Books Love Me – Reviews

This book really gave me the horrors! After reading the first 20 pages I felt tired and took a nap. And had a bad dream! But, I still continued reading the book nevertheless.

Carrie was Stephen King’s first horror novel and it definitely does its job. Carrie is just a plain girl with the gift of telekinesis. Nobody else knows about it except her mother. The most frightening character in this book is Carrie’s overly religious and completely paranoid mother, Margaret White. Carrie’s father, Ralph, passed away when she was small so, it’s only Carrie and her mother at home.

Their house is decorated with numerous religious pictures (mostly biblical characters in trouble) and also a huge crucifix with the dying Jesus Christ. Carrie’s mother is also always praying for her and her daughter’s sins. To her, it is already a sin for being a woman and also a sin for a woman to have her menstruation.

That was why she never explained to Carrie about the monthly cycle. While cleaning up after playing volleyball in the girls’ locker room at Ewen (U-win) High School, Carrie found blood dripping down her legs. She doesn’t know that she’s begun menstruating and the other girls weren’t any help. They only teased and bullied her.

Carrie was always the butt of jokes in school and she doesn’t stand up for herself. Anyway, one of the girls, Susan Snell, felt badly for Carrie and regretted teasing her in the locker room with the other girls, asked her boyfriend, Tommy Ross to bring Carrie to the prom.

Tommy nervously asked Carrie and she accepted. However, her mother was not very happy about it. In fact, she got hysterical and ordered Carrie to pray for her sins in the closet.

Then, there’s Chris Hargensen, the spoilt daughter of a rich lawyer. She’s forever making Carrie’s life like hell in school and she’s upset that she’s not allowed to go to the prom, as punishment for teasing Carrie in the locker room. No, she won’t sit down quietly of course. She’s going to pay back to Carrie. On Prom Night, too.

Initially, Carrie’s prom night was magical and thrilling. The popular Tommy Ross is her date and she looks stunning in her homemade dress. Lo and behold, Tommy and Carrie were even voted Prom King and Queen of the 1979 Spring Ball. Both went onstage and sat on the special ‘thrones’ for the King and Queen of the prom and Carrie felt terribly overwhelmed when something splashed all over her. Pig’s blood.

From then on, the terror began in the town of Chamberlain.

For the faint-hearted, no reading this book alone at night.

I’ve watched Carrie (1976 film) starring Sissy Spacek as Carrie. My sister did warn me about the chilling sound effects and Carrie’s mother but I watched it anyway. Don’t watch it alone, I’m warning you! =D

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Erin

Trisha McFarland is 9 years old. She tries to be cheerful all the time although her family is having problems. However, in her heart, she wished that they would stop hurting one another.

Her parents are divorced. Larry, her father drinks too much beer. Trisha and her father have something in common – both of them are ardent fans of a baseball player, Tom Gordon, who plays for the Red Sox. Quilla, Trisha’s mother, who won custody of her children, never gets tired of taking her two kids out on weekend outings. Pete, Trisha’s older brother, misses his old school at the town where they lived before the divorce.

The story starts when Trisha, her mom, and Pete are out hiking. Trisha’s mom and Pete argue about Pete’s pinings to return to his old school and computer club. They were so caught up in their quarrel that they did not realise Trisha had disappeared for a while to pee. Well, Trisha thought she would catch up with them as long as she could hear their voices. But, she had left the path and was unable to find her mother and brother or anyone else. She strayed deeper into the woods, hoping to find a way out.

I find this book less thrilling than Firestarter, another splendid novel by Stephen King. But still, this is a story of the determination and optimism of a little girl who lost her way in the woods.

Book read in 2004.

Buy The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon