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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
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
Cujo
By Stephen King
Horror
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.25 stars)
If Jaws was a dog, you have Cujo.
Cujo was a friendly St. Bernard until he was bitten by a rabid bat. Then he became a monster.
❤️ I made it to 2025 without having spoilers, so will keep this vague and spoiler free.
The second half of the book had me on my toes. It felt like a nightmare in it's simplicity of horror. Locked in one place with no way to safety is truly scary, and it kept me hooked!
💔 My lower rating is due to the first half of the book. I felt like so much could have been cut. It dragged for me. I understand it was character development and makes you care about those involved, but some of the storyline never felt necessary even at the end.
🎀 I have a hard time rating this book because animals are such a sensitive topic for me. I had avoided reading this for so long because I knew it'd be a hard read.
That said, it wasn't nearly as difficult and emotional as I thought it'd be. I was rooting for the shark in Jaws, and was sure I'd be rooting for the dog in Cujo. But, I wasn't. The characters he was after were likeable and it was a tense situation where you know Cujo can't be cured and you want the Humans saved.
I did cry a couple times with Brett. The sleepwalking scene got me. And the ending.
✨️TRIGGER WARNING✨️
Cujo is about a rabid dog and there is no to get through this without animal death, cruelty, violence, etc. He feels like more of a monster once it sets in and that takes some of the dog sense out, but it also felt like a sad story about a good dog.
SPOILER TRIGGER WARNING
There is also child death which is brutal and unnecessary. It hits and could be a very tough read. Even leading up to the death, it's quite a good chunk that could be difficult to read.
By Stephen King
Horror
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.25 stars)
If Jaws was a dog, you have Cujo.
Cujo was a friendly St. Bernard until he was bitten by a rabid bat. Then he became a monster.
❤️ I made it to 2025 without having spoilers, so will keep this vague and spoiler free.
The second half of the book had me on my toes. It felt like a nightmare in it's simplicity of horror. Locked in one place with no way to safety is truly scary, and it kept me hooked!
💔 My lower rating is due to the first half of the book. I felt like so much could have been cut. It dragged for me. I understand it was character development and makes you care about those involved, but some of the storyline never felt necessary even at the end.
🎀 I have a hard time rating this book because animals are such a sensitive topic for me. I had avoided reading this for so long because I knew it'd be a hard read.
That said, it wasn't nearly as difficult and emotional as I thought it'd be. I was rooting for the shark in Jaws, and was sure I'd be rooting for the dog in Cujo. But, I wasn't. The characters he was after were likeable and it was a tense situation where you know Cujo can't be cured and you want the Humans saved.
I did cry a couple times with Brett. The sleepwalking scene got me. And the ending.
✨️TRIGGER WARNING✨️
Cujo is about a rabid dog and there is no to get through this without animal death, cruelty, violence, etc. He feels like more of a monster once it sets in and that takes some of the dog sense out, but it also felt like a sad story about a good dog.
SPOILER TRIGGER WARNING
There is also child death which is brutal and unnecessary. It hits and could be a very tough read. Even leading up to the death, it's quite a good chunk that could be difficult to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death
I thought it was definitely a different stylistic choice of writing than kings other books but still fast paced.
It could have been 100 pages shorter. Some details about Christy and brett seemed irrelevant
3.5 stars. I think I first read this book when I was about 13 or so. I remember not liking it too much but my only metric back then for whether a King book was good or not was whether or not it was scary. Cujo is not a particularly scary book. When I was young I didn't really care about how well King writes about the everyday struggles and issues facing Joe America. Even with my older perspective, this book still isn't King's best effort. Interestingly, despite King's penchant for underwhelming endings, the ending of this book really delivered.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After hearing the Just King Things podcast talk about how good this book was, I had to give it a try. I had always avoided it because I knew the concept and just thought it would be a bit boring.
I was SO wrong. The pacing in this book is perfect, building tension in unexpected ways, and weaving together a variety of conflicts. The characters are some of Stephen King's best. A lot of the stuff in this book is what any King reader comes to expect, small town descriptions, relationships with hidden conflicts, some strange sexuality, and great spooky descriptions and moments, but all this is basically King at his best.
But I am sure most people are wondering how scary this actually manages to be. Cujo plays with childhood fears in a very effective way, with some of the best moments and descriptions dealing with characters being frightened of a closet. However, King also manages to describe and use Cujo in a way that he transcends merely being a sick dog. Despite the characters trying to remind themselves that is all Cujo is, the ways he acts, the things he does, and his physical deterioration turn him into a true monster, made all the more potent because of how grounded Cujo is.
If you like Stephen King or just horror books in general, do yourself a favor and try Cujo.
I was SO wrong. The pacing in this book is perfect, building tension in unexpected ways, and weaving together a variety of conflicts. The characters are some of Stephen King's best. A lot of the stuff in this book is what any King reader comes to expect, small town descriptions, relationships with hidden conflicts, some strange sexuality, and great spooky descriptions and moments, but all this is basically King at his best.
But I am sure most people are wondering how scary this actually manages to be. Cujo plays with childhood fears in a very effective way, with some of the best moments and descriptions dealing with characters being frightened of a closet. However, King also manages to describe and use Cujo in a way that he transcends merely being a sick dog. Despite the characters trying to remind themselves that is all Cujo is, the ways he acts, the things he does, and his physical deterioration turn him into a true monster, made all the more potent because of how grounded Cujo is.
If you like Stephen King or just horror books in general, do yourself a favor and try Cujo.
I'm just now starting to get into some of King's older work. Aside from Misery (which I really enjoyed) everything of his that I've read has been in the past 20 years or so, I believe.
His older work is definitely much more crude than his newer stuff, which isn't necessarily a bad thing to me. I grew up reading horror and having an interest in all things morbid, so I'm very desensitized to it all, and I even got a laugh out of some of it. Still, I just thought I'd mention it for anyone who would be bothered by it.
The story starts off slow; it took me a few days to find the motivation to get through the rambling at the beginning of the book, which is the main reason I deducted a star from my rating. I enjoyed the plot overall, I just feel as though the telling could have been a bit more precise in some places.
If you're a fan of King's work, you might like this one, though I feel as though it's on a different level than the other things I've read from him thus far.
If you're sensitive to gore or morbid things in general, though, you might want to stay clear of this one.
His older work is definitely much more crude than his newer stuff, which isn't necessarily a bad thing to me. I grew up reading horror and having an interest in all things morbid, so I'm very desensitized to it all, and I even got a laugh out of some of it. Still, I just thought I'd mention it for anyone who would be bothered by it.
The story starts off slow; it took me a few days to find the motivation to get through the rambling at the beginning of the book, which is the main reason I deducted a star from my rating. I enjoyed the plot overall, I just feel as though the telling could have been a bit more precise in some places.
If you're a fan of King's work, you might like this one, though I feel as though it's on a different level than the other things I've read from him thus far.
If you're sensitive to gore or morbid things in general, though, you might want to stay clear of this one.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
As you'd expect from Stephen King, totally horrific and traumatising, and absolutely brilliant.
dark
emotional
tense
A heartbreaking and tragic novel
I did not like Donna at all. And loved poor ol Cujo very much.
Bleak, and gut wrenching, I don't think a horror has made me bawl my eyes out before.
Cujo, you were just a sick dog, but a Good Boy always.
I did not like Donna at all. And loved poor ol Cujo very much.
Bleak, and gut wrenching, I don't think a horror has made me bawl my eyes out before.
Cujo, you were just a sick dog, but a Good Boy always.