11.1k reviews for:

Pet Sematary

Stephen King

4.01 AVERAGE

leoberenson's review against another edition

4.5

dark sad tense fast-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

megtargaryen's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional tense medium-paced

emmadavies's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

cormacglyons's review against another edition

2.0

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Why did this take me a million years to read? I normally love Stephen King but this did not click with me at all. Bloated and predictable.

jmstru's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

spencerphoenix's review against another edition

3.75

dark sad medium-paced

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I thought the themes of grief and what that can make somebody do is definitely going to stick with me for a bit. However, chunks of this book were a slog to get through. I definitely thought the born again cat would've been much more significant to the plot, but after Church comes back to life, it's just a side piece.

jennyuu's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

makersonie's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

_nikita's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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A tragic bird's-eye view into a family dealing with grief and pain, it was equally terrifying and gut-wrenching. Although I've watched the 2019 adaptation anticipating most of its horror elements I was completely caught off guard by the emotional heaviness and dread building up throughout this book. The events that transpired with the Creed family which can be described as a trainwreck you couldn't look away from but devastating too since you've been following this seemingly normal family wrecked with suffering after suffering will stick with me forever. This book reminds me of the short tale I've thoroughly enjoyed when I was younger but found the ending anticlamactic,

The Monkey's Paw by W.W Jacobs

(also referenced in this story). It is definitely it's darker counterpart serving as a better follow-up dwelling deeper into the same concept.  As this was my first novel by Stephen King I found it intimidating to start ngl and didn't expect his writing to be so accessible and fluid will definitely be checking out more of his works in the future

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty

lintskukka's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated