Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Pet Sematary: Now That was Depressing

I just finished reading Pet Sematary, and despite the plot speeding away toward an inevitable climax like one of those killer Orinco Trucks on route 15, I enjoyed the book. Depressing as hell, but I enjoyed it. King is at his descriptive best during Louis Creed's walks to the burial grounds; I was really chilled by the fog, the large "thing" (Wendigo?) in the woods, and the marsh lights, etc. He also has a way of crunching the climax together--even though you know it isn't going to go well for our humble protagonist, you still hold out a little hope. He also loves to push the reader over the edge at the last minute...like what Gage did to his poor mother...(yuck).

If/when I read another Stephen King book, it will be a later work. Maybe Bag of Bones.

Thank goodness Obama's inauguration is spreading some hope, 'cause I'm about out after that book.

14 comments:

Jamie Eyberg said...

I read that one in the seventh grade I believe. I don't think I go the full gist of it then and I don't care to re-read it now. I am reading Just After Sunset (don't ask how it is because I just started reading it last night.) So far it is. . . different.

Fox Lee said...

That was the first King book I ever read. I picked it up at church tag sale when I was in middle school : )

Cate Gardner said...

I've never read that one. My all time favourite is 'Desperation' - if you haven't read it yet, make it your next one. :)

Rob Brooks said...

I think Pet Sematary may be King's scariest book. Bag of Bones is my personal favorite of his, as well as one of my favorite books. I highly recommend it (in case you couldn't guess that). It has its terrifying moments, too, but is aone of his less"scary" books, and overall I think it's the representation of his writing skills. Very masterful.

Jeremy D Brooks said...

Last King (fiction) I read was the last Dark Tower book, and before that it must have been Desperation/The Regulators (did them both in one weekend)...I just picked up Needful Things from paperbackswap, probably knock that out in February or March. I loved the movie for Pet Sematary, but never got around to the book. I thought Fred Gwynne was brilliant. "The grawnd of a mahn's hawt is stohniah"

Bobbie Metevier said...

Yes, Pet Semetar is a good but depressing book--all the more so because the characters and their reactions seem so real.

Jamie Eyberg said...

by the way congrats on your latest acceptance I see in Duotrope. this depresses me because I just heard back from The Boston Review today with a 172 day rejection. I am 0-5 this year so far.

Aaron Polson said...

Jamie - good times are ahead, keep plugging away. The funny thing about that acceptance? I got a rejection for the same piece (a simultaneous sub) ten minutes later.

Jamie Eyberg said...

Life is funny that way.

Anonymous said...

Pet Semetary is no doubt King's darkest book ever. Bag of Bones is quite good, but I do love Desperation a lot -- will probably reread that one some day.

BT said...

When I was a teenager, my older sister worked in a bookshop and brought home all the King books from Carrie through to IT as they were released. I read them all. My sister then moved on and my free feed was removed. During multiple moves, books were lost and forgotten.

Recently I've started to recollect them, buying the rerelease versions. I currently have about six or seven King books waiting to be read - one of them being Pet Semetary. I am so looking forward to it.

I've just been given a Dymocks gift card and was going to buy Just After Sunset with it.

One day I may even catch up on all my reading...

I'm trying to alternate between novels and resource/learning type books. I'm reading a resource book now, I have The Harrowing next and then probably a couple of new ones to review for Black magazine. So I should be ready to start the next novel from my "to read" shelf around March. Of course, more books for Black magazine will be ready around then as well.

I reckon I'll get back to reading King around 2020 - maybe :c(

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it's a pretty brutal book. Among my 3 King favorites. I read most of his stuff in my teens and keep telling myself that I need to go back and re-read Salems' Lot. And if you are going to read a newwr work, may I please recommend "Lisey's Story"? I know it got a lot of crap from his fans, but I still argue that it's one of his best yet.

Rob Brooks said...

I heard that people didn't like "Lisey's Story," too, Barry, but I loved it as well. I liked that it was told from a different perspective than he usually uses. I also really enjoyed Duma Key.

Jamie Eyberg said...

I really enjoyed Duma Key as well but I felt the ending was rushed for no apparent reason. For that reason I enjoyed Blaze (although it was written by some guy named Richard Bachman)