(and i think i could i think i could yes i think i could)

Finished #32 Carrie by Stephen King last night. It was one of those books that I just couldn't put down.

Things I liked:

1. I know this sounds weird, but I liked the weirdness of her family. The story wouldn't have been nearly as interesting without her overly religious mother. Her relationship with her mother was so odd, too. I guess it was just like any teenager, one minute they love their parents the next their parents are ruining their life. But it was more than that with Carrie and Margaret White. Her mother was cruel to her because she believed that Carrie's conception was a sin and when she saw that Carrie had these special abilities, it just made it even worse, her mother believed she was of the Devil, and even planned on more than one occasion to kill her. There were many times in the book when an article would say that it would have been helpful if they could know more about Margaret White, and I wish there was more about her in the book. In the end we finally learn why she sees Carrie as such a huge sin, but it would be so interesting to learn more about her mental state. Carrie constantly thought ill of her mother, and of course she even killed her mother, but at the end, right before she died, she cried out for her mother, even after she had been abused her entire life. I think that is so interesting, maybe I should have studied psychology.

2. Miss Desjardins and the principal of the school both fought for Carrie. However, it took them a while to do it. I guess it took all of the girls in her gym class making fun of her for getting her period for the first time for them to do something about the fact that they had been teasing and abusing her since grade school. I especially thought when the principal went up against Chris Hargensen's father and said if they sued the school, the school would counter sue for abuse against another student. I think it took a lot of guts to do that, and I'm glad that he did. As an educator, it really made me think about what I would have done in a situation like this and I think both the principal and the gym teacher handled things as well as they could have, other than the fact that it took them so long to finally stand up to the girls that were bullying Carrie.

3. Sue and Tommy, well, at least they meant well. Sue is a character that I feel like high school students should know about. With all of the bully prevention programs that are going on in the world, people should know about Sue Snell. She is a good person, and she realized that when she decided to stoop to the level of her peers in the showers, she had made a huge mistake. I admire her for deciding not to continue bullying and for trying to make things right. Poor Tommy, poor, poor Tommy. Honestly, he was just trying to do something nice for his girlfriend and for this girl that had been picked on and abused her entire life. It's sad that he had to die, but I honestly can't really blame Carrie for wanting to take her revenge on everyone at the prom. Would I have killed them all? Of course not, but she was pretty mentally unstable, and had years of pent up anger, and had to make the book interesting, so I understand.

4. The very last "letter" in the book was so chilling. It made you worry that another child was going to end up like Carrie. Spooky

Things I didn't like:

1. The other students were so horrible to her. I couldn't even believe the way they treated her just because her mother was so religious. I'm so glad I was never persecuted the way she was for being religious in a different way than most people. It made me so sad to see the way she was treated.

2. The only other thing was there was too much sex.