Pet Sematary by Stephen King

 

Pet Sematary

by Stephen King

There is a lot of hype surrounding this book. It is one of King's most beloved stories that deals heavily with loss and grief, and ruminates on the uncertainty of death and what happens after. I expected to love it.

The story follows Louis Creed as he moves with his wife Rachel and their two kids, Ellie and Gage, from the Midwest to Maine. Louis has gotten a job as a doctor in the university hospital and has purchased a house along a very busy road, where large Orinco trucks have made many animals their victims. As such, the Creed property adjoins a pet cemetery where many kids throughout the decades have laid their pets to rest.

But a sinister and macabre history is also attached to the cemetery, which Louis's new neighbor Jud tells him about with first-hand experience of the power of the place. Past the pet cemetery is an old Micmac Indian burial ground, where some pets have been taken with the idea that their corpses would come back to life. Jud himself can attest to it. After the Creeds' cat Church falls victim to one of the trucks Jud decides to take the cat there so that Ellie will not know he has been killed. She is very atatched to the cat and has worried over what would happen to Church if he died. And Church comes back to live after a few days, showing up at the house. But he's very different: slimy and creepy, with jerking movements and a mysterious way of always getting into the house when put out. Also, he's a vicious killer of other small creatures.

When a tragic accident befalls Gage, Louis decides to do the thing he has been warned not to do. But the Micmac burial ground plays host to other hidden powers, things that corrupt the mind of those who know about it and have been there. Ignoring Jud's wise words, Louis decides to take Gage there, but the boy comes back evil. When Louis does what has to be done in the wake of Gage's killing spree, he loses his sanity and the cycle continues.

I liked King's build-up because I like how immersive he is with the setting and the characters. Here's what I wish would have happened: During part two it was obvious that Gage would die and that Louis would bury him in the Micmac burial ground, but I think the story would have been far more effective and interesting if he had had the characters have to live with the reanimated evil Gage and deal with those circumstances before the inevitable ending. I was disappointed at the speed of the ending parts with Gage. I wanted King to explore that more. Instead, he rushed the ending with Louis just killing him so fast. I think the ending would have worked far better if Louis had to deal with the consequences for a longer time. I wanted to see how Rachel and Ellie would have dealt with Gage and how evil Gage could have been with them. I think the punch of the ending with Louis still deciding to take Rachel's body to the burial ground would have been more emotionally wrought.

I gave it 4 stars because there was a lot I liked. I found some pacing issues, but overall I like the slower build-up. I liked the sense of grief and loss and the rumination on death and dying, especially Ellie's struggle to understand and come to terms with the ideas. However, I wanted more grief and loss, and that's where I think more time spent with the reanimated Gage would have served the story better. Up to this point I think Christine and Cujo were both better books front to back.

There were mentions in Pet Semetary of other King stories: references to Cujo and the town of Jerusalem's Lot, mention of a woman named Betty Coslaw (the last name of which also belonged to Marty in Cycle of the Werewolf), and an offhand remark on the saying, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," which is a reference to Jack in The Shining.