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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was a 2.5 for me, rounded up to 3. I had heard Pet Sematary was the darkest book Stephen King has ever written, a statement that he himself made about the book. I had also heard this book was nearly not published because King thought it was too dark for the general public to read. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was disappointed for about 75% of this book. Stephen King has a very rambling way of writing his characters' internal monologues, and sometimes it even felt that he, as the narrator, would go on and on about something that was only loosely related to the scene at hand. The way he ambles around his writing often took me out of the story and I would feel the need to skim a few lines or paragraphs just to get to the next interesting piece of text. He doesn't use difficult language by any means, but he does use a LOT of language. In a similar sense, he also couldn't get me to care about the characters very much, furthering the sense that I wanted this book to be over quickly. I actively enjoyed Jud and Ellie as characters, but the main character, Louis, annoyed me, as did his wife, Rachel.
The horror aspect in this book was very subdued, and really only came out with any kind of force in the last 100 pages or so. Three quarters of this book were buildup and foreshadowing for an ending that was very obvious from the moment we arrived on scene. For a bit of background, a family with two young children moves into a house in Maine which borders a spooky, dark forest and a massive road where 10-wheeler trucks are notorious for running over pets and children. The forest, of course, houses the titular Pet Sematary ("cemetery", but written by children). Their neighbor across the street, an old man named Jud, becomes a sort of guide and father figure for the main character, Louis, and is actually the one to show the family the pet cemetery out in the forest. The family gets a bad feeling when exploring the pet cemetery, but Louis, the father, is strangely drawn to it, and when their cat gets run over in the Big Dangerous Road (of course), Jud brings Louis and the dead cat deep into the forest, past the pet cemetery, to an old Native American burial ground that has powers of resurrection. They bury the cat there, and it comes back the next day stinking of death and acting all zombie-like. If it wasn't obvious by this point, of course one of the kids also gets run over later in the book, Louis buries him in the same place, he comes back violent and zombie-like, and murder ensues. The main theme throughout is that sometimes death is better, that it's a natural part of life, and to leave the dead be because the alternative is far worse. The Wendigo also makes an appearance in the forest and feeds into this theme, but maybe I'm so used to creature horror concepts like this that its inclusion didn't do much for me.
I will say last 100-ish pages did keep me engaged and excited to see what happened next; even if I knew WHAT was going to happen, I wanted to see HOW it would happen. This book was definitely a slow burn, but the finale was just too obvious and the horror itself didn't live up to my expectations. Granted, this book was written in the 80s, so maybe horror expectations then versus now are too different. Looking at all the 5-star reviews for this book and seeing how many people say this book was the scariest book they've ever read and they almost couldn't finish it, I feel like I'm missing something. I don't think I'll forget this story, but it also didn't satisfy my craving for some truly gripping and unforgettable horror.
The horror aspect in this book was very subdued, and really only came out with any kind of force in the last 100 pages or so. Three quarters of this book were buildup and foreshadowing for an ending that was very obvious from the moment we arrived on scene. For a bit of background, a family with two young children moves into a house in Maine which borders a spooky, dark forest and a massive road where 10-wheeler trucks are notorious for running over pets and children. The forest, of course, houses the titular Pet Sematary ("cemetery", but written by children). Their neighbor across the street, an old man named Jud, becomes a sort of guide and father figure for the main character, Louis, and is actually the one to show the family the pet cemetery out in the forest. The family gets a bad feeling when exploring the pet cemetery, but Louis, the father, is strangely drawn to it, and when their cat gets run over in the Big Dangerous Road (of course), Jud brings Louis and the dead cat deep into the forest, past the pet cemetery, to an old Native American burial ground that has powers of resurrection. They bury the cat there, and it comes back the next day stinking of death and acting all zombie-like. If it wasn't obvious by this point, of course one of the kids also gets run over later in the book, Louis buries him in the same place, he comes back violent and zombie-like, and murder ensues. The main theme throughout is that sometimes death is better, that it's a natural part of life, and to leave the dead be because the alternative is far worse. The Wendigo also makes an appearance in the forest and feeds into this theme, but maybe I'm so used to creature horror concepts like this that its inclusion didn't do much for me.
I will say last 100-ish pages did keep me engaged and excited to see what happened next; even if I knew WHAT was going to happen, I wanted to see HOW it would happen. This book was definitely a slow burn, but the finale was just too obvious and the horror itself didn't live up to my expectations. Granted, this book was written in the 80s, so maybe horror expectations then versus now are too different. Looking at all the 5-star reviews for this book and seeing how many people say this book was the scariest book they've ever read and they almost couldn't finish it, I feel like I'm missing something. I don't think I'll forget this story, but it also didn't satisfy my craving for some truly gripping and unforgettable horror.