Pet Sematary

 Author: Stephen King 

Genre: Horror

Original publication date: November 14, 1983

Book description: 

"Sometimes dead is better...."

When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: physician father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son—and now an idyllic home. As a family, they’ve got it all...right down to the friendly cat.

But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth—more terrifying than death itself...and hideously more powerful

Thoughts:

Sometimes dead is better. That sure is a phrase you don't hear all the time. I am just very surprised that I had not read this book until now. It is one of the most popular books of his. 

Moving on.

We start with a family who moves to this small town on Main. They get there and say hello to their neighbors, an elderly couple. The main character is a doctor who is going to work in the University instead of a hospital but he comes off as a bit pretentious. He does not want to get close to the couple as he finds it annoying to be the go-to medic and people always coming to him for consultation. Even after completing the whole book, this happened only once maybe. It could be because the story was not focused on many characters.

It is very fast-paced in a way. There is no overall plot, we follow the day-to-day of the family. It is not the same vibe of scary as a ghost/zombie story as I expected but scary nonetheless. Louis is a good father, he has a few issues like any normal human being. The issues between the man and the parents of his wife are understandable. We have Gage a lovely child, small and innocent and it is heartbreaking what you see. (You'll get it if you have read it, if not believe me the scariest and most heartwrenching part is once we get to this incident with Gage).

The way I was reading this, it took me a few days to get to the half waypoint. We are following the family drama, we are following the legends and the introduction of a mysterious land which is in the woods behind the Creed's house. It is creepy but not too scary. Then we get to the halfway point maybe and things begin to happen. Again the way it is written captures you. We see them be destroyed, we explore grief, decisions are taken in a moment of deseperation. You can't say it is the best but then again how could you not?

Louis is tormented, his family is a mess and he takes decisions that you might not agree with. Yet they are totally understandable. Even that ending makes perfect sense. This is one of the most impactful stories I have read in a long time. King makes you feel so much for these characters.

I gave this:

This is very vague and it tells you nothing but it's the best way to go into this story. It is a book you can't put down. Do try to read it when you have a good chunk of time, it's one of those occasions where you have an interminable long shift at work because you just need to be done with the workday so you can go back to reading. 

I highly recommend this book. It is not scary in the typical way, not the jump scare you are afraid things will come out in the dark and attack you. But in the realistic family tragic way. Be warned we have the death of several characters and it can be very triggering for some people. For me, the sadness, the grief, the loss - affected me more than the "scary" parts.

That is it for now. If anyone else has read this book feel free to let me know what they rated it as and what their most impactful part was.

Stay safe, stay healthy. See you!