Cujo

 Author: Stephen King 

Genre: Suspense, Fiction

Original publication date: September 8, 1981

Book description: Outside a peaceful town in central Maine, a monster is waiting. Cujo is a two-hundred-pound Saint Bernard, the best friend Brett Camber has ever had. One day Cujo chases a rabbit into a bolt-hole—a cave inhabited by sick bats. What happens to Cujo, how he becomes a horrifying vortex inexorably drawing in all the people around him

Thoughts:

Key words: Violence against dogs, blood, body horror, bad representation of women, flawed characters, mention of rape (only as a threat against a woman).

This story was very interesting.
It starts off very slow, giving you details about the family. We go into a bit of the life of the Cambers, they lead a very unremarkable life, a couple who has their issues, a son who aspires to be just like his father when he grows up and a very good dog as a pet.

We follow several people as they go about their life, giving us a few different perspectives of their life, their hopes and dreams. My favorite part was getting the perspective of Cujo, seeing life from the dog's point of view was interesting. If you get invested in the characters then the beginning is good, it gives you perspective on each person and so you are able to feel connected once the suspense hits.

As you imagine Cujo gets bitten by a rabid bat and is obviously infected and he becomes rabid. It is very interesting how we see the change take place from the dog's P.O.V. too, that adds a very charming detail to the story. We see Cujo as he starts to change, he get sick, but the humans around him are not aware and do not provide the help he needs.
I generally like dog in the stories, in this case though I can't say I would have liked to get close to this particular dog those fateful few days mentioned in the story.

The storyline is fluid but we follow so many different perspectives that it can have a negative impact on your enjoyment. It is broken up, we see what is going on to different people at the same time so you get fractions of stories, one after the other all the perspective become relevant but you still might be annoyed as you go from one to the next. 
 It felt like the story was being cut in episodes, we follow the section of Cujo, we follow the men on business trip, then we go back to the suspense of Cujo, then we break away again to follow the people in vacations, then we break away to follow another person in town. It builds up, yet it does not take away from the experience, it was very well blended. This will be completely a personal preference thing, some people might feel disconencted due to the sudden changes or annoyed as the storyline that is more suspenseful is being cut short. It does keep you in the edge of your seat and you want to know, you are stressed without knowing when we go back to the part of Cujo and that delicate situation. So for me it worked very well! 

We see people make mistakes, we see people repent from their actions, we see families be broken up. A los of the people here are not what you would consider exceptional people, they are not good husbands, wives, parents, or more acuqrately said. They make mistakes especially in their relationships among themselves. 

We see a man being violent, abusive towards his wife and son, he is probably an alcoholic. This aspects of him are not see as bad, simply as a that's the way he is too bad. Not even a discussion of getting the police involved or even say its wrong. The wife accepts it as her fate. She does not want her son to become a man like his father, but  she thinks that he is going to end up the same.

We see a husband be totally absorbed by work and his relationship with his wife grows distant. He is not the best husband, but he is trying at least to be a good one and a good father.

We see a woman cheat on her husband but she ends that relationship. The motives she has for the cheating are not something I would accept but that is valid, the way she felt.
What I do not like is the way women are portrayed here. All of them are very weak minded, always expecting a man to save them, accepting violence towards them, argh is aggravating how submissive and totally subservient they are pictured. Following their thoughts, they think the men is the only one who can make things work, the ones that should make decisions, accept violence if it comes from the ehsband. Domestic violence is seen as part of marriage.

It could be a purposeful detail trying to portray the mind of a small town community in the 80s still I find it stressful to see women depicted that way. Still it seems to make a point, towards the end we see something. Women can be strong, even tentative steps, so without that previous depiction, it would lose merit. 

Moving on, I enjoyed the story, we have again a ending I was not expecting. Yet it was very realistic, **SPOLIER COMING We could not have a happy ending, not the way the way the story was going. But the tragedy made it all more real. END**

It really uses suspense, and you might be a bit disgusted, it does mention a few things, that might make sensible people quesy. It describes violence against dogs, a few bloody details of deaths, so be aware if you are sensible to bloody descriptions.

I did not fly through this book but I enjoyed my time with it! I do see this as reread for later times.