A review by biiaanccca
Cujo by Stephen King

emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

SpoilerThat damned needle valve.

Oh sweet,
Spoilersweet Cujo. I do not think I have ever loved a fictitious dog more than I have loved Cujo. I do not care what he did, he is a good boy. It was not his fault, and it was so hard to read about everything that happened to him because of his negligent owner.

The part where
SpoilerCujo got stuck in the small cave was hard to finish reading, but at the same time it was written in a way that I simply could not stop reading. Cujo could have gotten out, but he wanted the rabbit. If he never barked, the bats would not have woken up. If the cave was known of to begin with, it would (should) have been closed off, and all the small animals that found themselves trapped in there would have found death another way. The bats would have never moved in. And Cujo never would have gotten rabies.
 

I loved all the different
SpoilerPOV’s, but I really enjoyed the narrative from Cujo’s point of view. I loved reading about Cujo’s self awareness— that after he got bit by the bat, he did not want to go home to his human masters because he feared they might call him a “BADDOG”. Cujo also felt disgusted with himself afterwards.

On the other hand,
Spoilerit was devastating to read about Cujo’s fast progress to getting sick and then becoming full on rabid. I was so saddened that Cujo stopped wanting food and was not sure why. He was growling at people he normally liked, but he could not help it because he did not feel good. He did not want to chase the Fireflies like he use to, because his body was aching everywhere— from his teeth to his bones to his brain. Cujo could not even drink, for even though he was so thirsty he avoided water because it tasted like steel shavings. Everything soon became monstrous to Cujo and all he wanted to do was kill. Foaming at the mouth, and whining from every sound he heard was how Cujo spent his last days alive.

I liked the plot point
Spoilertelling the reader of Aunt Evvie Chalmers last moments alive. I loved how it was described as “almost painlessly,” and “suddenly propelled as if by a hard but not unkind push from behind.” Another plot point I liked was that Charity had won the lottery, $5,000 before taxes. I loved when Charity stood up to Joe and told him that yes, Brett would be going on a trip with her to visit her sister. I liked the Steve Kemp plot points. I liked the plot point where Brett was sleepwalking and was acting out feeding Cujo. It was nice to read that one person actually cared about the well being of him. I really liked the plot point with George Meara. The plot point where Tad started to seize was devastating but also intriguing. I was glued to my book wondering how Donna would be able to stop it.

One plot point I did not like
Spoilerwas the monster in Tad’s closet. It just never made sense to me, and I feel like I missed out on something. Cujo was just a rabid dog, so how was he suppose to end up inside Tad’s closet. How did Donna and Vic get creepy vibes from the closet, seeing things—things moved around, if the monster of the story was not supernatural?

Yes, Cujo
Spoilerkilled people. But they were not all bad. Gary Pervier? Perverted, alcoholic, lazy, and cynical— no true loss there. Joe Camber? Abusive and a alcoholic. Good riddance. Cujo freed Charity from a long life of being stuck with an abusive partner. Sheriff Bannerman and especially Tad were tragic losses.

Donna and Tad were
Spoilertrapped in their Pinto for a significant part of the book, and I enjoyed reading every second of it. I just loved how different this book is from other books I have read of Kings. IT the clown was not trying to get Donna and Tad, nor was it some supernatural or possessed being. It was just a rabid dog. It was so.. real. It could happen to anyone. Maybe not in the exact situation, but being trapped and attacked by a rabid dog does not seem impossible.

It was so upsetting
Spoilerto read about what Donna did to Cujo. I get it, she had to do it, but there was a part of me that hoped Donna and Tad would just get out of Camber’s driveway somehow and Cujo would just die from the rabies on his own. No humane euthanasia for him I guess. Instead, Donna repeatedly slammed the car door on Cujo’s head. His ear was hanging on by a thread, and he was covered in his own blood. Donna later bludgeoned Cujo with a baseball bat in his ribs and hindquarters, breaking bones. He later ended up with the splintered baseball bat going through his right eye, which ended up finally killing him. Donna went back and pounded Cujo’s dead body with the baseball bat.

One person I really appreciated
Spoilerwas Masen. He was the one that could not get past the fact that Donna’s car was missing. The fact that he would not let that go steam rolled everything else that happened into place. I just wish everyone involved acted with more urgency. Perhaps if George Bannerman drove to Maple Sugar Road with his sirens on, Tad would have still been alive at that point, and perhaps the loud noise would have sent Cujo into hiding. Another thing I loved was the “x did or did not happen because y unexpectedly happened so x was altered”. Like Alva never got a chance to go check on Cujo because his big air conditioner blew and his chickens needed to be saved. Good thing anyways.. Cujo probably would have killed him.
Spoiler

When Vic said
Spoiler“How long has he been dead, Donna?” fully caught me by surprise, because I thought we were going to find out Donna had been so badly hallucinating that Tad had died after the first day stuck in the Pinto.

I fully did not expect
SpoilerTad to die. I just did not see it coming. I thought somehow they would get away from Cujo. But if anything, after reading Donna got bit by Cujo, I thought she would end up dying before they escaped or were rescued. Reading about Tad’s slow demise made me just as sad reading about Cujo’s. Having seizures, a blistered face, no food or water, absolutely terrified over a rabid dog, and wanting nothing more than to go home and see his daddy.. just to never get that wish. Another instance in where x altered y, because if Donna had been firm and made Tad stay home, he would never have succumbed to dehydration and heatstroke.

I absolutely am not
Spoilerblaming Donna for Tad’s death. He was crying and did not want to be left with the babysitter. Donna tried everything she could to save Tad from Cujo and their perilous situation. Donna proved to be be a wonder-mom anyways, because she was willing to go up against a rabid dog with just a baseball bat.

Sheriff Bannerman was
Spoileranother instance when x altered y. After Cujo maimed Bannerman, no backup immediately came because he did not follow protocol and radio in his immediate findings.

This book did have
Spoilerhappy moments. Vic was able to keep the Sharp account. Charity and Brett were able to stay in their home. They had enough money to get by. Brett got a new puppy too, but this one had its rabies shots.

The second to last paragraph in the book was gut wrenching to me. 

Spoiler“Shortly following those mortal events in the Camber dooryard, Cujo's remains were cremated. The ashes went out with the trash and were disposed of at the Augusta wastetreatment plant. It would perhaps not be amiss to point out that he had always tried to be a good dog. He had tried to do all the things his MAN and his WOMAN, and most of all his BOY, had asked or expected of him. He would have died for them, if that had been required. He had never wanted to kill anybody. He had been struck by something, possibly destiny, or fate, or only a degenerative nerve disease called rabies. Free will was not a factor.”

Cujo’s family
Spoilerdid not even take back his ashes.. they ended up in the trash.

Fictitious Cujo, in my eyes you were a good dog. What you did was not your fault.