Pet Sematary: A Novel

Pet Sematary is one of those books that really gets under your skin and sticks with you long after you finish it. The story builds a slow, creeping sense of dread that only gets more intense as it goes on. I liked how it explores grief and loss in a way that feels very real, even though the situation becomes increasingly disturbing. The characters are well-developed, and you genuinely care about what happens to them, which makes everything hit harder. The pacing is steady at first but turns into a gripping, emotional rollercoaster in the second half. There are definitely moments that are unsettling and hard to forget. Overall, it’s a chilling and powerful horror novel that shows why Stephen King is so well known

I just felt the urge to put my review of Pet Sematary out into the universe. I love a good horror story—it's one of my favorite joys in this short life. While living on a Farm in 1995, my grandmother told me a story about a ghost that got into a car with a kid, and it scared the life out of me. I loved it. So much so that I've searched my whole life to find a story that would make me feel that scared again. Well, I found it in this book. It’s not a cliché “bump in the night” type of fear. Or H.P. Lovecraft’s more famously humanized “fear of the unknown”. It's more like that dreadful fear of the known. That part of the “human condition” that sits in the background of all our daily thoughts. It's the fear of knowing someday soon, we're all going to lose everyone we love, IF they don’t lose us first. Pet Semetary quietly brings this fear to the front of your mind and forces you to acknowledge it. So, if you like that slow dread, impending doom, Sunday-evening-before-going-to-a-job-you-hate-on-Monday feeling, then you should read this. Or, if you would like to spend 394 pages wondering how many moral barriers it would take the pain in your heart to break down to bring back the ones you love, this book is for you. 11/10

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.

Trade paperback 2018 UPDATE June 2020 (a little overdue) I had re-bought this item a few months later, and got the correct cover art, the one Amazon depicts in their stock photo. However, it's got glue and bits of paper hanging off of it, just a real mess. I saw a copy of the movie tie in addition from the following year available at the big'ol' W A L M..... and it looked to be more robustly printed, but I have mixed feelings about the 2019 movie, although I haven't seen it because it just looks like it unnecessarily adds a bunch of layers that really add nothing to the story, but like I said -- I haven't seen it (yet...(?)).... The "Gallery book 2002" info that the product URL cites is in reference to a popart "comic book style" cover-art that didn't do any favors regarding capturing the appeal of the book visually. The movie this book's author wrote was a by the numbers dry as paint stupid MOFO adaptation. So what's left? That stupid hardcover dust jacket that Doubleday haphazardly slapped onto the initial pressings of the book and the subsequent mass market paperback edition? A respectful hardcover re-issue, put together as part of a set of some of his books sometime in the early 1990s, is almost impossible to find. There was a so-so trade paperback released in England a few years ago with a really stupid tagline. This book deserves a good cover. It's one of those books that's really really really really really GOOD. It's not something God himself would want to read. It's probably not something you yourself would want to make a religion based upon or apply to your life philosophy. Stephen King wrote this book and disowns it because it isn't "truthful" enough. Who cares? Stephen King ain't anyone to talk authoratiatively about the truth. His lesbian daughter preaches the gospel for a living. Apparently having one's head up their butt runs in the family. This book strikes at the heart of man. The heart of man is deceitful above all things --- and exceedingly wicked. We don't need Stephen King to deliver us from that. Some people don't even want to be delivered from that. Sometimes you can't escape it. This book isn't THE TRUTH. But it does speak to the true hearts of real people for better or worse. And it does so in a manner far more effective than most of his horror novels ever did. CARRIE was not the POS that he initially thought it to be when he set out to write it before giving up on it, but it wasn't half as nerverattling as this. 'SALEM'S LOT, THE SHINING and CUJO et al were well and good, but this is the granddaddy of them all. I'm not buying it until I can get it with a decent cover. I tried ordering it after Amazon.com updated the stock photo and they sent me the old one with the popart cover. I guess they still had some of them leftover. This cover-art is the same as the mass market paperback edition issued in February 2017, but I'm not going to pay $9+ so I can "proudly own" this book in some pulp novel format. It'd be one thing if I just didn't have room for it, but unlike my CD collection that is easier to use because its' not vinyl, a trade paperback is every bit as useful as a mass market paperback. The pages are no more flimsy or cumbersome than a mass market and it just freakin' looks better. And a hardcover reissue that doesn't cost $50++ doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon. IT (1986) -- also one of S.K.'s superior works -- did finally get a hardcover reissue, but not only was the cover rather pathetic, but it had that stupid promo quip "NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE" Since the makers of this past summer's re-make of the movie IT are apparently planning to also remake PET SEMATARY (about dang time!), we might get an equally lame hardcover edition of this book finally -- or maybe it'll be a quality hardcover pressing, i.e.: the mistakes of the past are not repeated (it could happen). Perhaps someone who doesn't feel the need to 'I would tell you, but you're not worthy...." will point me to a place on the www where I can find a copy that I can afford(?)

Pet Sematary absolutely terrified me, and that is saying something because I read over one hundred books a year and no other book has ever affected me the way this one did. From the moment I started, I kept telling myself I would read just one more chapter, and before I knew it, hours had passed. The suspense and dread build so perfectly that it is impossible to put down. I even found myself refusing to read it during my night job, choosing instead to only read it in the comfort of my own bed. There is something so unsettling about the way Stephen King writes this story that it lingers in your mind long after you close the book. It was absolutely and awesomely terrifying, and it stands out as one of King’s best that I have read so far as I work my way through his books in release order.

Everyone hails Stephen King as a brilliant author, but I had trouble finding his genius. It took me 3 attempts before I actually finished this book, and I’m glad I stuck with it. I cursed Stephen Kings name multiple times and told everyone I knew that his books were over rated. I had tried several other books by him that I could not finish or did not think they stood up to the hype (dreamcatcher and doctor sleep, though I did like the shinning). Pet Sematary was an extremely slow burn and had a very dull begining which is what had put me off and caused me to put it down so many times, but there was something there that called to me to pick it back up again; not unlike the path behind the deadfall’s and the woods up to the pet sematary (reference to the book, if you know you know). Some secret or mystery that wanted to reveal itself to me, if only I could push on a little further. The book does a great job of exploring the themes of grief and loss, as well as sprinkling in themes of religion and what happens to a person when they die. Would you bring a loved one back from the grave, knowing that there was something inside of them lost the day that they died and would return a shell of who they were? Would just having them back be enough to overlook what of themselves that was lost on the day that they passed? It takes a while to get going, but once it does it never lets up. Worth sticking through to the end.

"Don't go beyond, no matter how much you feel you need to, Doctor. The barrier was not made to be broken." Life is good for Louis Creed if a bit hectic. He just took a job as the medical director at the university of Maine, moving him his wife Rachel their two kids Ellie and Gage and Ellie's cat Church to the small town of Ludlow Maine. He takes to his new neighbor Jud Crandall right away. Having lost his own father at the age of three, the older Jud sort of becomes the father that Louis never had. Right away Jud warns Louis about the road that runs between their houses and it doesn't take long to see why. Tractor trailers speed up and down the road at all hours coming and going to The Orinoco Fertilizer company. A couple of weeks later after the Creeds had settled in their new house Jud shows them where the small path behind their house leads to. An old pet cemetery which has been used by neighborhood children for almost a hundred years. This trip stirs in Ellie later that night a realization that her beloved cat Church is not immortal and will some day die. It also brings back memories for Rachel about her sister Zelda who died at an early age. Cut to the first day of classes at university at Louis has almost forgotten the episode about the pet cemetery until a student who was fatally struck by a car is bought into the university infirmary. Louis tries all he can to save his life but it is in Vain, but before he dies the student gives him a dire warning "Don't go beyond, no matter how much you feel you need to, Doctor. The barrier was not made to be broken." Louis just takes it as the rambling of a man on deaths door. That is until the night Ellie's cat is run down in the road. Thankfully his wife and children are out of town. Jud takes Louis to bury the cat at an ancient Indian burial ground beyond the pet cemetery. Louis doesn't understand why Church needs to be buried here so far from the pet cemetery until the next night when Church returns, but Church is not the same he seems clumsier and uncat like and smells like the grave. But Louis learns to live with the new Church and keeps the deed that he has done to himself and tries to forget The cemetery beyond the pet cemetery. That is until the day that his youngest child Gage is killed by one of the trucks speeding up the road. Now all that Louis can think about is taking one more trip up to the ancient burial ground. My Thoughts: I love this book, it's so spooky and scary its the stuff that keeps you up at night. It's a King classic right up there with The Stand and It. I first read this book in the late 80's as a teenager and I haven't read it again till now almost 30 years later as a father of three and its takes on a whole new meaning and I thought it was scary back then. This time around I was able to sympathize with Louis. Who wouldn't do what he does to bring your child back? I was able to get through this since my kids are older but I couldn't imagine reading this one when they were younger. This is one of those books were the story and events in the book stay fresh in your mind for years to come. The original 1989 movie is also pretty good I haven't seen the 2019 film yet so I cant speak of it but the late great Fred Gwynne (also famous for playing Herman Munster on the tv show The Munsters" is the perfect Jud Crandall and its his voice that I heard while reading Jud Crandall parts. Also Rachel's sister Zelda is so scary in the movie. I remember having nightmares about this. Now I haven't seen that movie since it was released in 89 so I'm not sure how well it holds up. But the book is King at his best and should be read and reread. Excellent book.

PET SEMATARY is a book that will stand the test of time. It is, of course, one of King's early novels, and we can see the author at his peek. The horrors he reveals (from family dynamics to supernatural burial grounds) are chilling enough to scare the bejesus out of the sternest of hearts! The story revolves around the Creed family and their move from a bustling Chicago suburb to quiet Bangor, Maine, where the father (Louis) starts work as a physician. He brings with him his wife and two children (Ellie, a preteen daughter, and Gauge, a preschool boy still in diapers). The house they move into is beautiful with plenty of land for the children to play on, and a nice old neighbor couple across the "road", the Crandalls. It is this "road" that causes some immediate concern to Louis as Judd Crandall tells him about the deaths of animals caused by the big semi-trucks that blaze down its blacktop. Judd becomes friends with the family and eventually takes them (or rather is drawn into taking them) on a small path behind the Creed's house that leads to a very special place: the PET SEMATARY. This is the place where most of the animals that'd been killed on the "road" are buried. It's a strange place with concentric circles, the shape the multiple graves make as they are laid out against the well-kept grounds. Louis and Ellie notice a large deadfall tree and Judd warns them not to climb it because it is too dangerous. But there's more to the story than that. What lay beyond the deadfall tree? Ellie's cat, Church, is eventually killed on the "road", and Judd and Louis decide to bury the cat, but not in the PET SEMATARY; they go beyond, over the deadfall, and into a very special place known as the Micmac burial grounds, a place that has existed since the Earth began, and has the power in its soil to bring back the dead. But at what cost? "Has anyone ever buried a human being back there?" Louis asks Judd. "Don't even think such a thing, Louis!" Judd replies. Church returns to the living, but is much changed. The cat smells foul, and has a very cold and evil manner about it. But at least Ellie has her cat back, right? Eventually the "road" takes more than just an animal of the Creed's. In a horrific set of narratives, Mr. King draws us into what might happen if humans were brought back from the dead. What happens to our soul if we're brought back? Does it come with us? Or does it stay on the Micmac grounds? Or perhaps something in-between? This book will, in every sense of the word, "freak" you out! It's terrifyingly terrific, as were many of King's earlier novels. A must read for the horror afficionado.

Amazing book. Fast delivery and got here in excellent 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 👻

"Às vezes, morrer é melhor". A narrativa mais sombria de Stephen King (tão sombria que ele tentou impedir sua publicação). Trata do tema que mais nos intriga e assusta: a morte. E se tivéssemos a oportunidade de reviver quem amamos, mesmo sabendo que não seria a mesma pessoa (ou animal de estimação) que sairia da cova? O que isso causaria? Seria um ato nobre, ou um ato egoísta? As respostas estão neste livro, meus caros, uma leitura obrigatória não só para quem curte Stephen King, mas para aqueles que curtem o terror que gela os ossos... A presente edição possui um ensaio do autor, muito interessante, escrito nos anos 2000 e narrando o processo criativo e a hesitação entre publicar ou não publicar a obra.

When my mother died my father and I where devastated, we didn’t even want to come home after we buried her. We delayed the return home as long as we can (at least 7 hours) but eventually we had to do it. The next couple of months the pain was still unbearable and suddenly we became aware that we still feel her presence among us and we crave seeing her one more time. But... What would we do if she really materialized before our eyes? What would a person with the chance of bringing a loved one back to life do? That’s the reason I felt such a strong connection with the story. And that’s the moral crossroad Louis Creed has to face in this heartbreaking novel. He has the opportunity to play God and bring back to life one of the members of his family. But we should have known better that playing God is never a good idea. And, well, chances are that, by this time, you’ve already know that <i>Sometimes dead is better.</i> Every story is different for every person. You can’t expect every story having the same impact to everyone. That’s not how it works. But there are few novels that, even if they don’t affect the people the same way, they’re good enough to be in the liking of a great majority. Pet Sematary is one of those novels. It’s one of King’s most famous novels. And according to him, his most terrifying one. The reason for King to assure this is very well explained in the introduction which he wrote years later for a paperback edition. And as he takes us behind the scenes of the story you can easily see that he took a lot from his own personal experiences and put them all in here. Therefore, as the main turn of events in the novel happened to him, this is his most terrifying novel, at least for him, and I’m guessing that for everyone being a father. Cause I’m sure that it wouldn’t be the same experience if someone read it at a young age (Although it has the quality that it can affect any person) than someone who already have a family of their own, or someone who re-reads it after family arrives. And although I don’t think it’s the most frightening I do believe is his most disturbing one. King takes his time for you to really feel emphatic for every damn character in the story. They have souls and he makes you watch closely how they lose them. You follow Louis Creed in this downward spiral of madness as he take his choices and live with the consequences, and you can easily see how this affects him and his mind. You can feel an ambient of grieve all throughout the book. Since the beginning I could sense an ambient of grieve, in fact, I never really felt like the Reeds where happy in any moment of the novel, even when they supposed be. It’s almost as you can taste little chunks of bitter darkness in every word written. The characters are very well written they linger in a gray area, they’re not just simply black or white. They’re just regular people taking their choices and their consequences, like any other regular people. Although Rachel got in my nerves a lot of the times because of her negligence to deal with death in general. The odds are that, to this date, you’ve already seen the 1989 movie and probably watched it a million times. And you are avoiding reading it because, you know, What’s the point? You already know everything that’s gonna happen in the book. You couldn’t be more wrong. You <b>NEED</b> to read it, cause the novel goes deeper and darker than the movie does. You can literally feel the pain and grief that King bled over every page of the book. It has a several connections to other King’s works like Cujo, The Shinning and Salem’s Lot. And probably King got a little hint from here to develop later on The Dark Half. Something that is worth highlighting is an event in the first chapters that seems like King was foreshadowing the accident he had in 1999.

Really nice story, especially last third was great. Not just great, chilling and haunting. Stephen King did a great job with this one but I think he has better books out there