Pet Sematary by Stephen King

[gilda_elise]

Can Stephen King scare even himself?

Has the author of Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, and Christine ever conceived a story so horrifying that he was for a time unwilling to finish writing it? Yes. This is it.

Set in a small town in Maine to which a young doctor, Louis Creed, and his family have moved from Chicago, Pet Sematary begins with a visit to a graveyard where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. But behind the "pet sematary," there is another burial ground, one that lures people to it with seductive promises . . . and ungodly temptations.

As the story unfolds, so does a nightmare of the supernatural, one so relentless you won't want . . . at moments . . . to continue reading . . . but will be unable to stop.

You do it because it gets hold of you, says the nice old man with the secret. You make up reasons . . . they seem like good reasons . . . but mostly you do it because once you've been up there, it's your place, and you belong to it . . .up in the Pet Sematary--and beyond.

Yes, the story is scary, but apparently I wasn’t as scared as the author. I think because the idea of something being irresistible has always been on my “can’t go with that” list. Like stories that involve the devil. You know that the protagonist is going to lose.

As the story goes along, the reader is given plenty of clues that that’s going to be the case here. The power behind the Pet Sematary is strong, and getting stronger. Too strong for Louis Creed. But King can’t seem to write a bad story, or even a mediocre one. So, yes, I did enjoy the story, just not as much as I’ve enjoyed some of his other books.

Lastly, I hate open ended stories. Either finish the story, all ends tied up, or write a sequel.







Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

1. The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry
2. Polaris (Alex Benedict #2) by Jack McDevitt
3. How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
4. Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories From My Childhood: Beloved Fairy Tales from the Queen to Cinderella by Mikhail Baryshnikov
5. The Fateful Lightning (Civil War: 1861-1865, Western Theater #4) by Jeff Shaara
6. Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
7. The Petticoat Men by Barbara Ewing
8. Lily Pond: Four Years with a Family of Beavers by Hope Ryden
9. Running with the Demon (The Word & The Void #1) by Terry Brooks
10. The Gentle Giants of Ganymede (Giants #2) by James P. Hogan
11. Ararat (Ben Walker #1) by Christopher Golden
12. If It Bleeds by Stephen King
13. American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant by Ronald C. White Jr.
14. The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
15. Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell Adventurer, Adviser to Kings by Janet Wallach
16. Snowblind by Christopher Golden
17. Women of Ashdon (Bridges Over Time #3) by Valerie Anand
18. Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt
19. The Family Plot by Cherie Priest
20. The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa (translated by Nick Caistor)
21. Roses are White by Lesley Lambert
22. Giants' Star (Giants #3) by James P. Hogan
23. Duma Key by Stephen King
24. Magic In My Shoes by Constance Savery
25. The Breach by M.T. Hill
26. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
27. In the Region of the Summer Stars (Eirlandia #1) by Stephen R. Lawhead
28. Later by Stephen King
29. The Bone Doll's Twin (Tamír Triad #1) by Lynn Flewelling
30. The Threshold by Marlys Millhiser
31. Echoes of Home: A Ghost Story by M.L. Rayner
32. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Talking Classics) by Oscar Wilde, Martin Shaw (Reader)
33. The Reign of Wolf 21: The Saga of Yellowstone’s Legendary Druid Pack (The Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone #2) by Rick McIntyre, Marc Bekoff
34. A Knight of the Word (The Word & The Void #2) by Terry Brooks
35. The Mummy (Ramses the Damned #1) by Anne Rice
36. City of the Lost by Will Adams
37. The Summer Queen: A Medieval Tale of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France by Elizabeth Chadwick
38. Last Train from Perdition (I Travel by Night #2) by Robert R. McCammon
39. Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
40. The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
41. Erebus: The Story of a Ship by Michael Palin
42. The Shining (The Shining #1) by Stephen King
43. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
44. Gwendy's Magic Feather (The Button Box #2) by Richard Chizmar
45. The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
46. Harvest Home by Tom Tryon
47. The Cider House Rules by John Irving
48. The Clover Girls by Viola Shipman
49. The Hiding Place by C. J. Tudor
50. To Serve Them All My Days by R.F. Delderfield



51. The City Where We Once Lived by Eric Barnes
52. The Cleanup by John Skipp & Craig Spector
53. Pet Sematary by Stephen King









Black Cat on the Cover - Pet Sematary by Stephen King





I Read Horror Year-Round List

*Winter Theme, or winter appearance on the cover (snow, ice, etc.):
1. Ararat by Christopher Golden

*Ghosts or spirits:
1. The Family Plot by Cherie Priest

*Psychological:
1. The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
2. The Hiding Place by C. J. Tudor

*Monster or Monsters:
1. Snowblind by Christopher Golden

*A body of water (featured in story, on cover, or in title):
1. Duma Key by Stephen King

*Really scary book cover:
1. The Breach by M.T. Hill
2. Pet Sematary by Stephen King

*Woman on cover - Later by Stephen King

*Written by a woman:
1. The Mummy (Ramses the Damned #1) by Anne Rice
2. The Burning Girls by C. J. Tudor

*Written by a best-selling horror author:
1. If It Bleeds by Stephen King
2. The Shining by Stephen King
3. The Cleanup by John Skipp and Craig Spector

*Written by an indie author:
1. Echoes of Home by M.L. Rayner

*Historical horror (must be an historical novel written by a contemporary author):
1. Last Train From Perdition by Robert McCammon

*Folk horror:
1. Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon

Comments

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

This was actually the story that made me stop reading King. :D

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Any particular reason?

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I hated what he did to the cat. At the time, we'd just lost one of ours and I knew it was a mistake to read it. After it, I'd found I totally lost my taste for him. He's an incredible writer, but not one of mine anymore.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I suppose that's why I don't like Cujo. If there's any inkling of there being harm to an animal, I'm usually out of there. But I'm going through my books, figuring out what I'm going to keep, what I'm getting rid of, and that means rereading most of them. But I do remember not caring for this book, but mostly because of there really being no hope for the protagonist.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

It's why I stopped reading Jonathan Gash's Lovejoy books. His pets were always slaughtered and when he got a kitten, I was out of there. Just can't and won't do it anymore.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

That's disgusting. It makes me wonder what kind of person he is, always writing pets being slaughtered. I mean, what kind of a mind would that take?

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

His argument was that the bad guys could see that the animals were his soft spot.

For the record, the kitten survived, but I could never bother with the writer after that.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Was it always the same character? If so, it's pretty stupid of him to continually get pets if he knows that his enemies knows they're his soft spot. If not the same character, weird of the writer to have all his characters have a soft spot for animals.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

It started our with the animals he was feeding, like birds — they came in and slaughtered the robins he was feeding. It actually made me sick reading it.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

That's disgusting. And sort of weird. Makes me wonder about the writer, if he has a screw loose.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

No idea. I mean his grasp of antiques and the various illicit practices in the trade were interesting, but it didn't make up for the other.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

It was such a dark book and so without hope. I just couldn't.

[wpadmirer.livejournal.com]

I haven't read as much King as I have Koontz. I have to say that I prefer Dean Koontz's books.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I've never been able to get into Koontz. There's been a couple of his books that I liked (I think the ones with a dog in them *g*,) but mostly not. King, McCammon, and Wilson are my go-to horror writers.

[wpadmirer.livejournal.com]

I like Kadrey, Wendig, Blackmoore, Maberry, and Koontz. I read King when I was younger, and I hit a point where I wished someone would edit him more.

Koontz was a teacher, so I've used his books with a homeschool student. He fell in love with them, and so did I. The writing was good, and the ideas he played with were really interesting to us.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard of the other authors, so I'll have to give them a look. There are so few really good horror writers; I'm always on the lookout for new ones.

King and Koontz definitely have different styles. I started reading King with Carrie, and have never looked back.

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

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[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

I find it interesting that for a while King was so scared by his own story, he was unwilling to finish it — strange too, I must admit.

I'm with you, I don't believe in the 'irresistible' — at least I don't think I do, I'm never consciously thought about it.

I hate open ended endings — unless there is a sequel, that's different.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I think the reason is that it's so centered on the death of a small boy. Maybe he saw too much of his own child in it. Just a thought. I don't think I've ever read exactly why he had so much trouble with the story.

For me, I noticed when all those Satan movies came out (The Omen, Rosemary's Baby, and such,) that I realized that I hated movies (and books,) where there was no way that the protagonist was going to win.

I know. End the book at the end. Don't make it sound as if the story continues, but then don't write that continuation.

[catalenamara.livejournal.com]

My least favorite Stephen King novel.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's my least favorite, but it's certainly on the list. Mostly, I love his novels, but every once in a while one will fall flat with me. This one, Cujo, Christine. Probably a few more.

[catalenamara.livejournal.com]

I actively disliked "Pet Sematary". "Cujo"? It should have been a 50 page novella. Way too long for the plot. I liked "Christine" (and "Buick 8").

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved A Buick 8. Somehow, it said "Stephen King" more to me than the other three did.