Pet Sematary Paperback – February 1, 2002

I had never read this book before. So I finally got it and it does not disappoint at all. Book is too notch and love the quality of it!!

Stephen King said that this work was by far his darkest. He admitted that the book was sort of based on his own experiences living with his family near a busy highway. His daughter's cat was struck and killed by a car on that highway and King begin to ponder what if the cat could come back to life. What would the cat be like? How would he react if he buried the cat only to see the cat back in his yard the next day? This led to his writing of this book.As others have written before me, this book is dark. King leads you into the mind of Dr. Louis Creed who is the main character in the book. Dr. Creed moves his family from Chicago to Ludlow, Maine where he will work at the University. Dr. Creed is a young doctor with a young family. His daughter Ellie has a cat named Churchill (Church for short) and there is his young son Gage. His wife Rachel is the love of his life. The family adjusts to life in Ludlow but sadly Church is killed on the busy highway that the Creed's life next to. Louis' older neighbor, Jud, wants to help Louis after Louis saved his wife's Norma from dying. He takes Dr. Creed and his dead cat to the "Pet Sematary" (well actually past it) to an old Native American burial ground. They bury the cat and the next day, the cat comes back to the Creed home but remains a bit odd the rest of the book.In the end, the tragic results of Jud taking Louis beyond the pet cemetery works havoc on their lives. Many have written the end but I will not. I will leave that for you.Overall, this book makes you think about death and life. It makes you wrestle with resurrection. For the disciple of Christ, we know that Christ has won the victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:54-57). Our hope is in Him (1 Thessalonians 4:13). In the end, Christ Himself will cast death into eternal destruction (Revelation 20:14). However, the child of God through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9) will receive eternal life with their Lord (Romans 6:23; Revelation 21:7). While King shows Dr. Creed struggling with death and coming to terms with death (which he never does), the disciple of Christ can rest knowing that death has lost its power (John 5:24-25).

Stephen King once said that Pet Sematary is the scariest book he’s ever written. Here’s why I agree. Beware of spoilers for the following review. As a horror fan, I can tell you that horror isn’t typically scary. Grotesque, sure- but scary? Besides jump scares, horror has very little horror in it, because most horror fans have the recognition of the horror not being real. Vampires, aliens, monsters? Not real, so in the back of your head you know it’s not scary. Instead, you enjoy it because of how unbelievable it is. But then there’s real horror- the kind that reflects very real situations, that makes your stomach churn and your heart race because as you read it, you can imagine it happening to yourself. Stephen King is a master of this. The scariest part of IT wasn’t the clown alien- it was the domestic abuse, the horrors of an ugly, violent reality. Pet Sematary, on the other hand, tackles the very raw and real fear of death. Stephen King himself had a close call with his son and a truck- and he also went through having to explain death, especially pet death, to his children. It’s a relatable situation, and one that I believe you can feel the turmoil of in King’s writing. The horror, the struggle, the fear was real. Louis Creed’s thoughts, his imagining of everything being okay, was well written and crucial to the story. King’s personal stake made these moments all the more thought provoking. Though the writing is slow, the darkest parts of the novel are written beautifully, with a masterful use of emotion. It’s real, honest, and raw- making it a brilliant read. Pet Sematary is a very human novel, at its core. One of the most well written parts of the novel was the descriptions of Gage’s death and the scenes that follow; the heartbroken reactions of the characters reacting to a tragic event. The grief in this novel is a very real depiction of how it is in real life. I also loved the truth of Rachel’s family- what they had been through, how they reacted, the strained relationships of her parents and her husband and the way her father tried to make things right in the end. There’s an honest discussion about death being natural versus death being unnatural, and I respected King showing both sides, showcasing Louis’ view of death and tragedy versus Rachel’s extremely opposite view.Another thing to mention is the depiction of love in this book. King is known for his sex scenes often being written with an inappropriate or crude edge, but the romance between Louis and his wife Rachel was one of my favorite parts of the book. It feels very believable that they have the relationship of a husband and a wife, and the scenes between them were not as cheesy as I expected them to be. Moreso, the love that Louis had for his children was extremely apparent in this book. The other works I’ve read from Mr. King have not had healthy love in it, and Louis is a different kind of character- one who cares deeply for his family. Emotionally, this was a very strong read.Now, all this sounds good, so you might wonder why I chose to give it a four and not a five star review. There is one main reason for this.I believe that King gave away too much of the plot. It’s a great writing device, but I am not sure it worked well here. I knew the plot of the novel already, because I’ve seen the movies many times. But I found it jarring when King alluded to Norma Crandall’s death before it happened, and then again with his own son. It was clever, in many ways, but I just struggled with it having been revealed in that way. There was very little surprise in the novel- it all was rather linear, and while the writing was great, that lack of intrigue took it down a notch for me. I still believe this to be one of King’s better novels, though.

Me encantó la historia. La edición es muy buena también. La letra es quizá un poco más pequeña de lo que me gustaría, pero creo que reste a la calidad del producto. Tiene un acabado que no había visto en otro libro, y creo que eso lo hace especial.

This book is so freaking good!It came in perfect condition.

J’ai commandé le livre car impossible de le trouver en librairie et vu le prix j’ai opté pour l’option seconde main et franchement je dois dire que je suis surprise du bel état du livre! On dirait un neuf franchement trop trop contente et impatiente de le lire pendant la spooky season 👻

Heel spannend en heel goed! Ik vond dit een van de meest meeslepende boeken van Stephen King die ik tot zover heb gelezen.

El libro está bien, entretenido, bien escrito, fiel a su género, según dicen uno de los mejores de este autor (me temo que es el único que he leído de él).Quizá para mí lo más destacable de este libro es que al leerlo tendió un puente hacia un mundo nuevo.Sin ánimo de hacer spoiler en el propio libro hay un lugar "mágico" que sirve de puente entre dos mundos*. La pregunta es: nos atreveremos a cruzarlo?