Pet Sematary Author:Stephen King Louis Creed, a doctor from Chicago, moves to a house near the small town of Ludlow, Maine with his wife Rachel, their two young children, Ellie and Gage, and Ellie's cat, Winston Churchill ("Church"). Their neighbor, an elderly man named Jud Crandall, warns Louis and Rachel about the highway that runs past their house; it is used by trucks from ... more »a nearby chemical plant that often pass by at high speeds.
Jud and Louis become friends. Since Louis's father died when he was three, his relationship with Jud takes on a father-son dimension. A few weeks after the Creeds move in, Jud takes the family on a walk in the woods behind their home. A well-tended path leads to a pet cemetery (misspelled "sematary") where the children of the town bury their deceased animals. A heated argument erupts between Louis and Rachel the next day. Rachel disapproves of discussing death and she worries about how Ellie may be affected by what she saw at the "sematary". (It is explained later that Rachel was traumatised by the early death of her sister, Zelda, from spinal meningitis.)
Louis has a traumatic experience as director of the University of Maine's campus health service when Victor Pascow, a student who is fatally injured after being struck by an automobile, addresses his dying words to Louis even though they have never met. On the night following Pascow's death, Louis is visited by the student's walking, conscious corpse, which leads him to the "sematary" and refers specifically to the "deadfall", a dangerous pile of tree and bush limbs that form a barrier at the back. Pascow warns Louis not to "go beyond, no matter how much you feel you need to." Louis wakes up in bed the next morning convinced it was a dream, but discovers his feet and the bedsheets covered with dirt and pine needles. Louis dismisses the episode as a result of stress from Pascow's death coupled with his wife's anxieties about death. He dismisses the situation as a bout of sleep walking.
Louis is forced to confront death at Halloween, when Jud's wife, Norma, suffers a near-fatal heart attack. Thanks to Louis's immediate attention, Norma recovers. Jud is grateful for Louis's help and decides to repay him after Church is run over during Thanksgiving. Rachel and the kids are visiting her parents in Chicago, and Louis frets over breaking the news to Ellie. Jud takes him to the pet sematary, supposedly to bury Church. Instead Jud leads Louis beyond the deadfall to "the real cemetery": an ancient burial ground that was once used by the Micmacs, a Native American tribe. Following Jud's instructions, Louis buries the cat and constructs a cairn.
The next afternoon, the cat returns home. However, while he used to be vibrant and lively, he now acts ornery and "a little dead," in Louis's words. Church hunts for mice and birds much more often, but rips them apart without eating them. The cat also smells dead. Louis is disturbed by Church's resurrection and begins to regret his decision.
Several months later Gage, who had just learned to walk, is run over by a speeding truck. Overcome with despair, Louis considers bringing his son back to life with the power of the burial ground. Jud, guessing what Louis is planning, attempts to dissuade him by telling him the story of Timmy Baterman, a young man from Ludlow who was killed during World War II. His father, Bill, put Timmy's body in the burial ground, where he came back to life, soon being seen by the terrified townsfolk. Jud and three of his friends went to the Baterman house to confront the pair, but Timmy confronted each of them with indiscretions they had committed, indiscretions he had no way of knowing, thus giving the impression that the resurrected Timmy is some sort of all knowing demon. Jud and his friends flee the house horrified, and Bill soon shoots his son and burns his house to the ground, killing himself. Jud concludes that Gage died because he showed Louis the burial ground. There are hints that the burial ground was sometimes used for victims of cannibalism and that the ground behind the pet cemetery has become the haunt of the Wendigo, a terrible creature of the forest, whose mere presence gives men a taste for flesh of their own kind.
Despite Jud's warning and his own reservations, Louis's grief and guilt spur him to carry out his plan. Louis has Rachel and Ellie visit her parents again, not telling them his intentions. Louis exhumes his son's body and hikes him to the burial site. Along the trail, the Wendigo nearly frightens him away, but Louis's determination, combined with the power of the burial site, keeps him moving.
Ellie has a nightmare featuring Victor Pascow on the flight to Chicago. Because of this and an agreement between Rachel and her daughter as to Louis' behavior, Rachel attempts to fly back to Maine, but can only get a flight to Boston on such short notice. She reaches the decision to drive the rest of the distance to her home that night.
Louis buries Gage at the burial ground. Gage returns as a demonic shadow of his former self, able to talk like an adult. He breaks into Jud's house and taunts Jud about his wife's implied infidelity, then kills Jud with one of Louis's scalpels. When Rachel arrives at Jud's house, Gage kills her also (and, it is implied, partially eats her corpse). It is suggested that this event pushes Louis's mind into its final stage of insanity; thus, the curse of the sematary had fully influenced him. Louis kills Gage without hesitation with a fatal dose of morphine, and then grieves for his son by sitting in the corner of the hallway.
Louis burns down Jud Crandall's house, then carries Rachel's body to the burial ground, saying that he "waited too long" with Gage but is confident that Rachel will come back the same as before. After being interrogated by investigators about the fire, Louis waits until nightfall for Rachel to return. Playing solitaire, he hears his resurrected wife walk into the house, and the novel ends with Rachel speaking: "Darling."« less
This is an odd terrifying story of pets & perhaps people that can come back to life after being buried in the pet sematary, which sits on ancient Indian burial grounds. Is it a blessing or a curse? You decide. Very good book. 5 stars.
As with most of King's earlier books, Pet Sematary is one you have to read if you are into scary and suspenseful stories. This is by far one of his 'signature' style books. The movie was done quite well and follows the book almost exact.
Definitely a classic; and so much better than the movie! I'm sure you've all heard the basic story; people have pets who die, and when they bury them in this certain cemetary, they come back to life. Find out what happens to one family when their young son dies and they bury HIM there!
I read this book back in the early 90's and it scared the bejevus out of me. IF you want to know why you don't bring things back from the dead read this.
as always king delivers a fast paced creepy read. i read this book in less than a day,i just couldnt seem to put it down.... way way better than the movie....
PET SEMATARY is a book that will stand the test of time. It is, of course, one of King's early novels, and we can see the author at his peek. The horrors he reveals (from family dynamics to supernatural burial grounds) are chilling enough to scare the bejesus out of the sternest of hearts!
The story revolves around the Creed family and their move from a bustling Chicago suburb to quiet Bangor, Maine, where the father (Louis) starts work as a physician. He brings with him his wife and two children (Ellie, a preteen daughter, and Gauge, a preschool boy still in diapers). The house they move into is beautiful with plenty of land for the children to play on, and a nice old neighbor couple across the "road", the Crandalls. It is this "road" that causes some immediate concern to Louis as Judd Crandall tells him about the deaths of animals caused by the big semi-trucks that blaze down its blacktop.
Judd becomes friends with the family and eventually takes them (or rather is drawn into taking them) on a small path behind the Creed's house that leads to a very special place: the PET SEMATARY. This is the place where most of the animals that'd been killed on the "road" are buried. It's a strange place with concentric circles, the shape the multiple graves make as they are laid out against the well-kept grounds. Louis and Ellie notice a large deadfall tree and Judd warns them not to climb it because it is too dangerous. But there's more to the story than that. What lay beyond the deadfall tree?
Ellie's cat, Church, is eventually killed on the "road", and Judd and Louis decide to bury the cat, but not in the PET SEMATARY; they go beyond, over the deadfall, and into a very special place known as the Micmac burial grounds, a place that has existed since the Earth began, and has the power in its soil to bring back the dead. But at what cost?
"Has anyone ever buried a human being back there?" Louis asks Judd.
"Don't even think such a thing, Louis!" Judd replies.
Church returns to the living, but is much changed. The cat smells foul, and has a very cold and evil manner about it. But at least Ellie has her cat back, right?
Eventually the "road" takes more than just an animal of the Creed's. In a horrific set of narratives, Mr. King draws us into what might happen if humans were brought back from the dead. What happens to our soul if we're brought back? Does it come with us? Or does it stay on the Micmac grounds? Or perhaps something in-between?
This book will, in every sense of the word, "freak" you out! It's terrifyingly terrific, as were many of King's earlier novels. A must read for the horror afficionado.
The Creeds are the ideal family, Physician Father, beautiful mother, a sweet little girl and an infant son.
They find an old house which seems to be a perfect residence for a perfect family on enchanting grounds in rural Maine. It seemed to good to be true. and what seems to be to good to be true, usually is. The real truth was spine chilling and almost as horrifying as death itself.
This is the kind of book that will reach out and literally scare the bee jeezus out of you
I recommend this book to all King Fans. I do believe that I now know why he uses children in most of his books... children can be spooky little people and they have the ability to do frightening things at times
Creepy and fun to read! Will affect you if you have a pet (which I do) or live in Maine (which I do). Reading Stephen King books are always so fun because of the strangeness of reading about my backyard.
I loved this book. I saw the movie first and finally just got to reading the book a few months ago. It was great and I couldn't put it down! Way better than the movie, even though I always hear Fred Gywnne as Jud saying, "The heart of a man is stonier, Louis." Great, great book!!! One of the best I've ever read!
When I read this book for the first time, I wanted to lock it up somewhere and never open it again. But I couldn't do it, It kept pulling at me and I finished it in two days. It is scary on a level much grater than ghost and ghouls. It scares you from the inner most part of your heart. Stephen King knows better than any other how reach inside the human mind and find the things that scare them most. Its not the thing that goes BOO in the night. Its the real world things, the things you only think of at night when your in your bed alone but when the morning comes its the farthest thing from your mind. The things you only think of in your secret mind and never say out loud. This is a must read for readers of any Genre.
When the Creeds move into a beautiful Old house in Rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: Physician father, beautiful wefe, chariming little daughter, adorable infant sone 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.
Excellent. One of the first King books I read. Mainly because of this book, I am now a devoted Stephen King fan. King supposedly scared himself so bad writing this book that he put it away for a while and really did not intend to finish it.