I've elected to return to the blog! Not that anyone was necessarily reading about my exciting life as an MFA graduate student. I will have you know that I've sent my novel titled For My Mother Tells Me So off to an agent. We will see what she says.
I've elected to use this blog to open up discussions on books that I am reading. I have a list of 30 books I am to read, and I will have to take a comprehensive exam on them in November. I think by writing my thoughts of them down, it could be a good review for me, and I'd love to see some of your ideas on these titles. I strongly encourage comments!
I've opted to start out with Carrie by Stephen King because it is my favorite book. This is the book that got me into writing. I read it when I was 18. My gut sank at the end of the novel, as if King had ripped my heart out and threw it in the trash. I was so attached to Carrie as a character because I could relate, and I think everyone in some way has been mistreated as a youth and wanted revenge in an awful way.
In her case it isn't all about revenge. Some of the book is about overcoming an insane, religious monster (her mother).
I've been reading another book called The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. I suggest it to all lovers or cinema and literature. Christopher Booker crams all possible stories into seven plots, and their dark versions. I would classify Carrie as a dark Rags to Riches plot. I should explain what constitutes a Rags to Riches Plot. It's a story when the protagonist has been put in a dreadful situation at the beginning of the story (example: Carrie having to live with her crazy mother and be ridiculed at school). Then the protagonist must escape that and have initial success. (She agrees to go to prom with Tommy Ross and she looks beautiful in her dress and feels more confident than ever while people treat her with more respect.) Then frustration happens. (She has the worry that it is all a joke.) Then it gets worse in what Booker calls the central crisis. (The bucket of pig's blood falls on her, and once again, she is humiliated in front of the school.)
In a normal Rags to Riches plot, the protagonist fights out of the central crisis to become a fuller, more developed person and is happily ever after (usually striking it rich too, hence the title Rags to Riches - See Jane Eyre for an example of a great Rags to Riches story). But in the dark version (Carrie), the protagonist is consumed by the central crisis and fails to come the happy conclusion (Carrie reacts at the climax by killing everyone at the dance, and she ends up killing her mother by stopping her heart. Of course, Carrie dies from the stab wound delivered by her mother.)
I latched onto this book because I could relate well to Carrie as a youth, not only in wanting revenge for being mistreated by my peers, but for my position on religion as well. Having not seen the movie and not knowing the ending of the book, I had such high hopes for Carrie! I even felt a personal attachment to her. And when things went wrong, I was literally crushed. It was the first time I had been manipulated by an author to this degree. And having read the short novel several times, it still hits me.
Any comments about Carrie? Any comments about books that struck you in a personal way?
