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Pet Sematary by Stephen King
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Pet Sematary (edition 2005)

by Stephen King (Author)

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14,059229405 (3.76)1 / 275
Fiction. Horror. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Now a major motion picture! Stephen King's #1 New York Times bestseller is a "wild, powerful, disturbing" (The Washington Post Book World) classic about evil that exists far beyond the graveâ??among King's most iconic and frightening novels.
When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Despite Ludlow's tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here. Those trucks on the road outside the Creed's beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thing...as is evidenced by the makeshift graveyard in the nearby woods where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. Then there are the warnings to Louis both real and from the depths of his nightmares that he should not venture beyond the borders of this little graveyard where another burial ground lures with seductive promises and ungodly temptations. A blood-chilling truth is hidden thereâ??one more terrifying than death itself, and hideously more powerful. As Louis is about to discover for himself sometimes, dead is better<
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Member:MHanover10
Title:Pet Sematary
Authors:Stephen King (Author)
Info:Pocket (2005), 576 pages
Collections:Your library, Currently reading, Wishlist, To read, Read but unowned, Favorites
Rating:****
Tags:None

Work Information

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

Recently added byRSM., skooter34, private library, kristenleswing, Pellias, Taletta06, sleepy_catt, sheay, jlippert
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» See also 275 mentions

English (206)  German (4)  French (4)  Spanish (3)  Italian (3)  Swedish (2)  Finnish (2)  Portuguese (Brazil) (1)  Hungarian (1)  All languages (226)
Showing 1-5 of 206 (next | show all)
I just want to get in a fetal position and cry ( )
  HauntedTaco13 | Dec 29, 2023 |
Dr. Louis Creed has landed a new job, which takes his family from Chicago to the rural town of Ludlow, Maine. Their new house is located in a quiet section of the town and seems to be the perfect place for the Creed family to start over. The only thing they don’t love are the eighteen-wheeler trucks that fly down the road outside their new home. The Creed’s know these trucks are dangerous, but the makeshift burial ground for lost pets located in the woods behind their home truly shows how many lives those trucks have taken.
There’s something strange about that burial ground and it’s not just the fact that it’s filled with all of the neighborhoods lost pets or that children will go their alone or with friends to bury their lost furry companions. There is a sense of unease Louis can’t quite shake and once he learns the truth, his life will be changed forever. There is more than just death there. Something powerful lies beneath the surface...reminding him that "Sometimes dead is better".................
KING calls Pet Sematary his scariest book, and I can understand why. It is a bit of twist on Frankenstein and the notion of resurrection. It is super creepy and super "shocking" where he takes the reader - to the depths of delusional grief. It's also a book about rationality versus irrationality, faith versus the modern world.
Pet Sematary is a harrowing tale about death, the afterlife, loss, and grief. It's sad, sick, dark, and disgusting with more than one horribly "shocking" event that will blow your mind, but it's harrowing because King's characters are so easy to sympathize with. You want Louis to remain a rational man in the midst of pain but the spiral is too much for him and the temptation too pressing.

I think this is King's scariest novel because it truly explores the depths of humanity and perhaps our greatest fear: death.
( )
  ryantlaferney87 | Dec 8, 2023 |
I read this because not only has the movie been one of my favorite movies based on a Stephen King novel since I was a child, but also because it was my mom’s favorite book in high school (so much so, she read her copy over and over until it fell apart. Yes, she’s forever a huge Stephen King fan, I am fond of him as well).

I’m not entirely certain if I’m rather biased considering I loved the movie as a child and it’s a reminiscent thing or not but I enjoyed it mostly. The era it’s in, the way King writes, etc. I enjoy the storyline and concept, it’s very creepy and bone chilling. I enjoy the fact Jud’s wife is in the book. She’s such a lovely character from what we get of her. King does over describe at times but in this book it’s not so bad. ( )
  Zaria37 | Nov 11, 2023 |
Where do I start with this book?
I’m hiding this just in case this could be construed as spoiler-y.
I liked it, it wasn’t my favorite book, or even my favorite King, but it was good! I think the thing that made this a 3.5 (rounded up) was that parts of it were sooooooooo slow.
I’ve seen both the movies, and I kind of expected more to be happening, but all the scary stuff was right at the end. I was just waiting for it to happen. When it did, I was on the edge of my seat, but it just took too long to get there. ( )
  Danielle.Desrochers | Oct 10, 2023 |
I have some reflections that might tarnish a first-time reader's experience of the book. I don't want to be a killjoy. Pet Sematary has some of King's best writing, and King/horror fans will want to read and probably should read it regardless of what I have to say. Read on at your own risk, though.

**Edited to hide entire review because of spoilers that are more like experience spoilers versus plot spoilers.**

So, this book was definitely a five-star when I first read it in grade school - so creepy that I kept it walled off from the "outside" by other books on my bookcase (just in case something could, you know, crawl out of the pages of the book and into real life). The book is an excellent example of horror writing and building existential dread, as well as a heart-wrenching exploration of grief. In many ways, it reminds me of The Shining, although I won't go into that now. However, I took away a star and might take away a star-and-a-half (or more!) if I could because of the toxic masculinity throughout the text. In a way, its presence augments the feeling of horror; however, King's sympathetic portrayal of the male protagonist alone does not demonstrate that intent. Nearly every male character in here, even beloved characters, displays this characteristic!

There are other problematic aspects of the text that you'll recognize when you come to it. If you're a long-time King reader, none of that will be a surprise.

There's other things I could say about this book...and want to. Not going to spoil it for die-hard horror fans. I do think this constitutes essential horror writing because of what King does so well here. ( )
  Jeanne.Laure | Oct 3, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 206 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (18 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
King, Stephenprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Hall, Michael C.Narratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Olofsson, LennartTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Talvio-Jaatinen, PirkkoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wiemken, ChristelTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Jesus said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go, that I may awake him out of his sleep."

Then the disciples looked at each other, and some smiled because they did not know Jesus had spoken in a figure. "Lord, if he sleeps, he shall do well."

So then Jesus spoke to them more plainly, "Lazarus is dead, yes...nevertheless let us go to him."

—JOHN'S GOSPEL (paraphrase)
When Jesus came to Bethany, he found that Lazarus had lain in the grave four days already. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she hurried to meet him.

"Lord," she said, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But now you are here, and I know that whatever you ask of God, God will grant."

Jesus answered her: "Your brother shall rise again."

—JOHN'S GOSPEL (paraphrase)
"Hey-ho, let's go."
—THE RAMONES
Jesus therefore, groaning inside of himself and full of trouble, came to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone had been raised against the mouth. "Roll away the stone," Jesus said.

Martha said, "Lord, by this time he will have begun to rot. He has been dead four days."...

And when he had prayed awhile, Jesus raised his voice and cried, "Lazarus, come forth!" And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin.

Jesus said to them, "Loose him and let him go."

—JOHN'S GOSPEL (paraphrase)
   "I only just thought of it," she said hysterically. "Why didn't I think of it before? Why didn't you think of it?"
   "Think of what?" he questioned.
   "The other two wishes," she replied rapidly. "We've only had one."
   "Was that not enough?" he demanded fiercely.
   "No," she cried triumphantly: "we'll have one more. Go down and get it quickly, and wish our boy alive again."

—W.W. JACOBS ("The Monkey's Paw")
Dedication
For Kirby McCauley
First words
Louis Creed, who had lost his father at three and who had never known a grandfather, never expected to find a father as he entered his middle age, but that was exactly what happened...although he called this man a friend, as a grown man must do when he finds the man who should have been his father relatively late in life.
Quotations
"It's probably wrong to believe there can be any limit to the horror which the human mind can experience. On the contrary, it sees that some exponential effect begins to obtain as deeper and deeper darkness falls-as little as one may like to admit it, human experience tends, in a good many ways, to support the idea that when the nightmare grows black enough, horror spawns horror, one coincidental evil begets other, often more deliberate evils, until finally blackness seems to cover everything. And the most terrifying question of all may be just how much horror the human mind can stand and still maintain a wakeful, staring, unrelenting sanity. That such events have their own Rube Goldberg absurdity goes almost without saying. At some point, it all starts to become rather funny. That may be the point at which saity begins either to save itself or to buckle and break down; that point at which one's sense of humor begins to reassert itself."
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Fiction. Horror. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Now a major motion picture! Stephen King's #1 New York Times bestseller is a "wild, powerful, disturbing" (The Washington Post Book World) classic about evil that exists far beyond the graveâ??among King's most iconic and frightening novels.
When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Despite Ludlow's tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here. Those trucks on the road outside the Creed's beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thing...as is evidenced by the makeshift graveyard in the nearby woods where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. Then there are the warnings to Louis both real and from the depths of his nightmares that he should not venture beyond the borders of this little graveyard where another burial ground lures with seductive promises and ungodly temptations. A blood-chilling truth is hidden thereâ??one more terrifying than death itself, and hideously more powerful. As Louis is about to discover for himself sometimes, dead is better

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Book description
AR Level 6.2, 23 Points.
Haiku summary
Kids find a grave place
It can bring things back to life
Scary things ensue

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