Last month, Bryan Wolford of the Drunken Zombie Podcast launched a new project, The Castle Rock Podcast, in which he and his co-host will review and discuss the works of Stephen King in chronological order. I’ve been a Stephen King fan for years, ever since my Uncle Todd gave me The Stand to read in high school, and as I’ve found precious few podcasts that actually focus on prose fiction (as opposed to the volumes of podcasts about comics, movies, and TV shows), I subscribed right away. Although I’ve been a King fan for over 15 years now, there are still several of his earlier works that I’ve never gotten around to reading, and I’ve decided that the Castle Rock Podcast will be the perfect opportunity to play catch-up. So I begin as they did, and as King himself did, with the 1974 now-classic Carrie.
It seems silly to recap the book at this point, so I’ll do it quickly: Carrie White is that girl in every school who becomes the target of the popular crowd who disdains anyone who is different, and as Carrie’s Holy Roller mother has kept her isolated for her entire life, she’s the perfect scapegoat. After a particularly cruel incident, one girl attempts to make amends while another plans the cruelest blow of all. Together, unwittingly, the two girls bring about tragedy.
While the book contains the germ of things that would make King a great writer later in his career (including strong characters and rich descriptions and action scenes), it also contains one of his fatal flaws: the glass jaw that takes out the danger at the end. On the plus side, Carrie isn’t really the villain of the piece, she’s a victim who lashes out once driven past the breaking point, and while she is literally responsible for the death that is left in her wake, I think many philosophers would argue that a much greater amount of moral responsibility be laid at the feet of Chris Hargenson and Billy Nolan. The book also shows an attempt to give a scientific explanation for the supernatural, in this case a gene responsible for Carrie’s telekinetic powers. King has drifted away from explaining such things (or much of anything) in later years, and I have no doubt that were he to write this novel today he would leave out any attempt at quantifying what brings about the telekinesis. He would also probably have a much longer, slower build-up to the full-on reveal of her powers.
This is not to say that the novel isn’t good the way it’s written. It’s a very effective story and, like many of King’s works, a strong character study. There’s no question why it’s been adapted so many times, although it’s really only been done well once.
I’ve read the next book coming up in the Castle Rock Podcast already, King’s vampire novel ‘Salem’s Lot. Now that summer vacation is upon me, I may try to read it again before the show hits the internet.
Have you ever tried the Dread Media podcast, they often focus on indy Horror novels, not sure if that’s your cup of tea.
Never heard of it, Geoff, but it sounds interesting. I’ll look into it.
The host, Desmond, is one of your fellow authors in the Dark anthology…
Oh, cool. I’ll definitely have to check it out, then.
‘Salem’s Lot…ahhh! You’re in for a treat!