'Carrie' by Stephen King, read by Sissy Spacek

This is the first audio book review for my blog and, since it is my blog, why the hell should I not review audio books here?

I've read 'Carrie' several times before over the years. It still holds up as a great story. It's length isn't overlong and King's writing (this is his first published novel) is paced well, his descriptions not too florid or overly detailed and the dialogue truthful. Of course, this being Stephen King, there are extraordinary situations and events in the book and I'm sure that most people know about what happens when outcast Carrie White is taken to the Ewen High School prom (It's Bates' High School in the film)!

I've gotten into audio books of late simply because I find that, sometimes, the symptoms of my fibromyalgia preclude me from reading, taking in and understanding the written word. It is easier, for whatever reason, for me to take it in aurally.

The audio book begins with an introduction, read by King himself, on the origins of the book and this is indeed somewhat insightful.
Sissy Spacek reads the novel proper and I'm sure most readers will be aware that she played Carrie in the film version. Her narrative skills are quite excellent and she tells the story well, providing enough vocal variety in characters to ensure that interest never wanes. She is a skilled actress and storyteller and her characterisations are perfect. To think that she has come back to the story some 30 years after the film with fresh insight (admittedly the book is somewhat different to the film) is more credit to her. She does not simply re-treas the character she and others created in the film version but instead works with the words that King put down.
Spacek's portrayal of the various teens, news clippings and other documents, not to mention the primary roles are wonderful and she excels in the scenes featuring Carrie and her Zealot mother, Margaret White and the scenes between the two are especially powerful and chilling.

My only issue with this otherwise faultless production is the editing which, on occasion, seems a little sloppy with different takes clearly edited together during ongoing passages. The balance between speakers should also have been looked at closer since Spacek's voice seems to come from one direction then another throughout.
That said it's a great audio book and I do recommended it.

The audio book is available from Simon and Schuster audio.

An Update. Of Sorts ...

I haven't blogged in a while and that is primarily because I have had little to blog about and I have also been dealing with a medical issue or two which is not necessarily what people wish to read about. Suffice to say that, as you should know, I have the condition fibromyalgia which affects my life in various ways; and never in a good way.

Anyway ...
As my readers will know I have an enduring passion for theatre and music which inevitably produces a love of musical theatre. Now I don't like everything and I much prefer intelligent works over dross (and there is much of that out there!). Likewise I enjoy productions that push boundaries, that take a risk and have something to say. That is not to say that I don't enjoy works that are unashamed entertainment but I am not a big fan of some of the older musicals. By modern standards they are tame, dated and, to my mind, often unexciting.

I am always exploring new works and discovering older, under-appreciated, ones and to that end I just want to make everyone aware of the ill-fated musical version of Stephen King's 'Carrie'.

There are various websites that describe in detail the torrid history of the production which has various flaws against it but also numerous things that make it stand out. Perhaps it was ahead of its time in what it was trying to achieve effect-wise but it certainly has, at its heart, a tragic story which deserves telling upon the stage.
The writers of the stage show are currently reworking it with hopes for a future staging. And I hope that happens as the musical, even in its flawed state, has much to recommend it from some of the musical composition, to some of its original staging and of course the tragedy of Carrie herself.

Originally co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company (which received much flak for doing so) the central story must have appealed to artistic director Terry Hands as much as a great Shakespeare or Greek tragedy would. In many ways it is an age old story retold in a modern way.

So I hope the musical, which has achieved cult status, is able to be reworked and revived in a successful staging that it so deserves.