Book Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Series: Millennium (book #1)

Publisher: Knopf

Release Date: 16th Septembe 2008 (originally 2005 in Sweden)

Read Date: 9th January 2016

Tagged Under: 2016 read, adult fiction, mystery or thriller, book review, 4

Check It Out @Amazon, @TheBookDepository, @GoodReads

Book Summary

Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch - and there's always a catch - is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.

Book Review

Book Review: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Standalone Novel

Publisher: Scribner

Release Date: 6th May 2014

Read Date: 28th August 2015

Tagged Under: 5, 2015 read, 2015 favourites, favourites, historical, literary, book review, adult fiction

Check It Out @Amazon @TheBookDepository @GoodReads

Book Summary

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure's reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum's most valuable and dangerous jewel. 

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure's converge.

Book Review: The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

Standalone novel
Publisher: Vintage Australia
Release Date: 23rd September 2013
Read Date: 9th July 2015
Tagged Under: 2015 read, 2015 favourites, 5, adult fiction, favourites, historical, literary, book review
Check It Out @Amazon, @TheBookDepository, @GoodReads

Book Summary

A novel of the cruelty of war, and tenuousness of life and the impossibility of love. 

Richard Flanagan's story - of Dorrigo Evans, an Australian doctor haunted by a love affair with his uncle's wife - journeys from the caves of Tasmanian trappers in the early twentieth century to a crumbling pre-war beachside hotel, from a Thai jungle prison to a Japanese snow festival, from the Changi gallows to a chance meeting of lovers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

Taking its title from 17th-century haiku poet Basho's travel journal, The Narrow Road to the Deep North is about the impossibility of love. At its heart is one day in a Japanese slave labour camp in August 1943. As the day builds to its horrific climax, Dorrigo Evans battles and fails in his quest to save the lives of his fellow POWs, a man is killed for no reason, and a love story unfolds.

Book Review: 1984 by George Orwell

1984 by George Orwell

Standalone novel

Publisher: Signet Classics

Published Date: 8 June 1949

Read Date: 8 September 2014

Tagged under: 5, Book Review, 2014 Read, 2014 Favourites, Classics, Dystopian, Adult Fiction

Check it out: @Goodreads, @Amazon, @The Book Depository

Book Summary

While 1984 has come and gone, Orwell's narrative is more timely than ever. 1984 presents a "negative utopia", that is at once a startling and haunting vision of the world - so powerful that it's completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of entire generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions - a legacy that continues to grow, not less, with the passage of time. 

Book Review: The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico

The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico

Standalone novel

Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd

First Published: 1st January 1969

Read Date: 18 September 2014

Tagged under: 0.5-2, 2014 read, why did I read this, book review, adult fiction, book to film adaptation

Check it out: @Goodreads, @Amazon

Book Summary

On its maiden voyage, luxury ocean liner SS Poseidon is capsized by a massive undersea earthquake. A handful of survivors must fight for their lives - struggling to make it from the upper deck of the ship to the hull, the only part above water, before the ship sinks. Faced with rising water and the violence of desperate passengers and crew members, the group must do everything it can to survive - before time runs out. 

Adapted into an award-winning film by Irwin Allen, The Poseidon Adventure is a thrilling tale with timeless suspense and excitement.

Book Review: Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Stand alone book

Publisher: Avon Books

Release Date: 1 February 1999

Read Date: 14 September 2014

Tagged under: 2014 read, 4, fairy tale, fantasy, adult fiction, book review

Buy at: Amazon, the Book Depository

Welcome to the village of Wall...

Young Tristan Thorn has lost his heart to beautiful Victoria Forester. But Victoria is cold and distant - as distant, in fact, as the star she and Tristan see fall from the sky on a crisp October evening. For the coveted prize of Victoria's hand, Tristan vows to retrieve the fallen star and deliver it to his beloved. It is an oath that sends the lovelorn swain over the ancient wall dividing the village from the adjacent meadow, and propels him into a world that is strange beyond imagining. But Tristan is not the only one seeking the heavenly jewel. There are those from whom it promises youth and beauty, the key to a kingdom, and the rejuvenation of dark dormant magics. And a lad compelled by love will have to keep his wits about him to succeed and survive in this secret place where fallen stars come in many guises - and where quests have a way of branching off in unexpected directions, even turning back upon themselves in space and time. 

Book Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Standalone book

Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell

Release Date: 13 September 2011

Read Date: 16 September 2014

Tagged under: 2014 fiction, 2014 favourites, 4, fantasy, adult fiction, historical, romance, book review

Buy at: Amazon, The Book Depository

The Circus arrives without warning.
No announcement precede it...
It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.

In 1886, a mysterious travelling circus becomes an international sensation. Open only at night, constructed entirely in black and white, Le Cirque des Reves delights all who wander its circular paths and warm themselves at its bonfire. 

Although there are acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists, the Circus of Dreams is no conventional spectacle. Some tents contain clouds, some ice. The circus seems almost to cast a spell over its aficionados, who call themselves the reveurs - the dreamers. At the heart of the story is the tangled relationship between two young magicians, Celia, the enchanter's daughter, and Marco, the sorcerer's apprentice. At the behest of their shadowy masters, they find themselves locked in a deadly contest, forced to test the very limits of the imagination, and of their love...

Book Review: The Immortal Crown (Book #2) by Richelle Mead

The Immortal Crown by Richelle Mead

Series: Age of X (Book #2)
Will need to read the first book prior to reading this one
For the beginning of the series, click here
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
Release Date: 29th May 2014
Read Date: 31st May 2014
Tagged under: 2014 read, adult fiction, fantasy, mythology, 4, review copy
Pages: 432
Buy at: Amazon, The Book Depository

The War of the Elect...

In the wake of Gameboard of the Gods, religious investigator Justin March and the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him, Mae Koskinen, have become firmly enmeshed in investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods both inside and outside their country's borders. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: not only are the gods vying for control of humans, but the Elect - those special humans marked by the divine - are turning against each other in bloody fashion. 

Justin and Mae's mission takes a new twist when they find themselves assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin's old friend and rival, into Arcadia: the Republic of United North America's dangerous neighbouring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with the government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly-acquired deity. Meanwhile, Mae - grudgingly posing as Justin's concubine - has taken on a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter's fortuitous connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission and the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.

Book Review [Spoiler Free]

The Immortal Crown is the second book in Richelle Mead's new series, Age of X, which began last year with the publication of the Gameboard of the Gods. As far as sequels go, this one is certainly very impressive. Everything stepped up into the next gear. There is more action, more plot development, more secrets and information unveiled and, of course, more supernatural forces at play.

Last warning: please read the first book before continuing on with this review. Although it's spoiler free for this book, it will contain details regarding the first book, possibly spoiling it for you.

In The Immortal Crown, Justin and Mae, along with Lucian and his delegation, heads into Arcadia, the Republic of United North America's (RUNA) neighbouring country. Each of them have their own motives. Lucian wants to win his election. Mae wants to find her missing niece. And Justin has to, however reluctantly, follow the guidance of his deity.

While Gameboard of the Gods is a solid enjoyable read, the sheer volume of information with regards to the world building at times overshadows the overarching plot. Not so in this sequel. Don't get me wrong, The Immortal Crown still contains a heavy dose of world building. While the reader is familiar to the world of RUNA, Arcadia, which is only briefly mentioned in the first book, is very different. Religion is just as powerful as the government. Women are submissive properties of their men. And the country is a mix of rich and poor, modern technology with old-fashioned labour.

The pacing, however, definitely steps up a notch. With the majority of the foundation set in the first book, The Immortal Crown is free to focus on multiple concurrent plot lines that run through this book. As Justin and Mae slowly stumble across more and more revelations, the pieces of the story slowly come together like that of a jigsaw puzzle. While much has been revealed in this book, there is definitely a sense that there is more at play here than what Richelle Mead is willing to show. She definitely has plenty of trump cards up her sleeve, if the ending is anything to go by.

The characters are still as flawed and well-developed as they were in the previous book. Despite their flaws, there is always reason to their decisions and actions, making them highly relatable to the reader. It is no surprise that readers will come to care for both Justin and Mae and in turn, be heavily invested in their relationship. 

And the ending! I still have mixed feelings about it. I'm heavily disgruntled at the last major plot development before the end. But the plot twists that followed really steps up the anticipation for the next book. Without revealing much more, all I can say is that I felt the issue was dealt with rather abruptly and I didn't appreciate that. However, the two end reveals - one with regards to a deity and the other with regards to a mortal - those literally made my heart leap when my mind connected the dots.

Overall: 4/5

The Immortal Crown is definitely a step up from Gameboard of Gods and the anticipation is high for the next book. All the Gods have come out to play and the battle might be out in the open sooner than any of the characters think. 

Disclaimer: A complimentary copy of the ebook was provided to me by the author and publisher in exchange of an honest review. The views expressed above are entirely my own and are in, no way, affected by the source of this book.

Book Review: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Source: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Series: Robert Langdon (Book #3) - all can be read as standalones

Publisher: Bantam Press

Release date: September 15 2009

Tagged under: 2014 read, mystery or thriller, adult fiction, 3

Pages: 509

Buy at: Amazon

What was lost will be found...

Washington DC: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned at the last minute to deliver an evening lecture in the Capitol Building. Within moments of his arrival, however, a disturbing object - gruesomely encoded with five symbols - is discovered at the epicentre of the Rotunda. It is, he recognises, an ancient invitation, meant to beckon its recipient towards a long-lost world of hidden esoteric wisdom. 

When Langdon's revered mentor, Peter Solomon - philanthropist and prominent mason - is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes that his only hope of saving his friend's life is to accept this mysterious summons and follow wherever it leads him 

Langdon finds himself quickly swept behind the facade of America's most powerful city into the unseen chambers, temples and tunnels which exist there. All that was familiar is transformed into a shadowy, clandestine world of an artfully concealed past in which Masonic secrets and never-before-seen revelations seem to be leading him to a single impossible and inconceivable truth.

Book Review [Spoiler-Free]

I'm not a die-hard fan of Dan Brown's works nor am I someone who disdains his novels and reads them for the sole purpose of mocking them. I'm sort of in between. I know roughly what I'm in for when I reach for one of his books - an entertaining thriller ride with lots of cryptic puzzles. I'm not looking for anything more or anything less. If I gain some knowledge regarding lost cultures or historical events, then that's the extra icing on the cake.

Like the previous two books in the series, the story hits the ground running. The protagonist of the series, Robert Langdon is lured into a mad chase for a hidden secret by a seemingly all-knowing well-prepared antagonist. There are multiple forces against him: time, cryptic puzzles that when deciphered reveals another puzzle, the legal forces - in this case, the CIA - who seem to have their own agenda as they demand answers from Langdon and of course, the antagonist who seems to be always one step ahead of everyone else. This time, the story is located in the famous buildings of America's capital city and the Masonic secret that the bad guy is trying to get his hands on? It's buried out there somewhere.

At just over 500 pages, The Lost Symbol is a big book. And that isn't much of an issue as the novel is fast-paced with lots of action and short sentences, alternating quickly between various points of views as the reader races through the short chapters. The whole story takes place in the span of just under a day, with the majority of it occurring between 7PM and midnight so you can just imagine how much drama Dan Brown managed to pack into this thick volume of text.

In amongst all the action, Brown peppers the story with bits and pieces of information. Historical facts that make your eyes (along with the characters') widen as you discover what he is saying actually is true in real life. Brown is able to weave together a web of facts into an elaborate fictional set-up that beckons the reader to question what s/he knows and turn the American history, or at least the one I know, on its head.

It is, at the end of the day, a Dan Brown novel. I got what I wanted so I'm satisfied. Yet at the same time, I felt this book is not up to the standards of his previous works.

When I said in the paragraph above that the characters' eyes widen, I really wasn't kidding. I've lost count how many times someone in the book, mainly Langdon, points out something and the other characters either widen their eyes, gasp incredulously or feel their stomach drop as they realize the implications. And this always seems to happen at the end of a chapter. Also, the explanations, while useful, significantly slowed the pace of the story down and in a book this big, you can only do it so many times before it becomes a bit of an issue.

But these aren't even my main issues with this book. The problem I felt was the book read like a screenplay. Every chapter is short, like scenes out of a film. The plot reveals itself a little bit at a time, always with the foreshadowing that there's something much much bigger on the horizon that us the readers don't know about yet. It really felt at times Dan Brown enjoyed not telling us what's going on - perhaps a bit too much. In addition, the plot, like an action film, is the driving force behind this story. The characters, their backgrounds, personality and motivations, are secondary. And some of the characters and their actions really got on my nerves at times. You really didn't get to know their motivations until the last hundred pages, if at all.

Overall: 3/5

However, that is all what you get when you pick up a Dan Brown novel. He writes mystery thrillers for a reason - to entertain. And with this book, I think he did a mighty fine job of it. He accomplished what he has set out to do - entertain the masses with a mixture of facts and speculations. Plot aside, the rest of the book just didn't feel as strong as Angels and Demons or The Da Vinci Code, which is why this book didn't get a higher rating.

Book Review: Seer of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier

Source: Seer of Sevenwaters
by Juliet Marillier

Seer of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier

Series: The Sevenwaters Novels (Book #5) - all can be read as standalones

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Release date: December 1 2010

Tagged under: adult fiction, fantasy, mythology, 2014 read

Pages: 402

Buy at: Amazon

One last summer before her awaited destiny...

Sibeal has always known that she is destined for a spiritual life, and is committed to it with all her heart. The only thing left for her to do before she enters the nemetons is to spend the summer visiting her sisters, Muirrin and Clodagh, on the northern island of Inis Eala. 

But Sibeal has barely set foot on the island before a freak storm out at sea sinks a ship before her eyes. In spite of frantic efforts, only three survivors are fished alive from the water, and one of them, a man Sibeal names Ardal, clings to life by the merest thread. 

Life continues on the island, as it must, and Sibeal befriends Ardal as he begins to regain his health. But it becomes clear there is something unusual about the three shipwrecked strangers. Why won't the beautiful Svala speak? And what is it that the gravely ill Ardal can't remember - or won't tell? When a visiting warrior is found dead at the bottom of a cliff, and an attempt is made on Ardal's life, Sibeal finds herself a pawn in a deadly game. The truth will be far more astonishing than she could ever have believed - and the consequences for Sibeal unimaginable.

Book Review [Spoiler-Free]

After a long week at work, I had been all set to sit down and catch up on my backlog of books to review. I had even narrowed my selection down to either The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick or The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. But then, before I started, I decided to continue on reading Seer of Sevenwaters, which I started a couple of days ago, and suddenly found myself unable to put the book down. And once I was done, I went and devoured the next book in the series, Flame of Sevenwaters. Now I can't think of anything but the Sevenwaters novels so here's the review.

I first came across Juliet Marillier's work in high school when the cover of the first book in the series, Daughter of the Forest, caught my eyes. On a whim, I borrowed it, consumed it over the span of a couple of days and fell in love with Marillier's style of writing. In fact, as I type this, I couldn't help but think I should have mentioned her works in the Feature Follow Friday post as well. Some of her novels are retellings of old familiar fairy tales and others might be as well, though I'm not too familiar with the stories. Every single one is beautifully woven together as a series yet each one is a standalone, which is awesome and completely ruins me for waiting around for new releases in an unfinished series.

Back then, there were only three novels in the Sevenwaters Trilogy: Daughter of the Forest, Son of the Shadows and Child of the Prophecy. Then, when I went to the library recently, I discovered that there are now three new books in the series. Seer of Sevenwaters is book #5 and it follows the story of Sibeal as she spends one summer before her sisters in Inis Eala before she returns home to lead a spiritual life. 

Wow, Juliet Marillier has not lost her magic.

The story, though seemingly simple on the surface, just continues to unfold and develop as you turn the pages. It is a slow but steady read and some readers may have issues with its pacing. Even myself, familiar with Marillier's style of writing, often find myself bouncing in my seat like a little child impatient for the storyteller to continue on with the tale. And Marillier does feel like one of those wise woman who sits by the fireplace and regales children both young and old with her stories. The language is stunningly beautiful, the imageries she create vivid and the characters are all strong and well-crafted. And when everything all comes to a head, as it does towards the last third of the novel, I was practically chewing on my fingernails as I willed my eyes to read faster so I can find out what happens. The ending is beautiful and justified, leaving me perhaps a little bit stunned as I did not see it coming at all. 

Plus, one of the best thing about Marillier's works are that they are all standalones so you can be assured of a decisive conclusion at the end of each novel. While they are all linked up to each other as part of the Sevenwaters series and characters from previous and future works feature in each other, you don't need to have read the previous ones in order to understand what's going on. These books never end in a cliffhanger nor do they give you the sense that it's one plot stretched thinly over several volumes because the publisher wants to make more money. Each novel has its own protagonists, its own obstacles, and its own unique set of adventures to tell.

All in all, I really did enjoy reading it and the book certainly does have Juliet Marillier's magical touch stamped all over its pages. However, I can't help but feel this volume is perhaps the weakest of all six novels in this series (only by a slight margin though). Sibeal, being a trainee for the spiritual life, is not a woman of headstrong action with a thirst for adventure, though she is nevertheless brave and fearless in the face of danger. And for a major part of this novel, I was afraid there wasn't going to be any adventures like the ones in the previous novels. Perhaps this is all due to the fact that this story did not take place in the familiar forests that us readers have come to know and love.

Also, I should note that these novels are not for everyone. I've already mentioned the issue of pacing and for those readers who love fast-action style of novels or are pressed for time when they read, I probably wouldn't recommend these. These works really do have that idyllic story-telling pace to them, which really needs patience and time for the reader to truly enjoy and love them. In addition, Juliet Marillier is unapologetic in her depiction of certain adult issues such as abuse and rape so if you aren't fans of those being in the books you read, I'd recommend you to steer clear. I still remember feeling semi-traumatized after my first read of Daughter of the Forest. (But not all of her works contain these themes, but I thought I should mention it just in case)

Overall: 4/5

It's a solid read and I always enjoy Juliet Marillier's works. However, I do accept that they are not to everyone's taste nor is Seer of Sevenwaters perhaps the best one to showcase. For those who are interested in trying some of her novels, I'd strongly recommend the original Sevenwaters Trilogy or even her other works such as the Bridei Chronicles. For the YA-fiction readers out there, try her YA works such as Wildwood Dancing or its sequel Cybele's Secret. 

Book Review: Carrie by Stephen King

Source: Carrie by Stephen King

Carrie by Stephen King

Standalone book

Publisher: Anchor

Release date: 5th April 1974

Tagged under: adult fiction, horror, paranormal, 2014 read

Pages: 304

Buy at: Amazon

Stephen King's Legendary Debut...

Carrie White may have been unfashionable and unpopular, but she had a gift. Carrie could make things move by concentrating on them. A candle would fall. A door would lock. This was her power and her sin. Then, an act of kindness, as spontaneous as the vicious taunts of her classmates, offered Carrie a chance to be normal and go to her senior prom. But another act - of ferocious cruelty - turned her gift into a weapon of horror and destruction that her classmates would never forget.

Review [May contain spoilers]

When I think of Stephen King, I think horror and then, as a sort of automatic self-defense mechanism, my brain immediately turns to a lighter subject like rainbows or unicorns. For those who don't know me, I don't do horror. Period. A mildly scary TV show episode that won't even bother any normal person would leave me with nightmares for weeks. Once, on a roadtrip, my friends decided it would be fun to watch a Japanese horror film. According to them, it wasn't even a scary one. All my friends were making fun of how bad it was the whole way through. I think I watched half, cowered behind a couch pillow for the second half and then, for the next few hours, was as high-strung as a horse that refused to settle down. I simply couldn't sleep that night and because I couldn't sleep, no one ended up sleeping. Suffice to say, that was the last time my friends ever suggested a horror film to me. Even after the road trip, I had difficulty sleeping for the next two months or so.

So it was really for my own self-preservation that I steered clear from Stephen King for such a long time. I have read his On Writing memoir so I knew and was charmed by the story surrounding the creation of Carrie. I also knew vaguely that Carrie was about a girl having her first menstrual period in the girls' bathroom at school. But beyond that, I didn't know much. And frankly, given how Stephen King is often dubbed the king of horror, I didn't want to know much.

But last week, when I was in the local library, I stumbled across the book and I thought if I were really to broad my reading horizons, I should try a little bit of everything, shouldn't I? It's okay. I'll just read the book in broad daylight while in the presence of other people and hopefully, that'll dampen my level of fear.

And now, 304 pages later, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. Not sure if it's my lack of experience in the horror genre speaking or what, but my impression of the horror genre, be it books, TV shows or movies, is that the whole thing is just scary. The whole point of the experience is to scare the audience as much as you can for as long as you can. Everything else is secondary to the scare factor. So to my surprise, Carrie is more than just a scary book, it has a lot of character and plot development and I was really drawn into the lives of the residents of Chamberlain.

Stephen King gets the ball rolling right from the beginning. The entire novel is a combination of prose and excerpts from various articles and books on the Carrie Incident. So even if you come into the book completely blind with no idea what Stephen King writes or what this book is about, you knew something terrible was going to happen soon. There is a heavy sense of foreshadowing. Even simple phrases such as "one of her surviving classmates..." makes you wonder exactly how many people are going to end up dead by the end of the book and then, the nature of their death.

But beyond the escalating sense of impending horror, I can't help but be drawn into the characters' lives. Right from the start, I sympathized with Carrie the protagonist who will end up wielding powers of mass destruction. Carrie is really a victim of circumstances. She is raised up by a religiously fanatical mother who forces her to wear frumpy clothes, pray frequently every day and kept her in the dark about most things in life. The fact that when Carrie had her first menstrual period in the school gym, she thought she was bleeding to death is a prime example of how restricted her knowledge is. To make matters worse, when she goes home and confronts her mother about not telling her, her mother browbeats Carrie into praying because menstruation is a sign she sinned and drags Carrie into the closet for more praying. One of Carrie's poems in class summarises the situation perfectly:

Jesus watches from the wall.
But his face is cold as stone.
And if he loves me - As she tells me
Why do I feel so all alone?

But beyond Carrie, I am also drawn into the lives of all the other players in this book. Susan Snell with her guilt about what she did in the bathroom and her need to atone for her actions. Miss Desjardin with her initial exasperation at Carrie's behavior and then later, her stout defense of Carrie and fitting punishment of the students who started it all. When the principal snaps back at Christine Hargensen's father regarding lawsuits, I felt a moment of triumph. I even got involved in the scholarly articles and the White Commission as they speculate what exactly happened and who was to blame. Their miscast of blame and attempt to find a scapegoat really did get on my nerves but I guess that's what happens after a tragic accident. The dead can't talk.

Overall: 4/5

I really did enjoy this book, more than I had expected to. Stephen King frequently mentions this book as sort of "raw" but I can see how this book catapulted him onto the bookshelves of millions and how even today, it's being read and heralded as a classic. But does this mean I'll read more of his works? Probably not. Like I said before, I have my own self-preservation to consider first.