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A review by beanjoles
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is the first Stephen King book I’ve read (well, listened to) and I can see why he’s so respected in the genre. What a novel!
It’s impossible for me to separate my review of the novel from my review of the audiobook. Michael C Hall’s performance is incredible. I'm not speaking figuratively when I say that it's the best audiobook performance I've ever heard. If you're on the fence about reading this novel, then listen to the audiobook and thank me later! It's that good.
Onto the story itself. This is definitely a slow-paced book, and had I been left to my own devices to read it on my own, I'm not sure I would have finished it. The audiobook, however, kept my full attention.
The novel is broken into three parts. The first part is very character-driven. We are introduced to Louis Creed, his wife, and his two children. We are walked through their daily lives, their motivations, and their internal struggles. Of course, there's foreshadowing of what's to come. But King definitely takes his time in getting to the action (most of which is in Part 2 and Part 3). The result is that by the time you get there, you know these characters. You're invested.
Despite that, Part 2 and Part 3 lagged a bit for me and I kept waiting to get to the really scary stuff. The whole book is infused with dread, tension, and low grade horror. There are certainly some parts that might be triggering to folks. But I personally didn't find it super frightening. That's probably a good thing for me, but if you want a *scary* book, I don't think this is it.
My only real complaint about the book is the ending. To keep it spoiler-free, I will say that there is a build-up of tension that doesn't really get released at the end of the novel. It's like when you're reading an essay or article and the writing is really resonating with you, and then you read the last two paragraphs and you can tell the writer just chucked something in there to meet their word count in advance of a deadline. That's how the ending felt to me and I really hated how weak it was. But, aside from that, good book, good experience, and would definitely listen to Michael C Hall perform it again.
It’s impossible for me to separate my review of the novel from my review of the audiobook. Michael C Hall’s performance is incredible. I'm not speaking figuratively when I say that it's the best audiobook performance I've ever heard. If you're on the fence about reading this novel, then listen to the audiobook and thank me later! It's that good.
Onto the story itself. This is definitely a slow-paced book, and had I been left to my own devices to read it on my own, I'm not sure I would have finished it. The audiobook, however, kept my full attention.
The novel is broken into three parts. The first part is very character-driven. We are introduced to Louis Creed, his wife, and his two children. We are walked through their daily lives, their motivations, and their internal struggles. Of course, there's foreshadowing of what's to come. But King definitely takes his time in getting to the action (most of which is in Part 2 and Part 3). The result is that by the time you get there, you know these characters. You're invested.
Despite that, Part 2 and Part 3 lagged a bit for me and I kept waiting to get to the really scary stuff. The whole book is infused with dread, tension, and low grade horror. There are certainly some parts that might be triggering to folks. But I personally didn't find it super frightening. That's probably a good thing for me, but if you want a *scary* book, I don't think this is it.
My only real complaint about the book is the ending. To keep it spoiler-free, I will say that there is a build-up of tension that doesn't really get released at the end of the novel. It's like when you're reading an essay or article and the writing is really resonating with you, and then you read the last two paragraphs and you can tell the writer just chucked something in there to meet their word count in advance of a deadline. That's how the ending felt to me and I really hated how weak it was. But, aside from that, good book, good experience, and would definitely listen to Michael C Hall perform it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Body horror and Murder