tifftastic87's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I don't want to live my life again."
-The Ramones
Louis Creed has moved his family from Chicago to Maine for a job. The house is idyllic with one exception, the road out front is a throughway for very large tanker trucks. When Louis's daughter's cat, Church, is hit by one of these trucks, the neighbor, Jud, shows Louis what to do. They bury Church in the real pet cemetery, a place where the dead don't stay dead. Church comes back not quite right, but he's definitely back. So, when Louis's 2 year old son gets hit by a different truck, Louis does the unthinkable.
I first read this book back in high school and I remember finishing it and being terrified to be home alone. This time around it was just as eerie, but 20 years has given me some perspective. The trope of the "ancient Indian burial ground" is definitely outdated and a little more than gross as is the use of a Wendigo. But the imagery of everything is still spooky.
I really liked Jud and the relationship he had with Louis. It is always nice to see wholesome relationships between men and I feel like King always does a good job at that. The same with the relationship with the other doctors at the University.
There's a lot of good here, but there is a lot of cringe too. Oh, god the bathtub scene. I forgot it was in this book.
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual content, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Blood
Moderate: Colonisation, Alcohol, and Racism
Minor: Antisemitism
madamenovelist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Death of parent, Medical content, Grief, Sexual content, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Vomit, Ableism, and Car accident
Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism
Minor: Antisemitism
chrisp189's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Animal death and Child death
Moderate: Racism
archaicgambit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, and Murder
Moderate: Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Ableism, and Racism
Minor: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, and Sexism
murderofcrows's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Vomit, Gore, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Animal death, Death, Medical content, Car accident, Grief, Chronic illness, Blood, Child death, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Drug use, Cursing, and Sexual content
Minor: Cannibalism, Ableism, and Racism
kt2e56's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Spoiler
It’s a little hard to take the big confrontation between Gage and Judd at the end seriously or find it terrifying when back-from-the-dead toddler Gage is taunting Judd by saying *checks notes* his wife used to cheat on him and loved taking it up the ass?Graphic: Death, Car accident, Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Gore, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Animal death, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, and Racism
chloseencounter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Child death, Animal death, and Death
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Blood
Minor: Chronic illness, Racism, Terminal illness, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Grief, and Mental illness
aliciaroy19's review against another edition
2.5
The atmosphere of the book is good and my favourite scene
Spoiler
was when Louis brought Church up to the pet sematry in the dark of night and Jud is acting almost possessed while something is watching them. Which now having read a few King books, creating an atmosphere is one of his strengths.However, I can help but think Louis secretly hates Rachel, at least he doesn't respect his wife, which made the narration tedious and a reason why it took over a month to finish this book. I understand that Rachel doesn’t have a healthy relationship with death and sometimes that fear caused her to make stupid decisions, but I found her husband only showed annoyance with her. Too much of the narration was of Louis complaining about his wife. This couple should divorce.
Spoiler
I also wished that it was Ellie who died instead of Gage because Louis and Ellie had a strong relationship. They had a lot of scenes together and I could tell they loved each other as Gage was just the toddler in the background. The emotional impact of Ellie’s death would have hit hard. Instead, we had one chapter where Louis and Gage hang out that ends with too bad this would be their last day together.And the random line about being a family doctor isn’t all breast exams and gynecology made me close the book. Though, Louis’ casual misogyny does explain why he dislikes his wife.
Spoiler
In the end, I do have one question, how the hell did they get that bull up there? And how was it buried? Because Jud couldn’t help Louis while he brought a cat because their owner has to be the one to do that work, so how did the bull work?Graphic: Child death, Death, and Animal death
Minor: Misogyny and Racism
sleepy_snail's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Murder
Minor: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Racism
ogik's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Vomit