Name: Pet Sematary
Rating: 3.974245115452931 (563 reviews)
ISBN: 9781508278719

Stephen King

Michael C. Hall

A Novel

Pet Sematary

When a little boy's pet dies, and he persuades his parents to bury it in an old Indian cemetary, reputed by legend to house restless spirits, a nightmare of death and destruction begins as deceased animals come back to life, in a new edition of the best-selling novel, featuring an introduction by the author. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.

I read an interview with Stephen King where he stated that Pet Sematary is the one of his novels that frightened him the most. I can totally relate to that. 

After the first half that reads more like a quiet family story about a doctor who moves into a small town with his family, it goes downhill from there. I don't want to spoil anything, even though I'm pretty sure that most people already know what's happening next, but it is really devastating.

What stood out for me is the emotional impact the story had, and I think it's one of the best examples of Stephen King's mastery of storytelling. 

I can recommend this book wholeheartedly, but I also have to say that the cover here on Literal is without a doubt the worst book cover I've ever seen. I am talking about this comic book thing with the crying guy. It's terrible in its own right, and for this book, it's even worse because it doesn't fit the whole thing at all. 

Peter Müller

When Louis Creed moves his family to Ludlow, Maine, it seems the perfect place for them. But after the family cat dies and Louis buries it in an old Indian burial ground, a horrible nightmare begins.

Greg Brewer

Pet Sematary by Stephen King is a horror classic that explores the themes of grief, loss, and the consequences of playing God. The story centers around the Creed family, who move to a small town in Maine and discover an ancient burial ground in the nearby woods. When their beloved cat is killed in a tragic accident, they turn to the mysterious graveyard to bring him back to life, but the consequences are far more terrible than they could have imagined. King's writing is masterful, creating a sense of unease and dread that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. The characters are fully realized and the plot is both emotionally powerful and terrifying. Pet Sematary is not for the faint of heart, but it is a must-read for fans of horror and dark fiction.

Greg Talbot

"Dr. Septimus Pretorius: Do you know who Henry Frankenstein is, who you are? The Monster: Yes, I know... made me from dead... I love dead... hate living. Dr. Septimus Pretorius: You are wise in your generation." - Bride of Frankenstein (dir. James Whale, 1935) If the recent spat of high-profile art-house horror movies (Hereditary, The Babadook, The Witch, Conjuring) have taught us anything, it's that the appetite for original horror stories is as strong as ever, and that there is nothing horrific as the disintegration of family. Pet Sematary, citied by King and his legion of fans as his scariest book, is a "down-the-pipe" speedball toward the safety net of familial life. A masterwork of gloom and dread, King wrestled with sharing this work, for it's bleakness was leagues crueler than the genre usually allows for. Cohesive, well-structured, and full of literary allusions (Wuthering Heights, Lovecraft, biblical), i'm reminded reading King's work just how much control he has on narrative structure. He may be a master of the domain of horror, but his writing reflects well planned and tight-knit structure that any writer would be proud of. Like so much of King's best work, he can tease out a horror over a lengthy page-length. Although his short stories are tighter, and generally scarier, you have to admire the level of atmosphere he can conjure up as this family goes through dream sequences, past-reflections, imaginations of the future, and tear-jerking pictures of a once happy family. The effectiveness of this story for me is mostly with the first half. The groundedness of a family being tickled with the prickly sensation there is a deeper Lovecraftian mysticism around them. The deep woods has always been a deep irrational fear of mine, and is part of the reason this scarred me so badly (as well as his underread "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon"). King sets up so much to work here..possession, nightmares, the old tall tales of Jud, the allusions to historical wars, medical deformity, the eerie atmosphere of "The Monkey's Paw". Most of it works pretty well. Though the big plot points were fairly obvious, I think the relationship between Jud and Louis was strongly nuanced. Rachel's family trauma was delicately alluded too, and hit effectively as the story progressed. Louise and Ellie's relationship was interesting, though I think more of his daughter's worlview or her perspective could have been explored. The imagery in some of the violence or gory scenes is incredibly effective, particularly in the first half where there is more room for the unexpected. The book works like clockwork, but as many have pointed out the last third, and last 30 pages in particular is a particularly unsettling affair. The story might be more efficient at 250 pages instead of the 400 here....but leave it to King to lean into a willing reader with layers of dark underbelly and allusions. Horror is subjective, but it is hard to not have an emotional reaction to his story. My own feelings were wrapped up with deep sadness and dread. For a reader less guarded, i'd imagine it would provoke a more terror filled response. At this point King is his own universe, with peaks and valleys. great short stories, great adaptations, and excellent books. I don't know that Pet Sematary would be my favorite work by him..it is so bleak, that "to like it" feels disingenuous. But i would say it's quite horrific, and can work itself on the reader in many ways. For my own taste, I would likely recommend Salem's Lot, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon or The Long Walk. But like heavy metal music, or a spicy salsa, there is always an appetite for the saturated horror, and when that rare itch comes, find yourself at Pet Sematary.

Pet Semetary

devastating. the first half builds more dread than the more openly dreadful second half, just because you know tragedy will fall but can’t exactly pinpoint where or when. once the cards are revealed, it’s just horrible but king attacks the most basic, primal fears you have in a way that feels empathetic rather than cheap.

Mitch

A family moves into a beautiful old home in rural Maine, not realizing the horror that awaits them from the pet cemetery and Indian burial ground behind the house.

I’ve had kind of a mixed bag of experiences with King so far, having only really read shorter stuff like The Mist, and Secret Window, Secret Garden and not really loving either. But then I saw the narrator was Michael C. Hall, and I had to grab it. It helps that the other members of Fear For All love his stuff too.

First off, I thought this was fantastic. Reading something finally full length from King really allowed for the story to open up. Both growing in creepiness, and heightening those emotional touch points. Of course, it might just help that I decided to read one that is considered up there with his best, but still.

The copy I got from Audible included an introduction from the author, he spoke about how he thought this was his darkest novel, perhaps even too dark that it shouldn’t have been published. He also spoke about the origin of the spelling of Pet Sematary, its inclusion in the novel, and eventual taking over as the title. That kind of inclusion and connection really heightened my enjoyment heading into the story.

Louis accepts a new job, moving his family into the rural town of Ludlow, Maine. Their new house seems too good to be true, their neighbor Jud already showing them hospitality. But even from the earliest pages of the novel, theirs a dangerous undertone. Let alone when they get shown the cemetery behind their property where all the town’s beloved pets have been buried…I personally have pets, and although the thought of having them nearby is endearing, this is still just so creepy.

But when the road finally claims another victim, this time Louis’ daughter’s beloved cat Church, Jud tells him to wait for his call and that they’d handle it. And when Church shows back up, after being buried no less, Louis does his best to rationalize the appearance, but underneath it all, he knows better. The general creepiness of this, as well as the behavioral problems that follow with Church, should have been a clear indication of how far this novel would go, but I wasn’t ready.

The loss of a child, is often something that writers avoid like the plague, especially in horror I feel. So for King to go so far into this, so deep, especially given the year when this released originally, is a testament to him. And yeah…this really is super super dark. For me, the imagining of if it didn’t happen, and where his life could have gone, was even sadder to read than the death itself.

It does kind of feel like I’ve managed to live under a rock, as I’ve not had any of this really ruined for me, and I’ve never seen any screen adaptation so far. With the mixed bag that has come from his wide filmography, I think maybe I had started to link that directly to him, even though they are adaptations of his works? This was so eerie and riveting. It brought to mind that building dread that I loved in Nat Cassidy’s Nestlings, that ability to show that building in different ways between husband, wife, and daughter.

Michael C. Hall did such a fantastic job. I would like him to take over narrating my life now. The voices were great, the novel had life, and this once again brought to mind just how much we are missing that he has not narrated the Dexter series.

C. J. Daley 

I’ve had kind of a mixed bag of experiences with King so far, having only really read shorter stuff like The Mist, and Secret Window, Secret Garden and not really loving either. But then I saw the narrator was Michael C. Hall, and I had to grab it. It helps that the other members of Fear For All love his stuff too.

First off, I thought this was fantastic. Reading something finally full length from King really allowed for the story to open up. Both growing in creepiness, and heightening those emotional touch points. Of course, it might just help that I decided to read one that is considered up there with his best, but still.

The copy I got from Audible included an introduction from the author, he spoke about how he thought this was his darkest novel, perhaps even too dark that it shouldn’t have been published. He also spoke about the origin of the spelling of Pet Sematary, its inclusion in the novel, and eventual taking over as the title. That kind of inclusion and connection really heightened my enjoyment heading into the story.

Louis accepts a new job, moving his family into the rural town of Ludlow, Maine. Their new house seems too good to be true, their neighbor Jud already showing them hospitality. But even from the earliest pages of the novel, theirs a dangerous undertone. Let alone when they get shown the cemetery behind their property where all the town’s beloved pets have been buried…I personally have pets, and although the thought of having them nearby is endearing, this is still just so creepy.

But when the road finally claims another victim, this time Louis’ daughter’s beloved cat Church, Jud tells him to wait for his call and that they’d handle it. And when Church shows back up, after being buried no less, Louis does his best to rationalize the appearance, but underneath it all, he knows better. The general creepiness of this, as well as the behavioral problems that follow with Church, should have been a clear indication of how far this novel would go, but I wasn’t ready.

The loss of a child, is often something that writers avoid like the plague, especially in horror I feel. So for King to go so far into this, so deep, especially given the year when this released originally, is a testament to him. And yeah…this really is super super dark. For me, the imagining of if it didn’t happen, and where his life could have gone, was even sadder to read than the death itself.

It does kind of feel like I’ve managed to live under a rock, as I’ve not had any of this really ruined for me, and I’ve never seen any screen adaptation so far. With the mixed bag that has come from his wide filmography, I think maybe I had started to link that directly to him, even though they are adaptations of his works? This was so eerie and riveting. It brought to mind that building dread that I loved in Nat Cassidy’s Nestlings, that ability to show that building in different ways between husband, wife, and daughter.

Michael C. Hall did such a fantastic job. I would like him to take over narrating my life now. The voices were great, the novel had life, and this once again brought to mind just how much we are missing that he has not narrated the Dexter series.

Friedhof der Kuscheltiere

Justin Staack

Anna 

Rodina Creedových se usadí ve starém domě v půvabném prostředí venkova státu Maine. Otec- lékař, krásná žena a dvě děti. Zdálo se, že nic nemůže překazit jejich štěstí.
Avšak objevuje se Cosi, co mrazí krev v žilách. Cosi horšího než sama smrt. Cosi příšerného.
Občas být mrtvý je lepší.
.
Tato kniha se strašně špatně popisuje. Sto stran žádná větší akce, poté naopak veliká akce, pak opět sto stran ničeho.. Naštěstí to zachránil ten konec,ten byl opravdu dobrý.
Ale pořád nevím, jestli tato kniha byla fiasko, nebo mistrovské dílo.
Každopádně dávám 4*/5*

tori 👻

This will probably always be that one King novel that gives me the creeps because of how fucked up it is.
Truly a masterpiece.

When a little boy's pet dies, and he persuades his parents to bury it in an old Indian cemetary, reputed by legend to house restless spirits, a nightmare of death and destruction begins

Colton Ray

I'm on a Stephen King kick now, and I plan to read at least one of his books per month for the rest of the year. This was my September read.

I was not expecting this to be such a dark, emotional read. The titular Pet Sematary is one of the coolest, creepiest settings King has imagined up, and it makes for a lot of weird, mystical moments. The characters are very well-drawn, so when bad things start happening to them, you really feel like you're watching a trainwreck in slow motion. Characterization has always been his strong suit, and this is no exception. I think this is also some of his best writing that I've read yet. It's a pretty brutal read, but compelling. In fact, I think I'd say this is probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite of his that I've read.

Daniel Spruill

another King classic that took over my life. King is masterful at character and the small moments in this novel are really what it’s about. It is so, so much more than a dead cat and murderous child.

a Shakespearean tragedy masked as a horror novel. It’s a bummer that— like most of the adaptions of his work— it hasn’t been adapted to the level it deserves. The sequence on Christmas Eve is so damn gorgeous and patient. I dunno, give me a seven episode adaption of this that actually dives into the grief and supernatural aspects of this book that it hinges on. There’s so much to be said for this one, but, just read it.

”Darling,” it said.

chloe rae

*3.5

Reading this was a JOURNEY.
I started out strong; I was interested, enjoyed the set up and characters. But then I got bored and from that point just started falling in and out of the story. I feel like nothing really exciting happened until the last 100 pages which were GREAT. This book was just so long winded, which I've heard is a theme with Kings works. It should not have taken me a month to read this. I was definitely busy, but not THAT busy.
This was my first Stephen King that I've finished and I'm glad to have read it! I'm excited to pick up The Shining and Misery in the future, but I definitely need a break from his work. I also didn't find this all that scary? It was eerie and nice reading for the month of October, but I was definitely not blown away like I wanted to be. Intrigued to see what I think of his other novels. I just really hope I get scared!

chloe

Pet Sematary (Signet Books)

Really enjoyed it! Very familiar with the story but as everyone says, the book is way better than the movie. 

John Vetter

Sebastian Bejarano

Perfect. The way Louis get's crazy it's just incredible. Every time you read his thoughts, you feel his agony and sadness. Best of King.

Elizabeth Nolan

Wynter

Kind of a cross between The Monkey's Paw and Poltergeist, and super creepy. Zombies that are actually scary. The sacred Indian burial ground plot that still feels fresh. There is a lot going on that's worthy of praise and admiration. King is just that... a king of his craft. Wouldn't expect any less of him.

Pet Sematary A Novel

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