snell and Carrie White, for me; maybe someone sees themselves in Chris.
Carrie isn't my favourite of Stephen King's books that I've read so far, but it certainly fits his MO. Worth reading if you want to try one of his books minus the huge long set up that characterises some of the others (The Stand, It, etc).
(like this thoughts in brackets it really irritates me i)
but I always read his books really, really fast. Not the most accomplished, artful writing in the world, really, but it has a straightforward appeal, and it certainly gets its hooks into you. Or me, anyway, I'm sure there are people who don't like it, but there are plenty of people I know who turn their noses up at Stephen King without ever reading a word he's written.
I think I've observed before that he writes about real people and it's only the situations that make it horror/fantasy/whatever. I'm reading On Writing at the moment, so what he says about writing the truth is really obvious to me right now. I think everyone goes to school with a Carrie. I think I probably was the Carrie of my school, in a way -- the one who could never get it right, the one who nobody stuck up for, wrong kind of religion... in my case, wrong sexuality. And then he adds the detail: so what if this girl had a really extreme mother? And telekinetic powers? And what if she broke?
Another thing I found very interesting about this book was the idea of combining different reports on the incidents together, making this a kind of Dracula book -- made up of eye witness accounts.
The result? A book that's actually uncomfortable to read, because you see yourself in the characters. Sue Snell and Carrie White, for me; maybe someone sees themselves in Chris.
Carrie isn't my favourite of Stephen King's books that I've read so far, but it certainly fits his MO. Worth reading if you want to try one of his books minus the huge long set up that characterises some of the others (The Stand, It, etc).
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