Year 1967, Manhattan full of 'missing girls' - runaways looking for freedom.
Carrie is in 8th grade. She feels like she is a missing girl, too. She is missing from her own life. Her mother died four years ago, but the huge black, empty hole is still in her heart. All Carrie's life now is like she's sllepwalking. Throughout the story, she keeps asking herself: 'Am I dreaming?' But the answer comes at first: 'No. I. Am. Not... I wish I was..'
The days go slowly and lonely, untill she meets a very strange girl Mona, who knows a lot about lucid dreaming. In the end of the story, girls learn how to 'lucid dream' and find out the way for Carrie to meet her mom.
The story of Carrie is full of unknown and unreal events. While reading the chaper, you can never guess if she is dreaming or not. Only some signs, like the woman in a green hat or the key in the door, can help to separate reality from the dream... It is extremely hard, which makes the story more interesting, and you feel like total detective. As you read the book, you learn about Cariie as a character in her own little world. She doesn't need family or friends here - here are only her and her dreams about better life. But at the same time, she represents all those girls with hidden problems and secrets. It is like psychological novel, reading about someone else, you reconize yourself.