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nameman11's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
chimla's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
cekisha's review against another edition
5.0
This is an awesome book, I must say this firstly. It is original, spooky, emotional. It is touching at the moments, it makes you wanna check whether all the doors have been locked and then it makes you laugh.
The story is gripping - a pet cemetery (misspelled "sematary" on purpose, because the child wrote it) is an amazing setting for any horror story. The Creeds move into the new house and they have no idea that there is a sacred Indian land close to their home, in which if you bury someone or something, it will raise again, but not without consequences. But there is a difference between people and pets (people tried both throughout history) because if you bury a dead pet it will raise changed and mean but if you bury a person it will raise possessed by a demon who knows all of your deepest fears (something like [b:It|18342|It|Stephen King|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309376909s/18342.jpg|150259]).
So the bottom line - how far would you go in order to bring someone you loved back to life? People who are stricken with grief would do anything and as (probably) all of us have gone though such a pain some time in our lives, we know that it is nothing to be played with - dead are supposed to stay dead, no matter how much it hurts.
But this is what the main character Louis Creed didn't understand and what drove him into madness. He brought his daughter's cat Church back to life and then even his son who basically killed his best friend and mother. He manages to kill his demonic 2-year-old son and ends up burying his wife who comes back and that's the end. I must say this last part was funny because Louis already annoyed me to hell and I wanted him dead.
When it comes to family business, you can tell that they were happy and affectionate, but not really truthful to each other. It took 10 years for Rachel to tell Louis why she is so scared of death and that she is traumatized by her sister's violent death caused by a terrible illness. He shows lack of respect by going to whore once and she shows lack of understatement by frowning at his hobby of collecting some kind of modeled toys, which didn't hurt anyone, but she still showed contempt and jealousy, perhaps for being only a housewife while he's got his job as a doctor. There is also hate between Louis and his parents-in-law who are real dicks. So, even though there is happiness and they love each other, I wouldn't really say that they are a real happy family, because Louis doesn't show trust and respect which is essential in any marriage or relationship - nobody would have died if he trusted his wife enough to tell her what's going on.
The same is with Jud and his wife Norma, he confesses that he's been whoring for years throughout his marriage because he "couldn't help it", haha, no shit! So I was glad when that little demonic kid killed him, Jud proved to be too unrealistic, an 85-year-old grandpa wouldn't really be so fit and rational, even though I guess some exceptions exist.
The use of "childish voice" was interesting because it is used in the title too and at the times when Rachel's disfigured sister Zelda speaks (gosh, that was the scariest part). I think that is very scary, there are so many horrors with children, so the question is - why are we so afraid of them? Has it got something with our first fears from childhood or is it just freaky? The pets seemed like messengers of the demon, especially the cat, there is a reference in the book to the Egyptian mythology and there is also a reference so [b:'Salem's Lot|11590|'Salem's Lot|Stephen King|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327891565s/11590.jpg|3048937] which was also amusing - Rachel almost drove there.
However, we wouldn't have such an awesome ending, which is kinda a cliffhanger, even though I'm a real sucker for happy endings, it kinda worked here! I was just hoping that Louis would die, but I guess that even worse scenario would follow with his wife as a zombie.
The story is gripping - a pet cemetery (misspelled "sematary" on purpose, because the child wrote it) is an amazing setting for any horror story. The Creeds move into the new house and they have no idea that there is a sacred Indian land close to their home, in which if you bury someone or something, it will raise again, but not without consequences. But there is a difference between people and pets (people tried both throughout history) because if you bury a dead pet it will raise changed and mean but if you bury a person it will raise possessed by a demon who knows all of your deepest fears (something like [b:It|18342|It|Stephen King|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309376909s/18342.jpg|150259]).
So the bottom line - how far would you go in order to bring someone you loved back to life? People who are stricken with grief would do anything and as (probably) all of us have gone though such a pain some time in our lives, we know that it is nothing to be played with - dead are supposed to stay dead, no matter how much it hurts.
But this is what the main character Louis Creed didn't understand and what drove him into madness. He brought his daughter's cat Church back to life and then even his son who basically killed his best friend and mother. He manages to kill his demonic 2-year-old son and ends up burying his wife who comes back and that's the end. I must say this last part was funny because Louis already annoyed me to hell and I wanted him dead.
When it comes to family business, you can tell that they were happy and affectionate, but not really truthful to each other. It took 10 years for Rachel to tell Louis why she is so scared of death and that she is traumatized by her sister's violent death caused by a terrible illness. He shows lack of respect by going to whore once and she shows lack of understatement by frowning at his hobby of collecting some kind of modeled toys, which didn't hurt anyone, but she still showed contempt and jealousy, perhaps for being only a housewife while he's got his job as a doctor. There is also hate between Louis and his parents-in-law who are real dicks. So, even though there is happiness and they love each other, I wouldn't really say that they are a real happy family, because Louis doesn't show trust and respect which is essential in any marriage or relationship - nobody would have died if he trusted his wife enough to tell her what's going on.
The same is with Jud and his wife Norma, he confesses that he's been whoring for years throughout his marriage because he "couldn't help it", haha, no shit! So I was glad when that little demonic kid killed him, Jud proved to be too unrealistic, an 85-year-old grandpa wouldn't really be so fit and rational, even though I guess some exceptions exist.
The use of "childish voice" was interesting because it is used in the title too and at the times when Rachel's disfigured sister Zelda speaks (gosh, that was the scariest part). I think that is very scary, there are so many horrors with children, so the question is - why are we so afraid of them? Has it got something with our first fears from childhood or is it just freaky? The pets seemed like messengers of the demon, especially the cat, there is a reference in the book to the Egyptian mythology and there is also a reference so [b:'Salem's Lot|11590|'Salem's Lot|Stephen King|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327891565s/11590.jpg|3048937] which was also amusing - Rachel almost drove there.
However, we wouldn't have such an awesome ending, which is kinda a cliffhanger, even though I'm a real sucker for happy endings, it kinda worked here! I was just hoping that Louis would die, but I guess that even worse scenario would follow with his wife as a zombie.
hails2dabails's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
An extreme depiction of grief
auslyn's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
5.0
this book makes me want to go back and re-review all the stephen king ive read because this set the bar MUCH higher. what a beautifully horrifying exploration of grief and how insane it can drive you. although i couldve gone without a sex scene immediately after a gory death but stephen king will do what stephen king does i guess. also the epilogue didnt need to be included. but neither of those really took away from the overall experience and story.
riru1's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- 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
4.25
remjunior's review against another edition
4.0
So, I'll go ahead and say that of all the Stephen King books I've read, this one certainly made me feel the worst. This mostly has to do with the small child that is killed after running into the road and being hit by a truck. I kept thinking about my own small children and it horrified me in a way that made me realize that no matter how much control we exert to keep our kids safe, bad things can happen and they can die. The way King paints the grief, the funeral, the what-ifs...it's all very, very good.
On the other hand, I've read a lot of Stephen King books and this one was good but nothing spectacular. It wasn't The Stand, or The Shining, or even Salem's Lot. Those felt like more complete stories with characters that felt a little closer to reality than this book. Something about it was off here, almost like it was written to be a screenplay. But, overall, it was a good book and one that scared me because of how much the death and grief could be a part of my life.
On the other hand, I've read a lot of Stephen King books and this one was good but nothing spectacular. It wasn't The Stand, or The Shining, or even Salem's Lot. Those felt like more complete stories with characters that felt a little closer to reality than this book. Something about it was off here, almost like it was written to be a screenplay. But, overall, it was a good book and one that scared me because of how much the death and grief could be a part of my life.