REVIEW: Pet Sematary

Pet Sematary
Stephen King

An old indian burial ground now used as a pet cemetery. The old cemetery is filled with signs erected by children marking graves of their pets killed on the nearby busy highway. But back behind the graves, under a tree is a darker spot....a spot even the Native Americans avoided. A place that can reverse death...for a price. The pets that come back home are not the same. And a person should never, ever be buried there.

I first read Pet Sematary when I was in high school. For me, the worst part of the story wasn't any of the resurrections or attack scenes, but the funeral. Revisiting the story as an adult, I still feel the same way...but for different reasons.

Lewis and Rachel. Parents burying one of their children. Everyone rallies around Rachel. The neighbors. Friends. Family. Nobody is there for Lewis. In fact his father-in-law decides the funeral is a great place to spew insults and horrific accusations in Lewis' face. The man who just 3 days before got to watch one of his children dragged down a road by a truck has to listen to horrible things spilling out of his father-in-laws mouth in front of everyone at the funeral. Nobody comes to help him....to make the old man leave....to calm the situation....to comfort Lewis....to stand up for Lewis. When he reacts in grief and finally (after years of abuse, name calling, being left out of holiday plans, etc) strikes the old man, the entire altercation is somehow seen as Lewis' fault. Everything falls on Lewis.

Who is there for the father as he buries his child?

Nobody.

Who is there to keep Lewis from making two very large mistakes between that moment and the end of the book?

Nobody.

That is the most horrific thing in this entire book for me. Lewis -- the doctor who worked so hard for his family, loved his kids, loved his wife, did everything for them -- has nobody and nothing. The in-laws are never once even admonished for their behavior. The wife is never there for him. In the end, she leaves Lewis ALONE and goes with her parents -- the ones that have been spewing poison against Lewis for years. Rachel blames LEWIS. She leaves him. Like his grief, like his needs, like his loss doesn't matter. Never once does she stand up for her husband and tell her father and mother to hush...to stop saying horrible things about him....to stop their behavior....and not once does she berate her father for his horrible behavior at their child's funeral. How sick is that??

The entire scene starts the downward spiral of this story into absolute horror.

This story is magnificent.....and disturbingly, horrifically dark....at the same time. I can see why Stephen King chucked the manuscript into a desk drawer and only published it to get out of a bad publishing contract. Even King was horrified by this book. Rightly so -- it's chilling -- with a cold, morbid, horrible truth to it.

If faced with the choice to bring a loved one back from death, many would make a horrible decision. It isn't about the person who died.....the choice comes from grief. An inability to live without the person who is gone. The utter impossibility of never hearing a voice again, never seeing a face, never enjoying someone's presence again. But what if the thing that comes back is no longer the loved one that was lost? Would the choice still be made?

It makes for a chilling story. A bit too chilling in places. The funeral scene still haunts me. Who the F was ever there for Lewis??

I re-visited this Stephen King novel in audio version this time. The scary parts are even more chilling when the tale is being read out loud. Narrated by Michael C. Hall, the audio is just under 16 hours long. Hall reads at perfect pace and does the Maine accent of elderly neighbor Jud just right. He gives a great performance. It made the story even more chilling to hear it read out loud in such a normal voice. No low voice of doom. But one that sounds like ..... anybody. It grants the horrible events a normalcy that makes them seem even more horrific.

Masterfully written. Chillingly horrific. Hard to take. I agree with Stephen King. Pet Sematary is the darkest book he has ever published. While it might have been better to leave it chucked in a desk drawer, I'm glad he published it. The story is powerful and definitely hits home.

I'm giving Pet Sematary full stars. Any book that can bring emotions out in me -- even anger -- is well-written. I find this book more disturbing than scary though.

I think I will re-read Christine next. After re-reading Pet Sematary I'm just not ready to try to revisit another King story that really bothered me -- Carrie. I will read Christine and some more Bachman writing before I try to tackle that one again.