Just Finished Rereading Carrie by Stephen King

Carrie, from 1974, was Stephen King's first published novel, paving the way to his close identification with the horror genre in fiction.  I first read it before 2007 when I began this blog...hence, no review until today, after I have just reread it.  It's not my favorite King book by a longshot, but it does touch upon a theme that the author and I both seem to have sensitivity toward: teenage bullying and the often-indifferent attitude that adults witnessing it take, as if the victim were the culprit, not the aggressor.  Carrie White, the title character, is a shy girl, dominated by her nearly insane religiously fanatical mother as she unsuccessfully tries to socially fit in her high school, in the small fictional Maine town of Chamberlain.  Susan Snell sympathizes with Carrie and asks her own boyfriend Tommie to ask Carrie to the senior prom.  But other classmates, bent on revenge for their punishment after mocking Carrie's onset of menstruation in the girls' shower...a very traumatic event for her...have their own ideas concerning Carrie for the prom.  What results is very definitely horror, with telekinesis (the ability to move objects with one's mind) a major factor.  The 1976 Carrie movie starring Sissy Spacek as Carrie presents the narrative chronologically, but the book treats the events from a future date looking back, as an assemblage of investigative articles and analyses...King then inserts key narrative passages in between these to present an interesting collage where the reader knows what ultimately happens early on while the movie viewer experiences more building suspense to the climactic scene.  Like I said earlier, Carrie is not one of my favorite King novels, but since I'm going back to his longer works that I hadn't yet discussed, this seemed to be a good opportunity.  But I think he's come out with a lot better stuff than this although his depiction of the psychological makeup of bullies in this story was right on target...