A review by lillowo
Pet Sematary by Stephen King

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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