GUEST WRITER! This book review was written by Maria Rosa R. Quintana, author of 'Muerte entre Anclas'
Original title: Pet Sematary
Author: Stephen King
Year of Publication: 1983
Number of pages: 562 pages
"That
place… all at once it gets hold of you… and you make up the sweetest-smelling
reasons in the world… but I could have been wrong, Louis. That´s all I´m saying.
Lester could have been wrong. Stanny B. could have been wrong. Hell, I ain´t
God either. But bringing the dead back to life… that´s about as close to playing
God as you can get, ain´t it?"
The family consisted
of Louis Creed, his wife Rachel, their children Ellie and Gage and lastly, their
cat Church; because of Louis’ work, they have to move to another town and so
they arrive to a new house situated by a highway, always close to danger.
In time, they
became close with Judson Crandall and his wife, who live in front of their
house, and who became the substitute parental figures their marriage needed to
hold itself. The feet and mouth of Jud were the ones that brought Louis to that
place.
When Rachel
and their kids have to go out of town, Ellie entrusts her cat Church with her
dad, trusting him with the life of his precious cat, but Church dies due to negligence
from Louis. Jud guides him to the pet cemetery and shows him what lies beyond
it and the creepy stories that describe that place.
Louis decides
to bury Church there, beyond death, closer to life, and returns home. He
returns, and Church does too… However, not as before. That heavy cat sight
becomes bestial and chilling, scratching deeper than its claws…
Louis is the
protagonist of this creepy story; the narrative of the master of horror allows
you to venture into Louis’ body and to live through him, cry through his eyes
and decide with him.
The
characters are few, enough to identify with each of them in some aspect, appreciate
them as they are and how they deserve it.
This book is
the Pet Sematary, you can read it from a bed, from a hammock underneath the sun’s
beams: but as you pass through the pages, darkness begins to surround you, the
smell of coffee becomes the death that hugs you and in an instant you find
yourself in the middle of buried pets, with bones and skulls of animals that at
some point were lovable. You, as a reader, feel what happens within the cemetery,
as some of Stephen King’s words come as an extra when sensations, with the
passing of the page, are raw and close, and intuition is what guides you.
It is a story
that moves feelings, that confuses you and subjects you to doubt, what is more
worth it? In a moment danger was small, the size of a cat, but what if it was a
person coming back? Do I prefer death on life or death by itself?
- Where to buy? Amazon, The Book Depository, Barnes and Noble, your local book shop.
- Stephen King's 10 rules for writing
- 10 Creepiest Stephen King Characters
