Carrie was a good book, and I think its biggest failing was that it felt like a great book that followed a blueprint to greatness. But you can't say that the blueprint doesn't work – because it does. Carrie is one of those horror books that make very clear that the supernatural is not the stuff horrors are made of. That's reserved for regular humans and their actions and decisions. Stephen King is really good at painting humans in their day-to-day lives, with both their kindness and their cruelty. His pacing is also awesome and reminded me a bit of a tuned-down Vonnegut.
Carrie was a good book, and I think its biggest failing was that it felt like a great book that followed a blueprint to greatness. But you can't say that the blueprint doesn't work – because it does. Carrie is one of those horror books that make very clear that the supernatural is not the stuff horrors are made of. That's reserved for regular humans and their actions and decisions. Stephen King is really good at painting humans in their day-to-day lives, with both their kindness and their cruelty. His pacing is also awesome and reminded me a bit of a tuned-down Vonnegut.