Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Gallery Books (2002), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 416 pages
Description
A horror story of a children's pet cemetery and another graveyard behind it from which the dead return.
User reviews
LibraryThing member elliepotten
Firstly, I'll hold my hands up and admit that this was my first Stephen King novel. I'll also admit that I'd worked myself into such a nervous frenzy about the whole thing, given King's reputation for delivering serious frights, that I actually put the book down after 100 pages and decided I wasn't
It opens with Louis Creed, a doctor, and his young family moving to a new house and meeting their neighbours, Jud and Norma Crandall. The Crandalls help them settle in, showing them the children's 'Pet Sematary' on the hillside behind their home, providing evenings of beer and conversation, and warning them about the dangers of the main road, where the huge Orinco trucks have claimed many pets over the years.
Things start to go awry when a young man is hit by a car and horrendously maimed, dying in Louis's arms in his university surgery. He begins to dream about the boy and the Pet Sematary, though he dismisses them as mere nightmares. A few months later his daughter's cat is hit by a truck and killed - and Jud finally shows him the town's dark secret: the Native American burial ground beyond the Pet Sematary where a terrible power lurks, watching, waiting, enticing...
Now, to me this all sounded terrifying. And at certain points it is, but not really in the gruesomely horrific way I had expected and feared. King is a master of weaving mind games, playing reality against hallucination and the world of dreams, using our deepest fears and the terror of what is NOT seen to elicit the chills and thrills for which he is famous. The same principle which makes a taut psychological thriller movie more haunting then its gratuitously gore-splattered counterparts.
In fact, though it has occasional moments of genuine horror, I actually found this book deeply sad and very insightful. Its overarching theme is death - the fear of death, the acceptance of death, the nature and experience of grief, and the futility of humanity's attempt to cling to life even when nature is screaming for us to let go. The writing was beautiful - much more lyrical and evocative than I had expected - and I turned the last page with a deep chill of delicious dread and a profound sense of having read something far more worthwhile than I could have hoped. Looks like I'll be reading more Stephen King after all!
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reading any more. Well, I changed my mind in the sunny light of the next morning, and I'm so glad I did. It was excellent! It opens with Louis Creed, a doctor, and his young family moving to a new house and meeting their neighbours, Jud and Norma Crandall. The Crandalls help them settle in, showing them the children's 'Pet Sematary' on the hillside behind their home, providing evenings of beer and conversation, and warning them about the dangers of the main road, where the huge Orinco trucks have claimed many pets over the years.
Things start to go awry when a young man is hit by a car and horrendously maimed, dying in Louis's arms in his university surgery. He begins to dream about the boy and the Pet Sematary, though he dismisses them as mere nightmares. A few months later his daughter's cat is hit by a truck and killed - and Jud finally shows him the town's dark secret: the Native American burial ground beyond the Pet Sematary where a terrible power lurks, watching, waiting, enticing...
Now, to me this all sounded terrifying. And at certain points it is, but not really in the gruesomely horrific way I had expected and feared. King is a master of weaving mind games, playing reality against hallucination and the world of dreams, using our deepest fears and the terror of what is NOT seen to elicit the chills and thrills for which he is famous. The same principle which makes a taut psychological thriller movie more haunting then its gratuitously gore-splattered counterparts.
In fact, though it has occasional moments of genuine horror, I actually found this book deeply sad and very insightful. Its overarching theme is death - the fear of death, the acceptance of death, the nature and experience of grief, and the futility of humanity's attempt to cling to life even when nature is screaming for us to let go. The writing was beautiful - much more lyrical and evocative than I had expected - and I turned the last page with a deep chill of delicious dread and a profound sense of having read something far more worthwhile than I could have hoped. Looks like I'll be reading more Stephen King after all!
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LibraryThing member jseger9000
Pet Sematary could easily have been told as a short story or novella. The story is simple enough: A nice young doctor, Louis Creed and his family move from Chicago to an old house in Maine. They discover they have a kindly Yankee neighbor across the street and a pet cemetery on the backside of
Before long, we find out. Tragedy (and a big truck) strikes the family cat Winston Churchill and Jud the neighbor shows Louis how to pass the deadfall and head on to an ancient Indian burial ground that holds the power of resurrection. This of course, is a Stephen King book, so you can bet your bottom dollar that Church won't be the last thing resurrected by our unfortunate hero.
So yeah, the story could have been covered in a quarter of this novel's page count. However, King takes this simple frame of a story and turns it into a rumination on death and our fascination/fear/revulsion of it. He does this with his usual well rounded and believable characters: Louis is a doctor who worked for his mortician uncle when he was younger. His wife Rachel is emotionally scarred by the childhood loss of a sister to spinal meningitis. Jud is an 80+ year old man who loses his wife over the course of the novel.
In this novel especially he made me believe his characters were making the choices they made due to what kind of a person they were rather than requirements of his plot. Though the characters in this novel aren't quite as likable as his usual characters (aside from Jud, who is one of my favorite King characters), they were ones that to me seemed most believable.
If there's a fault with the novel, it's that King maybe spends too much time on his characters. The book really creeps along for 300+ pages, and then suddenly kicks into overtime for the last seventy. A book that is four hundred pages shouldn't have a rushed ending.
The thing is, for me the first three hundred or so pages were the most interesting. Once the book kicks in to high gear, it begins to feel rushed. King makes one slip that I don't remember seeing from him before: He tells us how evil and manipulative the cursed area is instead of just showing us. He does show us as well. It's just that there are a number of times when the narrative points out something like 'She got the feeling she was being purposely delayed.' We are smart enough to get that on our own, and usually King knows that.
I did like Pet Sematary. I appreciated the time King spent building his characters and layering the story with different observations of death. The book does begin to feel sloppy as it reaches a finale, but it isn't fatal. Whatever irritations you might have are squelched by a terrific cliff-hanger of an ending.
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their property. There's an impassible deadfall at the back of the cemetery and it looks like the path continues on beyond. Where could it go?Before long, we find out. Tragedy (and a big truck) strikes the family cat Winston Churchill and Jud the neighbor shows Louis how to pass the deadfall and head on to an ancient Indian burial ground that holds the power of resurrection. This of course, is a Stephen King book, so you can bet your bottom dollar that Church won't be the last thing resurrected by our unfortunate hero.
So yeah, the story could have been covered in a quarter of this novel's page count. However, King takes this simple frame of a story and turns it into a rumination on death and our fascination/fear/revulsion of it. He does this with his usual well rounded and believable characters: Louis is a doctor who worked for his mortician uncle when he was younger. His wife Rachel is emotionally scarred by the childhood loss of a sister to spinal meningitis. Jud is an 80+ year old man who loses his wife over the course of the novel.
In this novel especially he made me believe his characters were making the choices they made due to what kind of a person they were rather than requirements of his plot. Though the characters in this novel aren't quite as likable as his usual characters (aside from Jud, who is one of my favorite King characters), they were ones that to me seemed most believable.
If there's a fault with the novel, it's that King maybe spends too much time on his characters. The book really creeps along for 300+ pages, and then suddenly kicks into overtime for the last seventy. A book that is four hundred pages shouldn't have a rushed ending.
The thing is, for me the first three hundred or so pages were the most interesting. Once the book kicks in to high gear, it begins to feel rushed. King makes one slip that I don't remember seeing from him before: He tells us how evil and manipulative the cursed area is instead of just showing us. He does show us as well. It's just that there are a number of times when the narrative points out something like 'She got the feeling she was being purposely delayed.' We are smart enough to get that on our own, and usually King knows that.
I did like Pet Sematary. I appreciated the time King spent building his characters and layering the story with different observations of death. The book does begin to feel sloppy as it reaches a finale, but it isn't fatal. Whatever irritations you might have are squelched by a terrific cliff-hanger of an ending.
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LibraryThing member Bookmarque
Reading this on the heels of Christine showed up the sloppy inconsistencies in this book. Where Christine is sharp and laser focused, Pet Sematary is wobbly and weaves around like a drunk. Problems with tone and show versus tell are the biggest ones, but there are character annoyances, too. Maybe
Let's start with focus or lack of it. In Christine we are focused on tight set of characters and circumstances that all have bearing on the current events. Arnie, Dennis, their parents, Leigh, Lebay and Christine are basically the only players and their back stories and personal demons are all important, so when King goes down a rathole to explore one of them it has relevance. In Pet Sematary the biggest rathole has almost none and so was grating and took me out of the story. This was Rachel's back story; her psychological trauma and resulting mindless fear of death, the dead, coffins, funerals, hearses and anything else remotely connected with death. Shit, she was probably even afraid of grave markers she was so nutty. The idiotic way she was portrayed made me want to get a Zelda mask and creep up on her and say "boo!". In the end though, her irrational fears had pretty much no bearing on the main story which is the death of her kid. She made it to the funeral and the cemetery despite her psychological problems, so it didn't matter that she had them. Sloppy. Plus I usually enjoy the various nooks and crannies that fill out King's tales (some call this bloat, but I don't), but this time I didn't. Rachel was annoying and I personally rooted for Zelda.
The other thing that I found glaringly different from Christine was tone. The individual stories of each player and the events in their lives had the same feel to them and were presented in the same way. Both Arnie and Dennis found Christine's magical self-repairing creepy and unsettling. Leigh, too, found things to keep her awake at night. They were all of a piece and presented with the same loving concern for Arnie. When Christine's killing spree started, those were given to us in a cold, just the facts sort of way. When Leigh and Dennis set their plan in motion it took on a lot of the tone of Christine's parts, thus smoothing out the emotional and the documentary approaches. Not so in Pet Sematary.
The beginning of the story is set out with King's usual sentiment and romance. A man and his family begin a new chapter in their lives. Lou is a bit mystified to find himself in the role of father and breadwinner, but bends to his yolk happily enough, secure in the knowledge that he can bear it and it will feel light. When Jud comes into his life as surrogate father, he's almost delirious with happiness at his situation and so are we. We proceed to the deaths; Pascow, Church, Norma and lastly Gage. Each is presented with increasing sharpness, sentiment and sadness. Gage's in particular is gut-wrenching. The family breakdown is equally emotional and tortured. Jed is unsteady, Rachel is practically catatonic, Ellie is lost and Lou is foundering. But fast-forward to the very end and we're suddenly transported to Dawn of the Dead or Evil Dead…it's camp. Camp! After all that emotional turmoil, degradation and pain we get a zombie Michael Myers, just add clown suit. Thanks, Steve.
Lastly there is the show don't tell rule breaking that goes on. I don't know what happened exactly, but unlike Christine, King just has to keep repeating how the evil entity works its devilish magic. The innate sense of what's going on underneath just isn't conveyed the way it is in Christine. In that story we just feel that the already twisted Lebay and Christine are melded together as one malign entity. As soon as Christine comes into his life, Lebay is somehow completed and something greater is born. We don't know how or why, we just know. In Pet Sematary however, we have to be told (repeatedly) that the evil presence in the Micmac burying ground is controlling events and destroying men's sanity. Again, I don't know what's broken here, but that underlying assurance that there is a master plan just isn't present. I'm told that the Wendigo or whatever made Jud take Lou up there in the first place, laying the seeds for future reaping, but I don't feel it. Lou's disintegrating sanity is well done, but Jud's state of mind (control) isn't. A better student of fiction writing than I can probably come up with an explanation of what's missing in Pet Sematary, I just know it's there. Maybe instead of dwelling on Rachel's unimportant neuroses, we could have had more information about others who got sucked into the Wendigo's madness. Maybe had more about what happened to Jud, his dog and his friends (Jud's telling is very factual and not very spiritual, so maybe that's what makes it less felt as the fabric of the universe). Maybe some chapters from the POV of the malignancy itself like we had in Cujo. Either way, I think it would have helped solve a lot of the jarring ups and downs in the story.
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those aren't flaws, but they detracted from my enjoyment of this book.Let's start with focus or lack of it. In Christine we are focused on tight set of characters and circumstances that all have bearing on the current events. Arnie, Dennis, their parents, Leigh, Lebay and Christine are basically the only players and their back stories and personal demons are all important, so when King goes down a rathole to explore one of them it has relevance. In Pet Sematary the biggest rathole has almost none and so was grating and took me out of the story. This was Rachel's back story; her psychological trauma and resulting mindless fear of death, the dead, coffins, funerals, hearses and anything else remotely connected with death. Shit, she was probably even afraid of grave markers she was so nutty. The idiotic way she was portrayed made me want to get a Zelda mask and creep up on her and say "boo!". In the end though, her irrational fears had pretty much no bearing on the main story which is the death of her kid. She made it to the funeral and the cemetery despite her psychological problems, so it didn't matter that she had them. Sloppy. Plus I usually enjoy the various nooks and crannies that fill out King's tales (some call this bloat, but I don't), but this time I didn't. Rachel was annoying and I personally rooted for Zelda.
The other thing that I found glaringly different from Christine was tone. The individual stories of each player and the events in their lives had the same feel to them and were presented in the same way. Both Arnie and Dennis found Christine's magical self-repairing creepy and unsettling. Leigh, too, found things to keep her awake at night. They were all of a piece and presented with the same loving concern for Arnie. When Christine's killing spree started, those were given to us in a cold, just the facts sort of way. When Leigh and Dennis set their plan in motion it took on a lot of the tone of Christine's parts, thus smoothing out the emotional and the documentary approaches. Not so in Pet Sematary.
The beginning of the story is set out with King's usual sentiment and romance. A man and his family begin a new chapter in their lives. Lou is a bit mystified to find himself in the role of father and breadwinner, but bends to his yolk happily enough, secure in the knowledge that he can bear it and it will feel light. When Jud comes into his life as surrogate father, he's almost delirious with happiness at his situation and so are we. We proceed to the deaths; Pascow, Church, Norma and lastly Gage. Each is presented with increasing sharpness, sentiment and sadness. Gage's in particular is gut-wrenching. The family breakdown is equally emotional and tortured. Jed is unsteady, Rachel is practically catatonic, Ellie is lost and Lou is foundering. But fast-forward to the very end and we're suddenly transported to Dawn of the Dead or Evil Dead…it's camp. Camp! After all that emotional turmoil, degradation and pain we get a zombie Michael Myers, just add clown suit. Thanks, Steve.
Lastly there is the show don't tell rule breaking that goes on. I don't know what happened exactly, but unlike Christine, King just has to keep repeating how the evil entity works its devilish magic. The innate sense of what's going on underneath just isn't conveyed the way it is in Christine. In that story we just feel that the already twisted Lebay and Christine are melded together as one malign entity. As soon as Christine comes into his life, Lebay is somehow completed and something greater is born. We don't know how or why, we just know. In Pet Sematary however, we have to be told (repeatedly) that the evil presence in the Micmac burying ground is controlling events and destroying men's sanity. Again, I don't know what's broken here, but that underlying assurance that there is a master plan just isn't present. I'm told that the Wendigo or whatever made Jud take Lou up there in the first place, laying the seeds for future reaping, but I don't feel it. Lou's disintegrating sanity is well done, but Jud's state of mind (control) isn't. A better student of fiction writing than I can probably come up with an explanation of what's missing in Pet Sematary, I just know it's there. Maybe instead of dwelling on Rachel's unimportant neuroses, we could have had more information about others who got sucked into the Wendigo's madness. Maybe had more about what happened to Jud, his dog and his friends (Jud's telling is very factual and not very spiritual, so maybe that's what makes it less felt as the fabric of the universe). Maybe some chapters from the POV of the malignancy itself like we had in Cujo. Either way, I think it would have helped solve a lot of the jarring ups and downs in the story.
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LibraryThing member Andrewfm
the cat won't fucking die.
LibraryThing member blockbuster1994
Pet Sematary is Stephen King's most disturbing novel, exploring the unbearable grief of the loss of a child. Its an impossible situation for Louis Creed after his toddler son is fatally struck by a semi-truck. Because Louis knows about the special Micmac buriel ground just beyond where the Pet
Of course, I loved this book. King's writing is impossibily believable in its rawness and honesty. Characters are fully developed, bruises and all, just as we really are and I felt as though I was a fly on the wall, just observing this snapshot of life.
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Sematary lies (the final resting place of Smucky, he was an obediant cat). And even though there is a tiny part of Louis sanity that shouts "its a bad idea", Louis buries Gage anyway, assuring himself that if things go awry, well, he can return Gage to the grave. But its not Gage that rises up, its Pure Evil bent on doing what Pure Evil does best!Of course, I loved this book. King's writing is impossibily believable in its rawness and honesty. Characters are fully developed, bruises and all, just as we really are and I felt as though I was a fly on the wall, just observing this snapshot of life.
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LibraryThing member musicgurl
Stephen Kings novel, 'Pet Semetary' is arguably the scariest and horrific novel King has produced. The author himself even admits this in the books prologue. It is bursting with twists and turns that you wouldn't expect. You could sense by the way King spelt 'Semetary' that this book would be
The story is based on a family who have recently re-located to a small town to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Louis and Wendy struggle to keep their two young children away from the busy main road just outside their front door and stay friends with the friendly old couple living opposite. But the question on everyone's mind is what lurks at the end of the overgrown path? What secrets does it hold and could it's extreme power be used for good?
This book certainly kept me hanging on to every page and really gripped you from page one. This is defiantly a good read for the horror loving fans out there.
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something special. The story is based on a family who have recently re-located to a small town to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Louis and Wendy struggle to keep their two young children away from the busy main road just outside their front door and stay friends with the friendly old couple living opposite. But the question on everyone's mind is what lurks at the end of the overgrown path? What secrets does it hold and could it's extreme power be used for good?
This book certainly kept me hanging on to every page and really gripped you from page one. This is defiantly a good read for the horror loving fans out there.
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LibraryThing member afterthought
Although this was one of King's favourite works (according to him in the introduction), I found it to be a little too dry. Almost 3/4 of the book felt like a slow climb up a hill yet the ending was like going downhill, a breeze. However, I couldn't help associating the ending with scenes from a
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B-grade horror film. Definitely not one of King's best works nor one of my favourites. Show Less
LibraryThing member lizzybeans11
After having this book on my shelf since middle school I decided it was about time I read it. I have seen the movie and knew the creepy-ness factor to anticipate.
I thought it was quite good up until the last 100 pages when it started to drag. We were all waiting for the same thing and it just
The "flashback" voices etc are good for a movie script, but rather unnecessary for a book, and it just made it thicker and more awkward to hold. I thought the abrupt ending was brilliant, but the switch to following Steve instead of our protagonist was strange.
I'm left with one question: Why are all (ok, a great majority) of SK's leading males jerks?
I thought it was quite good up until the last 100 pages when it started to drag. We were all waiting for the same thing and it just
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seemed like it took too long to happen. The "flashback" voices etc are good for a movie script, but rather unnecessary for a book, and it just made it thicker and more awkward to hold. I thought the abrupt ending was brilliant, but the switch to following Steve instead of our protagonist was strange.
I'm left with one question: Why are all (ok, a great majority) of SK's leading males jerks?
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LibraryThing member JechtShot
I first read the book Pet Semetary when I was in the 4th grade. I remember very little of my first read-through of this gem other than pointing out various profanities to friends on the playground mid kickball game. I picked the book up again in college and I was able to comprehend what I was
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reading and, sadly, I probably did self-chuckle a bit at the various profanities. 10+ years later, on my third pass, I can say that this is one of the scariest books I have ever read. The character's emotional response to extreme situations such as death, mourning and desperation are palpable. I have to wonder what was going on in King's life at the time he wrote this one. Heck, even King admits after he wrote Pet Semetary that he tucked this novel in a drawer and was certain it would never see the light of day. Fortunately for us readers, that was not the case Show Less
LibraryThing member Tanya-dogearedcopy
This is a story about a doctor's family who moves to an old neighborhood somewhere near Castle Rock, Maine (reference to Cujo early on.) In the back of the lot, there is access to a pet cemetery built on old Native American burial grounds. As the doctor discovers the magic and horror of his new
Trigger Warnings : Animal Abuse and Killing of; Child Killing
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surroundings, King ruminates on death, writes about sex a little more graphically than in previously published works and, has indulged in some rather explicit descriptions of gross things-- but also painted pictures of heart-breaking idylls and raw emotion. This feels like the best mix of 'Cujo' and the novellas in 'Different Seasons'. The narrator, star of cable TV's "Six Feet Under" and "Dexter," nails the Maine accent of a key figure in the book and gives credible voice to the father-in-law character; but otherwise seems pretty deadly neutral. Trigger Warnings :
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LibraryThing member t1bnotown
So in eighth grade I decided that I was going to try reading adult books. I was really into ghost stories still at the time, so this one made sense. I was terribly disappointed when I read it, however: it was less scary even than the cheesy R. L. Stines I did so much reading of. I suppose that it's
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meant to get into your brain and you're supposed to ask, "When will the death stop? Will the 'pet sematary' claim everyone in town and eventually the world?" and similar philosophical questions. Boring. I wanted some ghosts, not some devil kid back from the dead. Show Less
LibraryThing member TeenieLee
Oh man... I think I was in sixth grade when I first read this. It was a classic example of my mom allowing me to read anything, but censoring what movies I watched. It was thrilling and scary and naughty and great. I should reread it to see how crazy it was for a 12 year old to be reading.
LibraryThing member kenzielynn75
While Stephen King is a very celebrated auther I didn't find Pet Sematary near as frightening as people made it out to be. The book was a long read. There are 3 parts and the story doesn't really get going until the second part. I think the fact that it's so drawn out takes away from the horror. I
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found myself wishing someone in the book would die already. While the book has its moments of touching emotion and breath taking horror i wasn't very impressed. Show Less
LibraryThing member silversurfer
One of his best...really, really creepy. Scared the bejesus out of me in certain parts. Laughable film adaptation.
LibraryThing member coffeesucker
Creeped me out completely - I loved it!
LibraryThing member BefuddledPanda
way too long. would have worked better as a short story or novella.
LibraryThing member Codonnelly
In the introduction to Pet Sematary, Stephen King states that he considers it one of his darkest novels, and in fact, it almost wasn’t published at all. I surmise this is because it’s one of his most human novels. There are supernatural elements throughout, and in typical fashion, they’re
“Sometimes dead is better.”
Dr. Louis Creed, his wife, and his two children move to a new home in the small town of Ludlow, Maine, when Louis is hired as a physician at the nearby university. Upon their arrival, the young family comes to the acquaintance of their elderly neighbors, Jud and Norma Crandall, long-time residents of the town. As Louis and Jud take a quick, almost familial, liking to each other, Jud brings the family on a hike of the surrounding land, including a tour of the local pet “sematary” created and tended to by the town’s children. While Louis finds the pet cemetery (and therefore, death) natural, something rankles him about the ancient Indian burial ground that lies beyond it. As the weeks and months pass by and tragedies begin to occur, Louis’s fascination with the burial grounds becomes an unnerving obsession and his once logical brain is brought to its limit.
“The soil of a man’s heart is stonier, Louis. A man grows what he can, and he tends it. ‘Cause what you buy, is what you own. And what you own…always comes home to you.”
Louis Creed is an everyman character: intelligent and logical with a deep love for his family. It is so easy to relate to him and to become invested in his (and his family’s) well-being. As tragedy after tragedy befalls them, Louis’s descent into madness is believable because it’s gradual. It’s also predictable, which in this case, is not a bad thing. It’s a purposeful formulaic structure. Inevitability fuels dread, and the ever-growing sense of dread is what makes this novel so terrifying.
Grief, especially when life is cut short unexpectedly, is a very personal experience. As Louis is bombarded with death, not just in his job, but in his private life too, the book feels more intimate. It forces the reader to question what he or she would do in Louis’s situation. As his mind slowly falls apart and he makes some questionable decisions, we ask ourselves, would we react the same way? And if we did, would the result be worth it?
Pet Sematary by Stephen King reflects on how one man’s grief and refusal to accept the inevitability of death leads to the direst of consequences. It’s an incredibly dismal book with some truly memorable and horrific scenes, but the philosophical questions it raises leave the strongest impression.
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haunting and unforgettable, but the true emphasis is human nature, death, and grief. “Sometimes dead is better.”
Dr. Louis Creed, his wife, and his two children move to a new home in the small town of Ludlow, Maine, when Louis is hired as a physician at the nearby university. Upon their arrival, the young family comes to the acquaintance of their elderly neighbors, Jud and Norma Crandall, long-time residents of the town. As Louis and Jud take a quick, almost familial, liking to each other, Jud brings the family on a hike of the surrounding land, including a tour of the local pet “sematary” created and tended to by the town’s children. While Louis finds the pet cemetery (and therefore, death) natural, something rankles him about the ancient Indian burial ground that lies beyond it. As the weeks and months pass by and tragedies begin to occur, Louis’s fascination with the burial grounds becomes an unnerving obsession and his once logical brain is brought to its limit.
“The soil of a man’s heart is stonier, Louis. A man grows what he can, and he tends it. ‘Cause what you buy, is what you own. And what you own…always comes home to you.”
Louis Creed is an everyman character: intelligent and logical with a deep love for his family. It is so easy to relate to him and to become invested in his (and his family’s) well-being. As tragedy after tragedy befalls them, Louis’s descent into madness is believable because it’s gradual. It’s also predictable, which in this case, is not a bad thing. It’s a purposeful formulaic structure. Inevitability fuels dread, and the ever-growing sense of dread is what makes this novel so terrifying.
Grief, especially when life is cut short unexpectedly, is a very personal experience. As Louis is bombarded with death, not just in his job, but in his private life too, the book feels more intimate. It forces the reader to question what he or she would do in Louis’s situation. As his mind slowly falls apart and he makes some questionable decisions, we ask ourselves, would we react the same way? And if we did, would the result be worth it?
Pet Sematary by Stephen King reflects on how one man’s grief and refusal to accept the inevitability of death leads to the direst of consequences. It’s an incredibly dismal book with some truly memorable and horrific scenes, but the philosophical questions it raises leave the strongest impression.
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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
In the introduction of the edition I read, King calls this "the most frightening book" he had ever written. He acknowledges though, that "the fearbone, like the funnybone, is located on different places on different people." That must be the case with me, because I think Carrie, The Shining, Cujo
The horror of this story might have resonated more if I had children. The horror of Carrie and The Shining and Salem's Lot is dependent on different sides of life experience I think than that of the young Creed family, that has just settled in Ludlow, Maine, very near a pet cemetery. If Carrie is centered on the horror and cruelty of adolescence, and The Shining not just on alcoholism but madness, well Pet Sematary is about the universal and inescapable horror of death, and especially refusing to accept death.
I did like this though and would still name it a standout among the dozen or so King novels I've read. This is written in the early 80s and isn't subject to bloat like his expanded vision of The Stand or It. It hangs together better than say Christine. Reading it I was reminded of just how skillful a writer King can be--he's a terrific storyteller, giving just enough telling detail to put me right there in the story, heightening the horror by evoking ordinary everyday life, and giving us endearing characters like Jud Crandall, the old neighbor of the Creeds who welcomes them to their new home. The married couple, Louis and Rachel Creed are relatable and easy to care about. I enjoyed btw, references to other King novels within this novel--there's a reference to Ludlow being near Derry, the setting of It, and a reference to a tragedy of a rabid dog that must be a nod to Cujo and at one point Rachel Creed passes a sign pointing to Jerusalem's Lot of Salem's Lot.
This definitely kept me turning the pages. If you're a fan of horror in general or Stephen King in particular you shouldn't be disappointed.
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and Salem's Lot is scarier. Maybe it's this one is more dependent on shock and surprise--I'd read this before and remembered it just well enough to know what would happen (and the introduction gives more than a hint so you may want to skip it until afterward). The horror of this story might have resonated more if I had children. The horror of Carrie and The Shining and Salem's Lot is dependent on different sides of life experience I think than that of the young Creed family, that has just settled in Ludlow, Maine, very near a pet cemetery. If Carrie is centered on the horror and cruelty of adolescence, and The Shining not just on alcoholism but madness, well Pet Sematary is about the universal and inescapable horror of death, and especially refusing to accept death.
I did like this though and would still name it a standout among the dozen or so King novels I've read. This is written in the early 80s and isn't subject to bloat like his expanded vision of The Stand or It. It hangs together better than say Christine. Reading it I was reminded of just how skillful a writer King can be--he's a terrific storyteller, giving just enough telling detail to put me right there in the story, heightening the horror by evoking ordinary everyday life, and giving us endearing characters like Jud Crandall, the old neighbor of the Creeds who welcomes them to their new home. The married couple, Louis and Rachel Creed are relatable and easy to care about. I enjoyed btw, references to other King novels within this novel--there's a reference to Ludlow being near Derry, the setting of It, and a reference to a tragedy of a rabid dog that must be a nod to Cujo and at one point Rachel Creed passes a sign pointing to Jerusalem's Lot of Salem's Lot.
This definitely kept me turning the pages. If you're a fan of horror in general or Stephen King in particular you shouldn't be disappointed.
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LibraryThing member srboone
King's last true horror novel. Frightened King himself and scared me witless. Not sure I wanted to finish it, but gald I did. Felt like King almost went too far with this one.
LibraryThing member Lazy_Lauren
Better than the movie which was made of it. Not fantastic, but still really good.
LibraryThing member SlySionnach
I read this book based on the movie. I had seen the movie and loved it, and figured how much different can the book be?
Very different. But in a very good way. I loved seeing the inside of Louis Creed's head. I loved hearing the full tale behind all the flashes the movie would show. The book still
A real horror book. Read it!
Very different. But in a very good way. I loved seeing the inside of Louis Creed's head. I loved hearing the full tale behind all the flashes the movie would show. The book still
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manages to make each surprise, each page turn freaky.A real horror book. Read it!
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LibraryThing member SleepyHollow1031
This was the first book by Stephen King that I ever had the pleasure of reading. This book, at its very heart, is a story of a haunted cemetery that has the power to bring back those who have passed on. However, looking beyond the creepyness and blood and guts, this book is really about how
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different people deal with death. We've all got our own coping mechanisms, and the characters in this novel have their own interesting ways. This book was actually placed in a drawer for three years because Mr. King had thought he had written something too horrific for the general public to handle. It may be my favorite of his. Show Less
LibraryThing member nesum
I have read this book twice, and liked it much better the second time, though it is still low on my list of favorite King novels. King says that this is his scariest book. I disagree, but I will say that it is the most disturbing of his books, or at least of those I have read. The persistent
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attempts to undo death just become more and more disgusting until there is no longer a hope of redemption. It is that lack of even the smallest sliver of light that makes the book so difficult to read, and what ultimately makes it weaker. What makes horror scary is its nearness to us. It is that the monster destroys something familiar. Once Louis Creed really slips off the roof of sanity, I recognize nothing in this book, so I cannot really be scared. Show Less
LibraryThing member andyray
A good story that is very scary in a werid way. The "haunted" fields and the walk deep into the woods, and the belief that they come back "a laittle different" all blend to chill the bones.
LibraryThing member pingobarg
oh stephen, why do you make it so hard to look at a rabid dog, a classic car, a pet cemetary???
Subjects
Awards
Soaring Eagle Book Award (Nominee — 1990)
Audie Award (Finalist — Best Male Narrator — 2019)
Locus Award (Nominee — Fantasy Novel — 1984)
World Fantasy Award (Nominee — Novel — 1984)
Colorado Blue Spruce Award (Winner — 1991)
Original publication date
1983-11-14
ISBN
0743412281 / 9780743412285
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Cujo by Stephen King