sidekicksam's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Did I binge-listen to this in, like, 3 days? Yes. Yes I did.
I am, slowly but surely, making my way through King's (most popular) backlist. Pet Sematary was one of those books I heard about but didn't really know what it was about. A Pet Sematary, obviously.
This was not the book I expected it to be, and it positively surprised me. I'm a big wimp so I thought I'd be super scared, but this is not that kind of horror story (though I did feel a bit odd about my cat for about 0.5 minutes). This book chills you to your bones, and though the plot twists are not entirely surprising, the way King writes the story, I still felt robbed somehow.
This book was so addictive, I did not want to stop listening to it. The narration by Michael C. Hall (you may know him as Dexter) was an excellent choice, his mysterious voice adds that chilly layer to the story that other narrators might not have managed.
I am, slowly but surely, making my way through King's (most popular) backlist. Pet Sematary was one of those books I heard about but didn't really know what it was about. A Pet Sematary, obviously.
This was not the book I expected it to be, and it positively surprised me. I'm a big wimp so I thought I'd be super scared, but this is not that kind of horror story (though I did feel a bit odd about my cat for about 0.5 minutes). This book chills you to your bones, and though the plot twists are not entirely surprising, the way King writes the story, I still felt robbed somehow.
This book was so addictive, I did not want to stop listening to it. The narration by Michael C. Hall (you may know him as Dexter) was an excellent choice, his mysterious voice adds that chilly layer to the story that other narrators might not have managed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/injury detail, Grief, and Car accident
caylamaureen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
5.0
Holy smokes! I’ve been a King fan for quite some time now, but I was scared to pick this one up, I’m not gonna lie… especially after King himself said that he thought he had finally “gone too far and threw it in a drawer with no intent to publish I love a good thriller but with a name and a preface like that I thought it would be too gruesome for me. But I have to say that King really writes in a way that no other writer does anymore and if more people could stomach these complicated topics, we’d be studying them in school hands down. The way he uses metaphors and forces us to think about the world we live in is absolutely unreal and I’m not tired of it yet!
Okay, Pet Sematery has very little blood and gore and jump scares compared to other King novels and I was left thinking “would I even call this ‘horror?’“ To me it felt more like tragedy. Kind of like a bit of a haunted tragedy? I’m not sure… what it really, actually is at its core is thought-provoking and psychological. More than any other book I’ve ever read, you are going to be pushed right up against the glass to the questions of afterlife, the worst kinds of childhood trauma, and the complex interwoven effects of death in the family. It’s absolutely astounding to me how simply King was able to make me question everything I think I know about death (or don’t know about it) and not only that but FORCE me to think about it. Luckily for me, I love nothing more than to be forced to think about life’s tough questions and then have something to on overthinking about endlessly. So if the hard topics aren’t your thing (or are triggering!! Read the trigger warnings!!) and inevitable haunting tragedy isn’t your thing, you won’t like this book. But it is undoubtedly a literary masterpiece that I can’t stop thinking about!!
Okay, Pet Sematery has very little blood and gore and jump scares compared to other King novels and I was left thinking “would I even call this ‘horror?’“ To me it felt more like tragedy. Kind of like a bit of a haunted tragedy? I’m not sure… what it really, actually is at its core is thought-provoking and psychological. More than any other book I’ve ever read, you are going to be pushed right up against the glass to the questions of afterlife, the worst kinds of childhood trauma, and the complex interwoven effects of death in the family. It’s absolutely astounding to me how simply King was able to make me question everything I think I know about death (or don’t know about it) and not only that but FORCE me to think about it. Luckily for me, I love nothing more than to be forced to think about life’s tough questions and then have something to on overthinking about endlessly. So if the hard topics aren’t your thing (or are triggering!! Read the trigger warnings!!) and inevitable haunting tragedy isn’t your thing, you won’t like this book. But it is undoubtedly a literary masterpiece that I can’t stop thinking about!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Grief, and Injury/injury detail
Funerals, family death, pet death, grave digging, grave robbing
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