Pet Sematary
by Stephen King
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Book Summary Information
Author: Stephen KingEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-02-01
ISBN: 0743412281
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books
Book Reviews of Pet Sematary
Book Review: A work of singular vision.
Summary: 5 Stars
Scan the internet and what do you see? A plethora of self-aggrandizing genre fans too good to like Stephen King, eager to reveal to the world the various books and movies from which King as allegedly "stolen" his ideas. Thus, they will lick their chops and rub their hands with puerile glee when they point out the similarities between Earth Abides and The Stand, or between The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie and Misery, or between Matheson's "The Distributor" and Needful Things. Rarely will you see them engage in the task of assessing King's handling of his influences and source materials, because analyzing the process of artistic creativity is apparently an obstacle for their limited critical faculties: as if pointing to a prior work somehow in itself discredits King as a writer.
This ilk will predictable dismiss Pet Sematary as "merely" an updating of "The Monkey's Paw," and the premise and arc of the narrative certainly bears out that claim. Yet, an assessment that begins and ends with this observation reveals a superficial perspective. In its core theme of the dark heart of Louis Creed, and Creed's constant reminder - in the mocking presence of Church, the cat returned from the dead - of the canker in his soul, Pet Sematary recalls not W.W. Jacobs but rather Edgar Allan Poe.
Then there is the scene-setting backdrop of the ghostly presence of the Wendigo, clearly an evocation of Algernon Blackwood's classic short story. The reanimated corpse of Gage Creed owes more than a passing nod to the resuscitated Tansy in Fritz Lieber's sterling novel of modern witchcraft, Conjure Wife. Lastly, it has recently come to my attention that the dual-resurrection plot structure is derived from a 1940s B-film called Face of Marble, starring John Carradine. (It is available for instant viewing on a popular DVD rental site.) The similarity is too striking to be coincidental: Carradine plays a scientist who brings the family dog back to life, only to find the dog has returned as a semi-corporeal ghost with a nasty temper. Yet, when his wife dies an accidental death, he brings her back to life as well. Although she doesn't go on a killing rampage, the results are not what he hopes for.
Viewers and readers intent on portraying King as "creatively bankrupt" will no doubt feel vindicated by everything I have thus far stated. Yet those who can see beyond the most obvious of surface realities will detect in King an artist of singular vision and profound originality. Rather than resulting in a fractured, indigestible mess of unassimilated elements, Pet Sematary's antecedents combine to create a cogent, cohesive, and hauntingly powerful narrative, one that stands quite apart from the aforementioned works, both individually and collectively. What we have in King is a writer with an encyclopedic familiarity with the horror genre, a keen understanding of our American soil, and the perspicacity to make connections that the rest of us don't see until we've read his novels. I hesitate to use the word "synthesize" due to the over-usage of that term to the point of triteness - yet, while there are ideas and elements unique to the novel, no better word exists to describe King's modus operandi, both here and in many of his other books. The resultant stories are distinct from their precedents and unique in their sensibility and vision.
As film critic Robin Wood has noted, Pet Sematary is one of King's most disturbing novels. It is a troubling and frightening nightmare reflection of the American dream. You will not easily forget it.
[By the way, you will come across some people who claim that King "ripped off" a horror film called Zeder, by the brilliant Italian director Pupi Avati. It involves geographical regions where death ceases to exist, and where buried bodies return to life. Ignore them: Zeder was released in 1982, and King began work on Pet Sematary in 1979. It was published in 1983. Unless there was a frantic and massive last-minute overhaul brought to bear on the manuscript, any influence/borrowing/"stealing" is impossible.]
Summary of Pet Sematary
"Sometimes dead is better...."When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: physician father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son -- and now an idyllic home. As a family, they've got it all...right down to the friendly cat.
But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth -- more terrifying than death itself...and hideously more powerful.
Renowned for its superior productions, BBC radio may have outdone itself by adapting Stephen King's Pet Sematary to audio. A clamorous cacophony of talking, whining, whistling, and howling, Pet Sematary is a quick, entertaining earful for those who don't have other auditory distractions to contend with, such as a car full of talking whining, whistling, howling children. However, the melodramatic prose marries well with the acting; such is the case when one reader--whose voice bears an uncanny resemblance to Kramer's from Seinfeld--tells another about the effects of the Pet Sematary: "Heroin makes junkies feel good when they put it in their arms, but all the time it's poisoning their mind and body--this place can be like that and don't you ever forget it!" (Running time: three hours, two cassettes)
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