Spoilers ahead:As a huge fan of the 1976 film "Carrie," I decided to buy the book to read the story as first told. I figured a movie that made me feel so sad had needed to be looked into a little further to seek to understand it a little better. Maybe this way, I wouldn't feel as sad about Carrie's tragic life and ultimate end. However, the book made me feel just about as sad.Carrie White is a student at Ewen High School. She is an outsider who is constantly bullied by her peers due to her unappealing appearance, her shyness, and her mother's erratic behavior. She also discovers that she has the incredible power of telekinesis. When she has her first period in the showers, her classmates mock her by telling her to "plug it up!" and by throwing sanitary towels and tampons at her rather than helping her. The terrified girl has no idea about what a woman's menstruation is and believes she is dying, as no one taught her about it. Her gym teacher Miss Desjardin helps Carrie through this and punishes the girls for their behavior, which is one week's detention with her. Chris Hargensen, who is the ringleader of the bullies, leaves detention early and is suspended, and ultimately forbidden to go to the Senior Prom. This, in her mind, is all Carrie's fault.Meanwhile at home, Carrie's unstable and religious fanatic of a mother (Margaret White) punishes her for having her first period by locking her in a "prayer closet." This is something that is accustomed in the White household as the book explains Carrie sometimes spends days in the closet, leading to exhaustion and sleeping in her own waste. It's just so sad reading parts of the story like this.One of the bullies, Sue Snell, feels sorry for what she did to Carrie so she asks her boyfriend (Tommy Ross) to take the girl to the prom. He asks Carrie to the prom, which unlike the movie, she accepts almost right away though awkwardly. Margaret is unhappy with this of course and tries to make Carrie stay home from prom, which she is unsuccessful at. Carrie and Tommy are elected prom king and queen as part of a plan devised by Chris Hargensen and her boyfriend Billy Nolan. Their plan is to dump pig's blood on both of them as a prank for getting Chris in trouble. Once the blood is dropped on both of them, the bucket falls on Tommy and kills him. Carrie runs out of the gym in humiliation as everyone yet again is laughing at her. She then remembers her telekinetic powers....From outside, she locks all of the gym doors and what at first was a plan to just throw the prank back on all of the other students, turned into a massacre. Students and faculty are electrocuted, burned, and suffocated inside the school by the use of Carrie's powers. Unlike the 1976 movie, Carrie's vengeance continues throughout the town. She is able to use telepathy to communicate to the citizens of Chamberlain that she is in fact the one wreaking havoc on the town. Carrie visits a church to pray before going home, where her mother is there waiting there to kill her as she think that Carrie is using Satan's powers.Margaret White stabs Carrie in the shoulder when she returns home. Carrie kills her mother by stopping her heart in self-defense. Carrie then travels to local bar called The Cavalier to confront Chris and Billy, who had been sleeping together there. She is able to kill both of them by slamming their car into the side of the building.Sue Snell is able reach Carrie at the bar, who is dying. Carrie and Sue use telepathy to speak to each other. It is revealed to Carrie that Sue had good intentions all along and is forgiven by Carrie. As a last action before death, Carrie makes Sue miscarry her child that was conceived with Tommy as her period arrives. We then learn from the last few paragraphs that other people may in fact possess the great power of telekinesis.This is a great book that I literally read in one setting. I couldn't put it down because it is so intriguing. Once again, like the 1976 movie, we can't help but feel compassion for Carrie. The story is just so tragic. A tortured girl who just wanted to fit in and be normal, but was never given the chance. Stephen King uses a lot of court room dialog and news articles to tell certain parts of the story, such as the time a very young Carrie created a rain of ice stones to fall on the White house after a confrontation with her mother. I thought this was an excellent way to tell the story by giving us many different points of view.The book really makes you feel Carrie's isolation and sadness. The part that actually made me cry was the poem she wrote in her 7th grade class. The quote is posted on the picture I posted for this review. It's just so sad to think a child feels that helpless and alone. The description of the very small closet that she is forced to pray in also is unsettling.Stephen King was at the top of his game with his first published novel "Carrie." It is a very well written book that fills the reader with emotion and makes us want to reread it. I now know why the 1976 movie was so great: the novel in which it was based upon was excellent.