Pet Sematary – Book Review

“When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: physician father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son-and now an idyllic home. As a family, they’ve got it all…right down to the friendly car. But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth-more terrifying than death itself-and hideously more powerful. The Creeds are going to learn that sometimes dead is better.”

1. Did this story scare you?

Sugar: It’s definitely a dark and disturbing story, and if I was actually in that situation, you bet your ass I would be terrified, but although I enjoyed the story itself, it didn’t leave any lingering terror that will keep me up at night or make me second guess every strange noise I hear in the house. (I do that on my own just fine, thanks.) 😛
I also think I may have felt more fear for the characters if I’d liked most of them more than I actually did.

Scream: No. To be fair, I’m pretty hard to scare but I honestly wasn’t even all that creeped out. The closest I came to creeped was when the resurrected people would start spouting people’s secrets. Because, having your darkest secrets broadcast to everyone is pretty horrifying.

2. Wendigos, how did you feel about their usage in this novel?

Sugar: I love wendigo stories. I think they’re creepy and awesome. I don’t even necessarily mind when people tweak them and make them their own. Like, I like how there was just this background looming influence of the wendigo for the most part, but at the end of the day your girl wanted MORE CANNIBALISM. That’s like my bread and butter when it comes to a good wendigo story. The cruelty and bad intent was there for sure, but I just was hungry for more people eating people. lol Pun totally intended. 😉

Scream: I thought it was a bastardization of the wendigo for the sake of something scary, and using it as some sort of explanation for the story. ONCE AGAIN WHITE PEOPLE STEALING FROM THE NATIVES AND MAKING MONEY OFF OF IT. That probably wasn’t King’s intention but I’m rolling with it now. Can’t stop me.

3. If you knew of a cemetery that could bring back anyone from the dead, would you use it? And on who?

Sugar: I mean, if we’re playing by Pet Sematary rules, that’s gonna be a hard no from me. This book does a good job of drilling it into your head that just because something gets back up and starts moving around again, it doesn’t mean it’s the same person or animal that you loved anymore. Now, if I had a guarantee that everything would be all rainbows and unicorns upon resurrection, sure, I’d use it. Losing loved ones is painful as hell and I’ve been down that path several times in my life since a young age, so I can think of several people and animals I would bring back in an instant.

Scream: If the theory is that they come back duller or the complete opposite of themselves, then I would have to experiment. I would bring back my hamster Punk. He was mean up until a couple of days before he died. Plus, he was super small. Easy kill if he comes back meaner than ever.

4. If this novel taught you anything, what would it be?

Sugar: That graverobbing is rarely going to work out well for anyone. 😛

Scream: Never have children. Never settle for a mediocre marriage. Then you’ll never have to move to BFE Maine and make up a story about wendigos in order to kill off your family and be a free man again.

5. What was your overall opinion of Pet Sematary?

Sugar: I really liked it for the most part, but there were a few times, specifically one chunk of the book that I just felt like the same event went on and on and on, in a big circle. I feel like if that had been shaved down a bit I would have liked it even more.

Scream: That I was right in abandoning King years ago. I did enjoy this but reading it just reminded me that, there was a reason I gave it up. Part if it is what Sugar mentions, things are prolonged for way longer than necessary and that King always has an obsession with something sexual in every book. Sex doesn’t bother me, it’s the creepy way he can’t let go of it that does. In this book, it’s a pretty clear fascination with anal. I will probably read Salem’s Lot and then give King up again.

BY OUR POWERS COMBINED…WE RATE THIS…3.5 STARS!

NEXT BUDDY READ: TO BE DETERMINED SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL.