The winter break is a time to pick up the hobbies that we all lose during the fall semester, between studying and extra-curricular activities. For me, that is reading, especially one of my favorite authors, Stephen King.
“Pet Sematary” was the fourth novel I read by King and, so far, it is definitely my favorite.
In this book, King takes the reader to a small town (Ludlow, Maine) that holds a dark secret.
The story revolves around the Creed family, who moved into a new house. This house has a path leading up to a pet cemetery, maintained by the local children.
Beyond the pet cemetery lies secret Micmac Indian burial grounds, with the power to bring the dead back to life.
What made me love this book so much was how relatable and frightening it was.
Everyone has experienced loss, or at least knows someone who has, and King explores the thought we all have – “I would do anything to bring him or her back to me.”
Also, I love a good psychological thriller. Early on, the reader can see the protagonist Louis Creed’s sanity slowly slipping away, due to the losses he faces and his experiences with the pet cemetery.
King writes this novel so well that Louis’ increasing insanity seems almost logical and relatable.
Wondering what Louis was going to do next was one of the main reasons I was glued to the book.
This story was so terrifying that at parts I wanted to put it down, but like the pet cemetery, it had a pull on me and I was not able to. I would try to sleep at night and disturbing images that King described played through my brain and I felt like I knew Louis Creed and his struggles, personally.
Even though this book was published in the 1980s, do not let that push you away from it.
I believe it is extremely ahead of its time. It does not read like some corny, scary story you tell around a campfire; it goes into gruesome death scenes, including demons, grave robbing and murder that only King could tell so expertly.
“Pet Sematary” leaves the reader with a valuable lesson that “sometimes dead is better.”
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