That ending though...

It truly came as a surprise. This story ended up being very different than what I initially expected.

The build-up led me to anticipate one thing, but the actual conclusion took a completely unexpected turn.

It's one of those situations where the less you know about it going in, the better.

Because if you have any preconceived notions or expectations, they might just be shattered.

The element of surprise adds an extra layer of excitement and intrigue to the whole experience.

It makes you realize that sometimes, the best stories are the ones that catch you off guard and take you on a journey you never saw coming.

So, if you come across something like this, it's best to approach it with an open mind and let the story unfold naturally.

You might just be in for a pleasant surprise.

Since I recently watched the remake of the 80s film, I felt an urge to re-read Pet Sematary once more. This was a decision that I did not regret for a moment.

It is truly a phenomenally good book that has only grown in my estimation over the years. In fact, I first read it back in the 80s.

On one hand, it is filled with numerous excellent horror elements. There is the spooky cemetery, the terrifying Wendigo, the creepy Zelda, and those who return from that fateful place, like Church or Gadge.

On the other hand, it describes in a relentless manner what occurs when man attempts to play God and resurrect the dead. Sometimes, it is indeed better to let the dead stay dead.

The people who come back from the Micmac place are changed in a very unpleasant way. Lazarus is a powerful motif that runs throughout the book.

The entire story is masterfully plotted and told. Jud Crandall is a very sinister character who leads Louis into temptation. The old Micmac burial place is brilliant and ranks among the eeriest locations in horror literature.

Vic Pascow's warnings unfortunately come too late. The book delves deep into the themes of death and what lies beyond. It is not just your typical 80s horror story but also a very philosophical one.

This book truly makes you think about life and death. It is an absolutely awesome novel that is a must-read. I am extremely glad that I chose to read this book again in my more advanced years.

”It’s probably wrong to believe there can be any limit to the horror which the human mind can experience. On the contrary, it seems that some exponential effect begins to obtain as deeper and deeper darkness falls. As little as one may like to admit it, human experience tends, in a good many ways, to support the idea that when the nightmare grows black enough, horror spawns horror. One coincidental evil begets other, often more deliberate evils, until finally blackness seems to cover everything. And the most terrifying question of all may be just how much horror the human mind can stand and still maintain a wakeful, staring, unrelenting sanity.”

In the introduction to this edition, Stephen King manages to start the tingles and shivers running up and down my back before I ever read a word of the novel. When a writer like Stephen King says this is the book he wrote that scared him the most, I wonder if I am going to be opening a door in my own mind that I would rather keep triple padlocked with the key lost in a different dimension.

We’ve all speculated about all the horrors that are fighting for space in King’s mind. How does he sleep at night? I’m just a dabbler, but I will tell you that my thought is he sleeps very well as long as he is able to write each day. Whenever I am being harassed by a story or even maybe just a compelling character, I will find no peace until that concept or character is committed to paper, well pixels.

The reason that King finished this book and his initial reaction to the story was to slam it into a drawer and forget it about it is because the plotting of the novel intersected with his life in real time. His daughter, her cat, and the place they were living when he wrote the novel are all captured in the squiggles of his prose. When he finished, he realized he had written a novel he wasn’t sure he should have brought into being. Can a novel become reality?

The nightmares in this novel are too personal. It makes perfect sense to me to feel compelled to stab a sharp stake through the heart of a manuscript.

When Dr. Louis Creed moves his family from Boston to rural Maine, he certainly has preconceived notions about what it will be like to live in the country. Of course, I grew up in the country, and I could have told Louis that there are many hazards for children, pets, and even adults in the country. Leaving Boston behind might have felt like escaping the perils of the city, but all he did was jump from one frying pan into another. The semi-trucks barrelling down the highway outside their house are not only loud but also pushing the pedal to the metal. They are rolling tanks; only a tank’s top speed is 45 miles per hour while a semi on a flat road can go about as fast it wants to go.

The other problem Dr. Louis Creed has is that he doesn’t realize he is a character in a Stephen King novel. Never good. Never good at all.

There is a Pet Cemetery, spelled Sematary, not far from their house. It is a spooky place, but beyond the edges of the cemetery is where things get really interesting. The neighbor, 80 year old Jud Crandall, fills Louis in on the local lore. “‘The Micmacs believed this hill was a magic place,’ he said. ‘Believed this whole forest, from the swamp on north and east was magic. They made this place, and they buried their dead here, away from everything else. Other tribes steered clear of it—the Penobscots said these woods were full of ghosts.’”

There is talk that, if something is buried there, it will… “Sometimes, dead is better” and states that “the place has a power... its own evil purpose.” But what if something is telling you to go there? What if you wake up in the morning with your head full of restless dreams and caked mud on the bottoms of your feet?

This can’t really be happening to Louis. There must be a sensible explanation. There is no one more rational about death than Doctor Louis Creed, but death is easy to be rational about until someone you love dies and you start to believe there is another option.

The basic structure of the plot will be sussed out by readers fairly early in the book. They will know where things are heading. “It’s the road. It uses up a lot of animals, that road does. Dogs and cats, mostly, but that ain’t all.” The devil is in the details. The real horror is in the growing terror surrounding each new decision. The slow degradation of the Creed family, of rationality, and even joy kept sending chills down my back. Irresistible temptation always seems to be wrapped in evil. “Let them be anything but the creatures which leap and crawl and slither and shamble in the world between. Let there be God, let there be Sunday morning, let there be smiling Episcopalian ministers in shining white surplices... but let there not be these dark and draggling horrors on the nightside of the universe.”

Wishes coming true can be the real horror. What Stephen King does very well is create situations, even implausible situations, and convinces us that WE can be in the middle of something this insidious. We don’t feel like these things are happening to other people. We feel like we are smack dab in the middle of all the horror.

”Death is a mystery, and burial is a secret”. Highly recommended!

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com

I also have a Facebook blogger page at: https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten

A truly painful and deeply disturbing book about death, which undoubtedly ranks among my favorites by King.

Pet Sematary as a novel and an exploration of its sole theme is a vivid example of death personified day in and day out, in large numbers. One day it could be a university student; the next day, the tender pet of your home, the kind neighbor, or someone very dear in your family. From the moment the novel begins, it greets us with a death and ends precisely with death lurking in every part, on every corner, in every dark and secluded place. It starts and concludes marked by the same events.

Now, speaking a bit about the plot (and perhaps some slight spoilers), personally, I never saw that town and its paranormal atmosphere as the puppet master that led Jud to reveal the secret of the cemetery or Louis to do what he did with his family. On the contrary, the secret of Jud and the Micmac cemetery is precisely the desire for someone else to know that there is a possibility of "life" after death.

Clearly, there was something very powerful and diabolical in that place that exerted its power. But for me, it is a book that focuses purely and specifically on the mental havoc that death leaves on people, on how one is not adequately prepared to face loss and grief; that void that is difficult to fill but is taken to a truly twisted, macabre, and terribly painful extreme. Just as the master Stephen King does in one of his best novels: with spine-chilling scenes, full of suspense until a spectacular climax, and that above all, makes your hair stand on end on many occasions.

I loved it because it is a very psychological horror that keeps you tense most of the time in the scenes that occur and also makes you think; it makes you consider the fact of the possibility of giving life again to our loved ones but how this brings its serious consequences. And that is why I just think that it is a book that takes as an exercise the reflection on death and how this, perhaps, is the greatest terror of all people. It is a great book, one of the best of King, and that is why it will always be immediately in my top of the best readings and that I recommend to everyone.

4.5/5 ⭐


Full review on my Blog: The Dacian She-Wolf

Aqui jaz Matheus “Editheus” Madeira, a hypothetically heterosexual and happily married editor. After reading Stephen King's "The Cemetery", he is filled with a myriad of emotions. This work by the master Stephen King has taken him on a journey to a world completely different from the one he is accustomed to. He has dealt with a story that often makes him think about the meaning of life and death. It is precisely this kind of aesthetics in a book that moves him. It's not just a magnificent story, but there are also many elements about the meaning of our lives being questioned.

As he is used to reading before going to bed, he has even had moments of nightmares in his deepest sleeps (his fiancée can confirm this). But it's not about him feeling any kind of fear or terror about the story presented there. It's more about the way the writing can transport him to that universe. So much so that when he stops reading, he has difficulties in getting rid of the anguish and tension that comes with the unfolding of the story. It's a feeling that persists throughout the days until he actually finishes this reading.

That said, at this moment, he consecrates his rating in front of this excellent public of the live and this woman by his side. For him, this cemetery was more of an "inteirotério" (a play on words meaning something like "entirely fascinating") because of how fascinating he found the story. However, some details at the end didn't appeal to him as much, which makes him sanction a total of 4.7 famous "edilikes" (a made-up term perhaps related to his editorial opinion). Thank you for the company in this review. Follow him on TikTok @editheusreviewsforgoodreadersofliteratury and also on his Clubhouse. A big kiss to all.

Stephen King's legacy is bound to be extensive, and I firmly believe this. We will still be reading his works hundreds of years from now, just as we have continued to read Poe, Dickens, and many others. Among all his masterpieces, however, I hold the somewhat unpopular view that Pet Sematary is his greatest work. Re-reading it now only serves to confirm this opinion.

When I first read Pet Sematary, I couldn't have been older than 13, and I immediately knew it was more than a typical scary story. For one thing, it made me feel decades older and wiser, more in tune with human nature. King has always been good at character development, but he really delves deep with Louis Creed. There are many novels that depict death well, such as James Agee's A Death in the Family, but ironically, it's this gothic horror novel that illustrates it best. Death isn't beautiful, and surviving it can be just as grotesque. Pet Sematary presents all of this to us, and more. Much more than we might want to see, but perhaps we need to see it to understand.

We often yell at the characters in horror movies for doing stupid things, and arguably, Louis Creed does some stupid things in this book. King adds a supernatural element as a justification, but let's be honest - no justification is really needed. Creed and his decisions are as relatable as they are tragic, something that has never been quite achieved, at least not on the same level, with Jack Torrance, Annie Wilkes, or Carrie White. I'm not knocking those other books; I'm a fan of them too. But that's why I think Pet Sematary is King's greatest achievement.

For those who are interested in reading this book, whether for the first time or the 20th, I highly recommend the new audio version narrated by Michael C. Hall. His outstanding performance enriches the novel in ways I hadn't noticed before.

It brings the story to life and allows the listener to fully immerse themselves in the horror and tragedy that unfolds.

Hall's voice adds an extra layer of depth and emotion to the characters, making them even more believable and engaging.

If you haven't already, give this audio version a try and experience Pet Sematary in a whole new way.

Over the past few weeks, I have embarked on a reading journey, starting at least six or seven books. However, much to my disappointment, I have given up on all of them. In fact, I haven't even bothered to post reviews of those that I abandoned onto Goodreads.

To console myself, I have turned to some comfort activities. I indulged in comfort watching, specifically David Soul and James Mason in Salem's Lot. I also engaged in some comfort eating. And for comfort reading, I picked up a (rather depressing!) Stephen King novel.

I must admit that Pet Semetary is not a light-hearted or cheerful book, but it is undeniably a great one. The plot's outline is inspired by Stephen King's own life experiences. The house located on a perilous road, the tragic death of a family cat, and the existence of the pet cemetery - all these elements are drawn from King's real life. It was only after these events that he began to wonder, "What if....?" And this line of thinking led to the creation of one of his finest novels.

I find it extremely difficult to find any flaws in this story. It was an absolute delight to read it again. Jud Crandall remains my favorite character in the book, and I can't help but hear the voice of actor Fred Gwynne (who portrayed him in the 1989 film adaptation) as I read.

Pet Semetary is truly a remarkable book that is well worth revisiting. If you have never read it or have never re-read it, what are you waiting for? As The Ramones would say: "Hey-ho, let's go."

I absolutely LOVED rereading Pet Sematary. The experience filled my whole heart with nostalgic glee.

King's masterful storytelling is on full display here. It's a perfect example of his style. If you have never read a King novel, this could be a good place for you to start.

Classic King is definitely my comfort place; it's where I choose to live. This beloved story was somehow even more enjoyable the second time through!

When Dr. Louis Creed decides to move his growing family from Chicago to Maine, he could never guess how much that one decision could impact their lives.

Like another good 'doctor' before him, Victor Frankenstein, Louis is about to discover the hard way that...

This is really such an incredible story. King's writing draws you in and holds onto you until the bitter end.

As with many of his tales, there is an overriding feeling of dread and an ominous atmosphere that seeps through every page. It gets in your mind and stays there.

The first time I read this, I was in high school. It was the early-90s and this was one of the scariest books I had ever read.

I am in 40 now and this is still one of the scariest books I have ever read. In 1983, when this was originally published, I can imagine that it was heralded as a ground-breaking piece of horror fiction.

In addition to still loving the characters, I picked up on a lot of details this time around that I don't recall noticing the first time.

As an alumna of the University of Maine at Orono, where Dr. Creed takes a position as head of the student health center, I really enjoyed reading the small sections of the story that took place on campus.

Side Note: The incident he describes with the fraternity boys who were brought in after crashing their toboggan gave me a good chuckle.

My husband's fraternity was at the top of the hill facing the old steam plant. The one with the cannon replicas on it. We used to do all sorts of things on that hill including sledding, snowboarding and even 'slip-n-sliding' in the summer. Yes, injuries ensued.

Another detail I picked up on this time around that I either didn't understand on the first go, or had simply forgotten, was all of the references to the legend of the 'wendigo'.

When I was in high school I may have assumed this was something King made up instead of a reference to an actual mythical man-eating creature straight out of Algonquin folklore.

You see, we didn't have Google at that time...

And although I cringed during all scenes related to Church, he was treated so unfairly, I am so happy with this reread. I can definitely picture myself picking this up again and again for years to come.

An definitive classic!

And perhaps the most terrifying query of all might just be precisely how much horror the human psyche can endure while still preserving a wakeful, staring, unyielding sanity.



This is my second reading, and it still firmly remains my favorite book that I've read thus far.


_______________


Once upon a time, when I was a child, I vividly remember having a conversation with my family regarding horror movies. Somebody posed the question of what was the scariest movie one had watched, and my mom, without a moment's hesitation, said 'Pet Sematary'. I recall laughing and exclaiming 'How on earth could a movie named Pet Sematary be scary?' Fast forward to the present, and I have completely changed my mind.



This book is indubitably the scariest and creepiest book I have ever laid my eyes on, and I'm certain it will retain the top position for a very long time. It made me ponder upon things that I neither desire nor am willing to think about. One such thing is death. Most of us shy away from thinking about death because we naively believe that we are invincible... But alas, we are not. Just as this book so aptly states, Oz the Great and Terrible (or perhaps I should say Gweat and Tewwible?) is always lurking close by... waiting.



At several points, I even contemplated putting the book down because it was all just too overwhelming, but I simply couldn't. I was unable to stop reading because I was absolutely dying (no pun intended) to know what was going to unfold next. I suppose horror books have that effect on you.



In conclusion, this is an amazing book, and I will definitely be re-reading it in the (very, very distant) future.

Wow. Just wow. I've put off reading this one for years because, well.... I'm a wimp. There, I said it. When one of the most well-known names in the contemporary era of the horror genre, Stephen King, says something is his scariest book, I take note. It seems bizarre that I finally chose to tackle this one while having children the same age as Louis Creed's. But it was precisely the perfect time to pick this up.

I listened to almost the entire book over a 24-hour period while on a road trip. The experience was unparalleled to any I've had in the scope of reading thus far. Side note, Michael C. Hall was the most excellent narrator for this. What likely was a 4-star read initially became a 5-star with no second thought. If you haven't experienced this version I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Rather than a gory, blood and guts type of horror, this is a slow-burning, queasy unease that explodes in the final chapters. The suspense nearly did kill me. By the final 25%, I found myself wringing my hands and grinding my teeth, preparing myself for the inevitable that I knew was coming, deep down, ever since the beginning. I don't think I could have fully appreciated what King intended to accomplish with this novel if I'd read it before having children of my own. That's not to say that people without kids won't appreciate this as highly, just a statement in my own personal journey. Only King can accomplish so much horror with so little bloodshed.

I finished this days ago but have held off on reviewing until now because I feel like I'm still processing and I can't stop thinking about everything that occurred to this family. I had spent so much time prior to reading this book in preparing myself for the big "things" that I was completely taken aback by how connected I became to the Creed family. This is why the detailed, slow burn is so effective. If I didn't care about this family, their neighbors, and the town in general, why would what happens at the end stick with me for the long haul? Oh sure, I would have gasped and guffawed at the disturbing nature of the plot, but I wouldn't have been emotionally invested.

If you've been hiding under a rock for the past few decades and are just catching up on your Stephen King backlog, like me, I highly recommend picking this up. It's not just about the scares with this one, but the contemplation on how grief can turn any of us into a monster. By far the best audible book I've chosen yet.

Each time I have the intention to read this book once more, I end up hiding beneath the blankets and screaming aloud.

My very first self-scream contest commenced when I was a young and naïve kid suffering from pantophobia, which means I was scared of everything.

I was in the music club in the 7th grade, and I truly despised every single moment of it. At that age, I still had no clue as to why they selected me to sing with them when my voice could traumatize little babies and puppies. Anyway, instead of looking at the song lyrics we were supposed to perform, I always concealed a Stephen King book inside my music folder and read it during practice! But on the day I read "Pet Sematary," I began to scream as I reached the chapters where the evil Gage returned from the dead! That was the moment I proved that I had the strongest vocal cords, thus earning my nickname as baby Jamie Lee Curtis!

This book might be the creepiest, most tear-jerking, and traumatizing book that the king of authors has ever written. The ending was freaking amazing! Perhaps it was the best conclusion the author has ever penned!

In the 2019 movie adaptation, they changed the original finale, which was also good, but I still maintain that the book was so much better!