So, I'm pretty sure I read Carrie back in high school and I remember being terrified, and I know I definitely watched a movie version way back when as well.

Well I wasn't really terrified reading Carrie this time - in fact, during the first half I was pretty much bored. Part of it is because you know how it's going to end, but it was also written like someone was interviewing the characters, and I just didn't like that format. I'm older now, too, so what's going to scare me then isn't going to scare me now.

Honestly, I mostly just felt sorry for Carrie. She had an awful mom, an awful life, and an awful school filled with awful people who didn't even notice how pitiful she was. And you know perfectly well there's someone right now that's probably in your kid's school that is going through some awful things right now, and no one is noticing her, either. I think it just hit a little too close to home - especially that awful scene in the gym's shower room when they were all making fun of her - well, I was mad fun of too for an especially bad period gone wrong, for years afterwards.... kids, especially girls, are cruel. I at least had parents & teachers who knew what was going on & cared & tried to stop the bullying, and I was emotionally able to handle most of the teasing, but there were days that I too would've killed them all, if I could (well, maybe not but I understand the urge). Bullying is awful, no matter what decade it takes place in. So, I guess after that awful scene, I just felt so much pity for Carrie that the horror in the rest of the book just wasn't as horrible as that bathroom scene. It's all relative ;/.

And of course, at the end, everybody dies. And I just finished reading the book feeling sad that Carrie had to kill people in order to survive high school, and pity that she had to die, especially the way she did.