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A review by asourceoffiction
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I will be processing this book and that ending for days.
Firstly, the less you know about this story, the better! I had never seen the adaptations and I had no idea how incredibly rich this narrative was going to be. I also saw early on that, while this is one of King's scariest books, it isn't full of traditional horror tropes and jump scares. The horror comes from fear, from grief and from the anticipation of what the hell might happen next.
What I love about King's books is the writing; he can create entire worlds you can be completely immersed in. I felt everything Louis Creed and his family were feeling (including the increasing sense of dread as the book went on), and I fell in love with their messy, normal life. I also loved Jud, Louis's kindly, mysterious and occasionally creepy neighbour. But I could never tell where the evil was going to emerge; I just knew it was going to happen.
Half way through I decided that this wasn't a horror story, but more an examination of the effect tragedy and grief can have. By the end, I still believed all of that but I had also been proven very wrong; this is most definitely a horror. And it's an absolutely brilliant one.
Firstly, the less you know about this story, the better! I had never seen the adaptations and I had no idea how incredibly rich this narrative was going to be. I also saw early on that, while this is one of King's scariest books, it isn't full of traditional horror tropes and jump scares. The horror comes from fear, from grief and from the anticipation of what the hell might happen next.
What I love about King's books is the writing; he can create entire worlds you can be completely immersed in. I felt everything Louis Creed and his family were feeling (including the increasing sense of dread as the book went on), and I fell in love with their messy, normal life. I also loved Jud, Louis's kindly, mysterious and occasionally creepy neighbour. But I could never tell where the evil was going to emerge; I just knew it was going to happen.
Half way through I decided that this wasn't a horror story, but more an examination of the effect tragedy and grief can have. By the end, I still believed all of that but I had also been proven very wrong; this is most definitely a horror. And it's an absolutely brilliant one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Murder, Animal death, Violence, Racial slurs, Gore, and Death