Continuing on my journey of reading all of Stephen King's books in publication order, a re-read was the next item on the list. This re-read led me to change my rating from a 4 to a 5. I believe one of the main reasons it had such a profound impact on me this time is because I have had more exposure to death and grief.

This book truly embodies the essence of horror. It is haunting, and I can understand why people consider it one of the scariest books Stephen King has ever written. It is truly terrifying. Childhood fears never truly leave us, and death will always be scary regardless of age. 'Oz the Great and Terrible' still haunts me days after reading this book. It's not just the descriptions of the deceased and dying that give you the creeps, but the atmosphere built throughout is insane.

It's one of those rare horrors that isn't just plot-driven. You get to know these characters quite intimately, making every loss heart-breaking. I've seen reviews where people say it's slow-burn or slow-paced, but I disagree. Everything that happens in this book had me on the edge of my seat, and I couldn't put it down.

There are parts of the book that are difficult to swallow, but that's what makes this book so special. Sometimes there is no happy ending, no savior, only pain and grief. This one isn't for the faint of heart, and please don't go into this book expecting any resolution.

I also think my higher rating of this book has something to do with reading Stephen King's books in order. There are mentions of quite a few previous works in this book, which is really nice for the constant reader. If you want some real horror in your life, this is where you should be looking. Horrifying!

The Best Thing I've Ever Read

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This book, along with a rather discouraging few other King novels, commences with great promise. It draws the reader in with the kind of three-dimensional characters that King does best.

Unfortunately, it hits a slump halfway through and is unable to recover, meandering its way to a predictable conclusion.

The plot delves into themes of grief, obsession, and reincarnation. The Creed family - Doctor Louis, Rachel, and their two children Ellie and Gage - move to the backwater town of Ludlow in Maine. Ludlow is a nice slice of American life, located halfway between two large townships. It is frequented by huge trucks on shipping runs.

Louis befriends local old-timer Jud and quickly learns about the makeshift cemetery near the Creed's new home. Apparently, generations of residents have used this ground to bury their beloved pets, making it a sort of eerie community tradition.

However, this isn't your typical boring old cemetery. The titular Pet Sematary is actually a front for ancient Micmac burial grounds. It's a spiritual place with deep historic roots. Burying your pet here is said to bring about reincarnation.

After some crazy hijinks, Louis ends up home alone for the weekend with the still-fresh corpse of the family cat, Church. He is faced with the classic parental dilemma: tell Ellie the truth or dabble in the dark arts.

Church comes back a bit dopier than before, with sluggish movements and a permanent earthy smell. The concept of a reanimated cat with a possible sinister Micmac spirit had great potential for tension but ultimately amounted to nothing.

Pet Sematary has a strong premise and a solid opening. King excels at inhabiting his characters, with Rachel and Louis being particularly compelling. However, the book suffers from serious pacing issues and a frustrating conclusion.

The conclusion unfolds like a slow train wreck, with Louis ignoring all common sense and caution to try burying his child in the Pet Sematary. The resulting bloodshed is senseless and a chore to read.

Overall, Pet Sematary is a disappointment. While it has its moments, the pacing issues and weak ending detract from what could have been a great novel. Read The Shining instead.

3.5 ⭐

“All I know is that Pet Sematary is the one I put away in a drawer, thinking I had finally gone too far.” - Stephen King


***SPOILERS AHEAD***

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Reading the reviews of this book, one can see that many are deeply unsettled by its content. Some were so affected that they had to put the book aside temporarily. While I wasn't as strongly affected, I can understand the shared psychological horror. King's novels, as I've come to expect, don't rely on cheap jump scares or bloody murders. Instead, the horror lies in the characters' psychological transformation, often amplified by external supernatural forces. That's not to say he doesn't use generic horror tropes, but they don't overshadow the emotional trauma of the main characters. In fact, some can be quite laughable. Pet Sematary is about fear, loss, and grief, and how these can expose the fragility of our sanity. King excels in making the reader empathize with Louis, the main protagonist. The book forces us to imagine what such pain and loss would mean to us and how we would cope. The scenes where King vividly描绘 Louis' mental anguish are particularly powerful, coercing the reader into a state of artificial empathy. The book itself isn't the true source of horror; it's the personalized thoughts it evokes. It's second-hand trauma that can have an effect on the reader. There are moments, like when Louis relives the Orinco Truck scene, that make your heart feel heavy. The question of what price one would pay to bring back a loved one is central to the story. Louis is forced to answer this and other difficult questions, and his transformation from a grieving father to a man on the brink of insanity is superb. The chronologically parallel POVs towards the end add intensity. While I found the ending a bit weak, the main body of the work is engaging and keeps you turning the pages. Thanks to ~Jo~ for the recommendation!

[Probably a spoiler but are there people reading this book who have no idea what's coming? It feels old enough and popular enough and filmed enough that I think it's fine to talk about it.]

The most terrifying part of this book, which I had been dreading whenever I thought of rereading it, is the death of a child. It's a moment that filled me with horror long before I had a child, long before I was no longer a child myself. The sheer existential horror of that event was captured so clearly. I remember vividly that when I first read it, my heart skipped a beat. And now, almost a year after I reread this, I still feel a weight in my chest just writing about it. The way King describes that scene makes it seem so real, as if it's happening right in front of my eyes.

The rest of it is fine. It's not particularly scary but not not scary either, at least if you're accustomed to reading horror. The nature of the source of the horror cements its particular brand in King's oeuvre here. It's a vaguely understood, otherworldly, demonic type of entity filled with maleficence as its base nature, bleeding into our world. There's a touch of Lovecraft in it, particularly in how even when characters are aware of it, they're helpless to resist its draw. This combination of elements makes the story both familiar and unique, keeping readers on the edge of their seats throughout.

Believe it or not, after reading over 700 books (and I'm sure there are at least 100 that I've forgotten to review over the years), I've never read a Stephen King novel. I've seen a few of the movies based on his works and enjoyed them, such as Dolores Claiborne, Misery, It, Carrie, and The Shining, but I've never actually delved into one of his books. Yep, I'm a bit of a loser in that regard, I know it. But enough self-deprecation for now. Let's move on to the review.

So, I had certain expectations for this book. I knew it was about animals coming back to life, a pet cemetery, some religious overtones, and that it took place in Maine. That was about it. I was expecting gore and horror, and to be honest, I was looking forward to it. Then I read the book, and it probably met about 50% of those expectations in a good way. The rest, not so much. I didn't absolutely love it, but I also didn't dislike it. I can see why it's beloved by many, but I'm not comfortable giving it more than 4 stars.

I won't summarize the plot in detail because I've already said enough that you can probably figure out what goes on. Ultimately, there was a lot more religion or perhaps spiritualism in the book than I expected. It wasn't a bad thing, but in some places, I felt it was either too much or too little. For example, in terms of the connection to a Native American tribe that was brutalized years ago in the area where the main protagonist's family buys a house, a lot was noted or perhaps skim-covered. I wanted to see more vivid details dripping from the pages to truly shock and scare me. However, it was written nearly 40 years ago, so perhaps that wasn't quite the right time frame.
As for the characters, the family was great. I loved the way the relationship between the husband and wife played out. It was true to some of the behaviors from the 1980s, where women weren't always treated fairly, so I overlooked that aspect while also respecting that it was true to the time period. My favorite character was the wife. When she described what happened to her sister when they were children, I thought it was a combination of The Exorcist and Poltergeist all wrapped into one – that was a chilling scene. The interaction among the children with the neighbor, grandparents, and parents was electrifying at times. Sometimes it was light and fluffy, but those scenes were needed to draw a distinct comparison when things got volatile.
The main character often talks to someone in his head or talks out loud. I found myself trying to figure out who it was throughout the book. I'm not sure how important that aspect was, other than to add an element of scare. Which it did at times, but not enough to give me a fully rounded answer that would make me go "OMG" when it all came together. The writing was good and highly descriptive, but at times, it was too wordy. I think the book could have been a bit shorter if some scenes weren't drawn out so painfully. It works as it is, but to make it really pop, I think it needed that missing jagged edge.
Overall, it's a psychological story. If you allow yourself to believe and invest in it, you will be alarmed and scared. If you're looking solely for amazing crazy things to happen, it might not be there for you. I liked how this was handled because there were at least 10 scenes that really made me freak out and turn the pages quickly. I skimmed some lines just to get to the "what's going on here" moment, but I would have rather slowed down and read something scary with each single step.
This book has made me a fan of King's writing. I was already a fan of the story and plot. King is good, I can totally see it, but this probably wasn't his best work. I'm placing bets on Misery or Dolores Claiborne being better – which I need to read soon! What made this a really fun read is that I buddy-read it with my pal, Medhat, and we could chat about it each day as we were reading along together. I can't wait to see his review and will link it up once it's published.

“You learned to accept, or you ended up in a small room writing letters home with Crayolas.” This powerful statement sets the tone for a thought-provoking exploration.

On my journey to complete all of Stephen King’s books, I never expected to encounter a work as therapeutically profound as Pet Sematary. It is a timeless horror tale that delves deep into themes of loss, grief, and judgment. As someone who ponders death more frequently than the average individual, this book had the remarkable ability to soothe some of my anxiety surrounding the topic. It poses the crucial question: what exactly are we afraid of when we contemplate death?

This is my second favorite King story thus far. My top pick, The Shining, shares a common element with Pet Sematary. Both center around men striving to come to terms with the demons lurking within their minds. King is a virtuoso at penetrating the psyche of a character, vividly描绘 their worst fears, their hidden secrets, and the gradual descent into madness. In both novels, it is evident that King is grappling with his own inner demons as well. This is what I hold in the highest regard about King. He has the courage to insert himself into his novels while simultaneously exploring the demons within his own head.

As a horror genre enthusiast, I believe that no book or movie is as terrifying as it claims to be. From creepy basements, unknown gods, ghosts under the bed, cannibal doctors, or the phone call that hypnotizes you to commit suicide... Most of them are more comical than scary. In fact, my reaction to most of the productions of this genre is a big yawn, and at best, hysterical laughter. But horror? Fear? Sleeplessness? No way.

Yet, why am I still a fan of this genre? Because of the few excellent horror works that freeze my entire existence, like the book "Pet Sematary".

This book is not an ordinary horror novel because it does not rely on wild beasts, lightning-struck killers, lurking shadows at night, or supernatural elements and Lovecraftian spaces (although it is not completely devoid of these elements). Instead, it is extremely terrifying, even worse and further than that. This book is full of grief and sorrow, a bone-burning tragedy. Reading the parts related to death in this book is not easy at all, like opening the scabs of a deep and large wound that is going to be painful and deeply hurtful, and how well Mr. King does his job.

Apart from the ordinary parts and exciting and thrilling events, and despite the extremely sad and painful content of this book, I really liked it and enjoyed reading it (especially because of the company and empathy of my dear co-reader). I think this book was special, unique in a way.

Well, let's see what exactly this book is special about? In short, and without the risk of spoiling (after all, there is a fine line between writing a review and spoiling that I can hardly distinguish), it can be said that a happy four-person family moves to their new house, and on the very first day, they find a dirt road behind the house that leads to a "Pet Sematary" or a cemetery for domestic animals in the nearby forest. This cemetery is a place where local children have been burying their domestic animals with a special ceremony since decades ago until now. And now, from the very first day of this discovery, the story begins, and while everything seems very simple and predictable, and the reader is expecting the attack of supernatural forces and ghosts from the cemetery, the real horror takes shape in a different way and at deeper levels and attacks you.

This book is written in three parts, and the main story actually starts from the second part because in the first part, we get to know the family and their life problems and challenges and witness their interactions, and after that, the excitement and horror begin and reach their peak, until I can say that it confronts you with the greatest fears of your life and then destroys you. And finally, in the third part, great confusion and an ambiguous ending take shape that completes the argument.

I must warn that this story is not for the weak, and in fact, although it is the best story of Stephen King, it is also the most painful, bitterest, and darkest story.

Why? Because in the novel "Pet Sematary", the element that creates horror is not any of the familiar and common elements of the horror genre, but that which throws a person into horror from reading just one more line of the book, the reality of death. Mr. King, in this story, by introducing the psychological horror of the fear of the death of the dearest people in life, seizes our hearts and minds and deprives us of sleep.

I end the review with a quote from Mr. King in an interview who says: "Everyone in life reaches a point where they have to come to terms with something that is inexplicable to them, whether your doctor tells you that you have cancer or about spirits or bloodthirsty people or Nazi war criminals who live in your neighborhood... But what I am interested in, more than wild animals and bloodthirsty people and ghouls and spirits, is the penetration of extraordinary things into the ordinary lives of people and how we deal with them and the society in which we live."

In the end, I suggest that you read this book in its original language, and if for any reason it is not possible, only get the translation by Amirhossein Qazi published by Azarpad, because in my comparison, this translation is not censored. But definitely do not read the translation by Afsaneh Mohammad Shahrokh published by Kitabsaray Mirdashti, which is also available on Feedipolis, because it is censored in a strange way, brutally butchered the book, and even changed the names of the characters in a stupid way.

I don't typically pen scathing book reviews. I usually give a book the benefit of the doubt, even when it's not overly remarkable. However, I felt so strongly about this particular work that I simply had to express my thoughts. This was my very first Stephen King book, and I was overjoyed to delve into the self-proclaimed scariest novel of the King of horror.

To say that I am disappointed in this book is an extreme understatement.

This book fails to be scary in the slightest. I'm a complete wimp, yet I wasn't even minimally spooked at any point. Many aspects of this book are simply unbelievable and burdened with those adverbs that King claims to despise, along with unnecessary details.

Reading this book was a laborious task. I managed to get 300 pages in and then had to start skipping entire paragraphs in a futile attempt to reach the "good" parts that never materialized. As a general rule, I never skip any part of a book, not even a single word. But King's detail-laden, cumbersome paragraphs were arduous to plow through and often yanked readers out of the action for pages on end.

From a writer's perspective, I'm appalled that King saved the bulk of the action for the final 60 pages. You can call it building suspense if you wish, but I consider it a cop-out, a cheap ending that left far too many questions unanswered and made me feel as if I'd squandered several days of my life.

He includes minuscule details about things we couldn't care less about: Surrendra's family being locked up back home due to political protests, the couple strolling around Mason St while Louis is digging up Gage's grave, which, on its own, was a half-page of exposition that we could have easily done without. While Louis is climbing the tree to enter the graveyard, he concocts five grave puns. Five! Yet he hasn't even considered how he's going to retrieve his son's body from the cemetery. It's not even remotely believable or realistic.

I'm also not a fan of how he reveals the plot. We don't witness Gage's death. His conveniently omniscient narrator informs us later that he's hit by a truck. If this is supposed to be a horror book, I渴望 to see two-year-old intestines, undeveloped brains splattered across the highway. I want to see that truck hurtling directly towards him. I desire that moment of impact, the crunch of a baby's bones. THAT would give me nightmares. I don't want to commence part 2 and have a narrator tell me "Louis Creed might have harbored some of these feelings had he been thinking rationally following his son's funeral." (Paraphrased.)

Pascow's character was also contrived, and that was one of the greatest disappointments for me. There was no genuine connection between his death and the overall plot. Yes, I suppose he was intended to warn Louis of the impending dangers, but he stuck out like a sore thumb. From what we know, Pascow has no connection to the Pet Semetary whatsoever. He's merely a plot device, and a poorly executed one at that.

I had higher expectations from the King of horror. I don't think I'll be reading any more of his books, which is a pity. I think I'll just stick to the films.

This rereading gave me a new perspective on this novel. That's why currently I like it more than that time when I read it for the first time, approximately eleven years ago.

"Pet Sematary" is one of those disturbing horror novels where death lurks around every corner, waiting for someone or something to fall into its clutches. I consider it a horror novel about the denial of death. About that sensation that creeps into your guts, about how unbearable the simple idea of letting go of a loved one is. That, plus all the paranormal elements that surround this plot. But mainly, I think the core is death and the impossibility of naturalizing it, the desperation of feeling it so close. This book is definitely one of my favorites by King. It generates many varied feelings in me: sadness, terror, anxiety, nostalgia. Every page is worth it, of that I have no doubt.

On the other hand, the mythology that surrounds the cemetery is fascinating. The whole theme of the Wendigo, the Micmacs, is pure and hard legend, of those that are told in small places where everything also happens...

I made a video review on my channel. For those who like to visit it: https://youtu.be/4s5vvqFtXtg

Rural Maine appears to be an idyllic safe haven for a family to rear their children.

There are no noxious fumes, minimal crime, and they are enveloped by nature and animals rather than the hustle and bustle of business.

Nevertheless, one of these very elements rapidly transforms this dream location into a nightmarish setting.

King is the unrivaled master of horror. This famous creation was no different.

I expected a thrilling and terrifying read, which is precisely what was provided, yet I was unprepared for the harrowing storyline it also boasted.

Vivid and horrifying scenes were scattered throughout the text, but it was the subtle undercurrent of dread, which was continuously developed, that made my heart race and my skin crawl.

The focus on the hearts of the characters ensured that my emotions could not be disentangled from their plight.

It was a truly immersive and spine-chilling experience that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

Stephen King's horror works are always an exciting adventure. In "Pet Sematary", Dr. Louis Creed moves his family from Chicago to a Maine town. There, they discover the strange secrets of their new home and the local cemetery. The story is filled with wonderfully tangential material that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.

Louis Creed is a complex protagonist who has seen a lot in his life. When he meets Jud Crandall, he finds a great father figure and loyal friend. However, as he discovers the dark secrets of the pet sematary, he is faced with difficult decisions that will change his life forever.

The supporting characters in the book are also well-developed, adding depth and complexity to the story. King's use of a large number of characters enriches the narrative and offers unexpected twists and turns.

The plot of "Pet Sematary" develops at a slow and steady pace, building tension and suspense as the story unfolds. King masterfully weaves together elements of horror, mystery, and drama to create a truly unforgettable reading experience.

Overall, "Pet Sematary" is a must-read for fans of Stephen King and horror literature in general. It is a bone-chilling tale that will leave you thinking long after you have turned the last page.