Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

89 reviews

lillowo's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

Tldr: if you're interested in Reading as much of King as possible, or some of the highlights of his writings, this could be a good book for you. I felt like it was very dated and the characters who we most engaged with were not the most enjoyable. The basis of the plot and the story are super cool, but I didn't feel like it was explored fully.

I totally understand why when this book came out it was really popular. It blends the hard conversations of talking about death with children and the horror of losing a child and really interesting ways. 

That being said, if you are not intending to read a King book because you want to read King's stuff, I would suggest the book How To Sell A Haunted House instead. I found there was a lot of dated language used (the r slur as a major example and ableism generally, the use of an "ancient indigenous burial ground" that brings people back to life), and the perspective of Louis that we got, felt like the idea of her King was looking at was grit and dark things to say to make it feel like a darker read. There were multiple comments that were just made offhandedly that gave the main character this air of being incredibly cynical but without much to back it up. I also felt like some of the through lines that were there weren't fully explored for the sake of

a darker ending. Two of the four family members die, and I brought back to life, and we had no real exploration after the initial moment of how do you talk about death with children.

 

I also felt like a lot of the logic that the characters explored in the book were very half-hearted at best.

the idea of exploring death through this cemetery that brings dead things back to life, is super interesting! I just don't think the logic that was used to explore the impact of it really made sense. Jud decided that it would be a good idea to bring a cat back to life because it's a way to teach kids about death and to make them less scared of the fact that people and creatures die because you just stop liking them. Which also to me felt like King did not really understand cats. Like at one point there's a line about how he's glad that cats are such independent creatures because no one notices that church is different. If my cat started acting like church, I would immediately know something is wrong. They are the snuggliest babies ever. As I was reading that line I had a cat begging for affection. They're also isn't much exploration of this mysticism around the burial ground. It's become a trope in my lifetime, but I don't know if it was a trope then. I do know that it felt very tropy and a mystical element that with the knowledge of the 20th century, felt gross and something that I intentionally distanced myself from on a cognitive level. I think there could be a lot of ways to explore a burial ground that brings people back to life that doesn't engage on tired and egregious tropes around mysticism of indigenous peoples practices.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Ableism, Sexism, and Murder

addanumlaut's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

my first stephen king book; not a huge fan of his writing style. after about halfway through the book i was bored of it and was just reading it to be done. the premise was scary enough i guess, just wish the writing could match up to it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Death, Animal death, and Violence

lecheeese's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A study in the hold grief can have on a person

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Car accident, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity, Cursing, and Gaslighting

joelypop's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Sexual content, Death, Cursing, Murder, Body horror, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Gore, Medical content, Violence, Animal death, Child death, and Torture

shelf_devoted's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

3.0

"Maybe I did it because kids need to know that sometimes dead is better"- Jud

My first Stephen King read, deep dark slow burn of a horror book. I appreciated the way it often touched on death, grief and loss of a loved one. I loved the overall premise of this book and what it's trying to say but half way through I had to pick up an audio to help me get through this because it dragged. I got more suspense/thriller vibes until about 20% left of the book. I think this could've been 50-100 pages less and been a 4-5 star read. The audio was great but still the story was just unnecessarily too long. I am new to the horror genre don't typically read from this genre, 2/5 on the scare scale for me, more creepy spooky than anything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Death, Animal cruelty, Murder, and Animal death

emimcmanis's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Medical content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Gore, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Colonisation, Child abuse, Infidelity, Alcohol, and Genocide

Minor: Cannibalism and Excrement

cwgonzales's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Wasn’t expecting to be so annihilated by

the death of a small child that doesn’t heed a parent’s call to stop running before getting plastered to the road by a truck

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Grief, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

luisaveras's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content, Sexual content, Murder, and Chronic illness

Minor: Cultural appropriation

corpseuscollision's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Gore, Child death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Cursing

Minor: Sexual content, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Colonisation, and Drug use

pholcidae's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Aside from the casual racism (using outdated terms for Native American people and unnecessarily bringing people’s skin colour to attention), a near-flawless book.

The story is paced perfectly and I have been reading it nonstop. The author’s use of language to create suspense and terror is reminiscent of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. 

This was my first King novel and I think it was the perfect one to start on! Very tense and lots of fun easter eggs in there :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gore, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Murder, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Abandonment, Infidelity, and Cursing

Minor: Vomit, Cancer, War, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Excrement, Dementia, Misogyny, Sexism, Addiction, Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Incest, and Religious bigotry