... And finally, we have Pet Sematary, which was something of a return to common ground for the author – another example of the spooky, supernatural-thriller. But could Stephen King continue his run of good form?
So it was published back in 1988 but is actually set eight years previous to this ... Read review
Sometimes dead is better... For most families moving is a new beginning. But for the ... more
Creeds it could be the beginning of the end. Because they've just moved in next door to a place that children built with broken dreams the Pet Sematary. It's a tiny patch of land that hides a mysterious Indian burial ground with the powers of resurrection. Master Of The Macabre Stephen King will take you and the Creeds to hell and back. (But the Creeds don't have return tickets.) Your tour guide is kindly old Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynn) the neighborhood nice guy who knows the secrets of life but has seen enough to firmly believe that "sometimes dead is better.
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Sometimes dead is better. For most families moving is a new beginning. But for the ... more
Creeds it could be the beginning of the end. Because they've just moved in next door to a place that children built with broken dreams the Pet Sematary.
Postage & Packaging:£0.00 Availability:3-5 working days
Advantages: Excellent storyline and characters, nice setting, more readable than the majority of King's books, chilling finale Disadvantages: Doesn't create tension or scares until the second half of the story, won't convert those who generally dislike King's writing style
...villains. And finally, we have Pet Sematary, which was something of a return to common ground for the author – another example of the spooky, supernatural-thriller. But could Stephen King continue his run of good form?
So it was published back in 1988 but is actually set eight years previous to this date. The story focuses on thirty-five year-old Louis Creed, as well as his wife Rachel, five year-old daughter Ellie and baby son Gage. ... ...down the years – a pet cemetery, or ‘Sematary’ as the children had spelt it. He explains to young Ellie that there is no harm in going up to the graveyard, provided she doesn’t stray off the path and into the woods beyond. But that’s okay; deadfall blocks the route forward anyhow…
And so the scene is set, with the Creed family settling rather nicely into their new Ludlow lifestyle. A few weeks pass and Louis takes up his new role as ... more
Considering that, in recent years at least, Stephen King has become increasingly hit-and-miss in delivering his horror classics, the late eighties proved to be something of a purple-patch for the veteran American author.
1987’s The Eyes Of The Dragon signalled a fairly radical one-off change for King, both in writing style and in genre, though the end result was a highly atmospheric and innovative fantasy tale. Later that year came Misery; a gut-wrenching lesson in pure horror, featuring one of King’s trademark psychotic villains. And finally, we have Pet Sematary, which was something of a return to common ground for the author – another example of the spooky, supernatural-thriller. But could Stephen King continue his run of good form?
So it was published back in 1988 but is actually set eight years previous to this date. The story focuses on thirty-five year-old Louis Creed, as well as his wife Rachel, five year-old daughter Ellie and baby son Gage. Things start out with the level of equilibrium you would expect – the family have just arrived at their new home, having swapped the busy city life of Chicago for a quieter, somewhat more secluded abode in Ludlow, Maine.
The Creed’s soon meet their new neighbours, the elderly couple of Jud and Norma Crandall, who are eighty and seventy-eight respectively. Despite the considerable age gap and generation divide, Louis can’t help but take a liking to old Jud, and the pair soon find sharing a few beers on the Crandall porch to be a regular event in the evenings. Louis finds himself in awe of the energy level and knowledge his elderly neighbour possesses, and in time they develop a strong bond.
One thing in particular that Louis uncovers from one of his many talks with Jud is of a path that lies behind his house, which leads up to a graveyard for pets who had died in the area of Ludlow dating from the early 20th Century onwards. Jud tells of how the kids of the town had kept the place in use right down the years – a pet cemetery, or ‘Sematary’ as the children had spelt it. He explains to young Ellie that there is no harm in going up to the graveyard, provided she doesn’t stray off the path and into the woods beyond. But that’s okay; deadfall blocks the route forward anyhow…
And so the scene is set, with the Creed family settling rather nicely into their new Ludlow lifestyle. A few weeks pass and Louis takes up his new role as a medical Doctor at the nearby University, and talk about a baptism of fire – his first day brings a young male jogger, dragged in by his friends after a car had ran into him and jarred him against a tree. Closer inspection reveals some truly horrendous injuries; it’s a minor-miracle that the student, Victor Pascow, is still alive at all. To the Doctor’s astonishment, Pascow begins talking to him in his dying moments, giving him a warning – not to cross the ‘barrier’ of the deadfall, and that the place he had been to was not the real cemetery…
…The real cemetery, he discovers, is an ancient Micmac burial ground, which lies roughly three miles into the woods. Jud shows him this place of awesome, almost mesmerising power one night and explains that animals buried there return from the dead. But the catch is, the animals don’t return quite right – they carry a permanent and overpowering smell with them, waddle about drunkenly, and stare out with their dead eyes, revealing occasional and fleeting looks of evil. All present, but not quite correct.
It’s a horrifying thought, but Louis simply cannot stop himself considering whether any humans had actually been buried in the Micmac grounds that lay hidden deep within the foreboding woods, and how they might act following their resurrections…
Pet Sematary doesn’t manage to conjure up the same level of prolonged tension as the likes of Misery, instead opting to start slowly (as many of King’s novels do) and build up as the story develops. Many would argue that the first half of the book is just another example of Stephen King bombarding the reader with unremarkable and irrelevant details – I felt this approach was particularly detrimental to The Shining as it meant the story took an absolute age to really become interesting, but Pet Sematary succeeds much more in this area due to its excellent characters, clear plotline and the feeling that a specific atmosphere is being created, with the reader being directly involved in its development.
For starters, the characters of Louis and (even more so) Jud, are simply superb. As Louis gets to know his neighbour, so too does the reader – it’s difficult not to become rather fond of the eighty year-old and his mannerisms over time, and consequently, this element of the lead characters’ relationship is convincingly dealt with. Louis’ emotionally-charged relationship with his wife typically has its ups and downs, but his children are also relevant and not overly-twee – not always easy to judge in a story of this nature.
The story as a whole flows noticeably more freely than the majority of Stephen King’s other works – it’s fairly long at 424 pages, but there are few if any sections that I felt dragged on too long or would begin to bore the reader. The text wouldn’t appear to be dumbed-down in comparison to his other books, so possibly the setting and basic ideas are good enough to maintain a certain degree of interest and enthusiasm by themselves.
The storyline makes up for the general lack of scares with a clear and wickedly clever premise, one of the best plots in any King novel to date. Certainly, some sections are quite predictable, but they tend to work in a you-know-something-they-don’t manner, and thus use this method to create some genuine tension. King once again opts to branch the story off into several strands during the latter stages, and it all builds towards a horrifying and absolutely hair-raising finale, that remains totally compelling right up until the final line of the short-but-chilling Epilogue.
Should youngsters read Pet Sematary? Well, no they probably shouldn’t is the simple answer. For starters, anyone who thinks ‘cemetery’ begins with an ‘S’ will probably run into a fair few problems as the general vocabulary is aimed at a more adult-orientated audience, not to mention the language becoming rather colourful at times too. Content-wise, there is for once very little gore or violence to speak of (rather a far cry from the aforementioned Misery I’m sure you’ll agree!) until the very climax of the tale, so in this respect it is very much a psychologically-based thriller, with a fair dollop of the supernatural thrown in for good measure.
It takes a fair while before it really delivers the scares, but all-in-all, Pet Sematary is a top-draw horror title. An eerie ‘n’ excellent storyline and strong characters are its main attributes, and though it seems unlikely to convert those who dislike King’s writing style, it will undoubtedly please his fans. Highly recommended.
Advantages: A gripping read Disadvantages: Not as strong as other novels by Stephen King
...written by Stephen King is Pet Sematray. This was one of his earlier books however it has not dated. I read it just a couple of days ago, and the storyline was as original and gripping of one of the 21st Century. Pet Sematary was published in 1983, a year before I was born. Shortly after in 1989 the film Pet Sematary was released, it was describe by some as a poor adaptation of the novel. So what makes Stephen Kings writing skills so amazingly popular, ... ...more is revealed about the Pet Cemetery (spelt sematray) Jud reveals that the cemetery was founded many years ago and all that was buried their was children’s pets that had been killed. Everything seems to be great of the Creed family, they had settled into their new home, the children enjoyed their new neighbourhood and Louis’ job was easier and much more relaxing, however suddenly life goes down hill, when a pupil is rushed into the ...
Honey_Bee 12.03.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Pet Sematary - Stephen King
Advantages: King creates a very "good" atmosphere Disadvantages: You won't be able to sleep well
...better." Absolutely right!
Well, I am off now, to drink a pot of black coffee to make up for all the sleep I lost reading Pet Sematary for the second time last night!
PS.: This was, for the time being, my last review on ciao! See ya! ...
Ronny 01.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Pet Sematary - Stephen King
Advantages: Typical SK scray plot Disadvantages: Predictable in large places
Pet Sematary is a bit of a strange old book, and that's saying something for a Stephen King story. On one hand it's a good and scary basis for a spine-chilling tale, on the other you can tell what's coming from a mile off which nullifies the suspense aspect somewhat. However, without further ado, here is the basic plot, cut cruelly short before you get to spot the awful inevitability.
Dr. Louis Creed moves with his family from the Windy City of ... ...the choice. This is somewhere safe for their children to play and grow. Plenty of places to explore. Especially the wood just tucked up behind the house. There was even a cleared path into the thick of it, flattened by the feet of local children who have taken the lifeless bodies of their beloved pets to their special place. The burial ground.
Here the innocent and sad headstones mark the graves of their animals, who were loving placed into the ...
Salgirl 13.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Pet Sematary - Stephen King
Advantages: An easy and not uninteresting read Disadvantages: Predictable to a large degree
...distraught to find her beloved pet cat dead or was he thinking that he would be blamed for the death of the cat and wouldn’t be the best dad in the world anymore (as far as the daughter was concerned)? The semetary itself is an old Indian burial sight and has its own eerie powers. Now c'mon if someone told you about a place like this you would be curious, sure you would enough to probably go and take a look. But i know I wouldn't test it out ...
LUMP 29.05.2001 (07.06.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Pet Sematary - Stephen King
Advantages: Enjoyable bed time read Disadvantages: Left me wanting more
I found this a good read but it doesn't really get going until the second half although it does keep you gripped.
My only gripe was that I wanted to know what happens after the story ends. Although nothing is left unfinished it did feel like something needed to be said with regards to how the charcters carried on. I especially wanted to know how certain things were explained away, like people returning from the dead. I also felt that some things ... ...daughter having possible psychic powers. It more then hinted at it, as it mentions her dreams and pictures she drew but it doesn't really go into enough detail.
Some of the storyline and characters are of your staple horror genre, death, elderly people, country bumpkins, possible psychic powers, and love. Although for me this did not detract from the storyline at all.
If you enjoy a good horror read, then pick this book up.
I haven't gone in to ...
kell.b 28.05.2008
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Reviews which might be of interest for "Pet Sematary - Stephen King"
Advantages: Fantastic read, involving storyline and characters, long Disadvantages: Some formatting errors, not horrifying at all, inconclusive ending
and your heart to quicken. Particularly with books like PETSEMATARY, he frightens but at the same time there's a kind of perverse addiction to the fear that makes you turn the pages.
Here, King has written something more of a thriller. It's not enormously frightening, but there's a fair bit of action. The gore is perhaps the thing that would scare you the most: it's almost omnipresent in this book.
The Length
The book is a long one - around 480 standard paperback pages - so it's definitely the kind of thing if you want to draw out a good, long story over time, or perhaps you're on a plane journey. It took me the best part of a week to read, and that was with around a 5 hour marathon read through the final 250 pages.
Irritations
I have a few irritations with this book, other than the fact I was sorely hoping to be ...
Advantages: Well paced tale with a woman hero for a change! Disadvantages: The switch from thriller to fantasy/horror is a bit hit and miss.
StephenKing's novels are nothing if not varied. Whether it be the pure horror of a PetSematary or Cujo or the post apocalyptic visions of The Stand and The Dark Tower series no one could ever accuse him of not trying anything new.
Rose Madder is another digression from the horror genre for King as it is not a traditional thriller/schlock horror book to which many associate King with.
Told in the first person our story follows a woman called Rose Daniel?s. After several years of physical and mental abuse from her husband Norman (a highly respected policeman) she finally snaps after losing her baby due to yet another severe beating. Running away with just his credit card and the clothes on her back Rose tries to find a new life for herself in another town.
Will she succeed or will Norman track her down and punish her for daring ...
The house looked right, felt right to Dr Louis Creed. A place where his family could settle, and the children could grow up and explore the rolling hills and meadows. Surely, a safe place. Not a place to seep into your dreams, to wake you, sweating with fear and foreboding.
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