Pet Sematary
Published: 14, November 1983
Author: Stephen King
Genres: Occult, Suspense, Ghost, Horror, Supernatural, Thrillers, Fiction, Animals, Zombie
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Summary:
A Chicago doctor, Louis Creed, has been named head of the University of Maine's campus health department. With his wife Rachel, his two young children, Ellie and Gage, and Ellie's cat, Winston Churchill "Church," he moves to a huge house in the little town of Ludlow. The family is in danger from the minute they arrive: Ellie injures her knee, and Gage gets stung by a bee. An old man called Jud Crandall, their new neighbor, arrives to assist them. He cautions Louis and Rachel of the fast vehicles that frequent the highway that passes by their house.
Louis and Jud immediately become friends. Louis considers Jud to be his adoptive father because his father died when he was three years old. Jud takes the Creeds for a stroll in the woods behind their house a few weeks after they move in. A well-kept road leads to a pet cemetery (on the sign, "sematary" is misspelled), where the town's youngsters bury their departed pets.
The next day, Louis and Rachel had a violent disagreement over the outing. Rachel is against addressing death, and she is concerned about Ellie's reaction to what she has seen at the "sematary." Rachel was devastated by the early loss of her sister, Zelda, from spinal meningitis, as it is revealed later—a subject that is brought up numerous times in flashbacks. Louis sympathizes with his wife and holds her parents responsible for her suffering by leaving Rachel alone with her sister when she died.
During the first week of school, Louis experiences a horrific encounter. Even though the two men are strangers, Victor Pascow, a student who died in an automobile accident, addresses his final words to Louis personally. Louis has a very vivid dream the night after Pascow died in which he sees Pascow, who brings him to the deadfall at the rear of the "sematary" and cautions him not to go any farther.
The next morning, Louis wakes up in bed, sure it was all a dream—until he discovers dried mud and pine needles on his feet and bedsheets. Nonetheless, Louis dismisses the dream as the result of his stress following Pascow's death, as well as his wife's remaining fears about death.
Jud's wife Norma had a near-fatal heart attack on Halloween, but owing to Louis's aid, she recovers quickly. After Church gets run over outside his home around Thanksgiving, Jud is grateful and decides to repay Louis. Rachel and the kids are in Chicago visiting Rachel's parents, but Louis is worried about telling Ellie the terrible news. Jud sympathizes with Louis and brings him to the "sematary," where Church is believed to be buried. Rather than staying there, Jud takes Louis on a journey to "the actual graveyard," an old burial site previously frequented by the Mikmaq Tribe.
On Jud's orders, Louis buries the cat there. Church returns home the next day; the usually vivacious and active cat has become ornery and, in Louis' words, "a bit dead." Church goes on a mouse and bird hunt, tearing them up but not eating them. Ellie also doesn't want him in her room at night since he stinks so terribly. Church has been revived, according to Jud, who once buried his dog there when he was younger. Louis, who is greatly troubled, begins to regret burying Church there.
Gage, two years old, is killed by a speeding vehicle a few months later. Louis, overcome with grief, considers using the burial place to bring his son back to life. Jud, sensing Louis' intention, tries to persuade him by telling him about Timmy Baterman, the last person to be revived by the burial place. During World War II, Timmy Baterman was killed in action. Timmy's remains were returned to the United States and his father Bill laid him to rest at the cemetery. Timmy reappeared; wreaking havoc on the residents of the community with information Jud claims he had no way of knowing.
Timmy was stopped by his father, Bill, who shot himself after killing Timmy and setting their house on fire. Jud claims that whatever returned was not Timmy, but a "devil" who had taken possession of his body. "Sometimes, dead is preferable," he says, adding that "the place has a power... its own wicked purpose," and that it may have been the cause of Gage's death because Jud exposed Louis to it.
Louis' sadness and remorse drive him to carry out his plan, despite Jud's warning and his own doubts. Gage's body is exhumed from his tomb and interred in the cemetery by Louis. Gage is revived, but he is not the same person he was before. He finds one of Louis' scalpels and murders both Jud and Rachel, now malevolent in both his words and deeds. Louis uses morphine injections from his medical supplies store to kill both Church and Gage.
Louis returns to the burial plot with his wife's body after burning down the Crandall house, believing that if he buries it faster than Gage's, the outcome would be different. Louis has aged physically as a result of all of these sad occurrences, having white hair and wrinkles. Steve Masterton, one of his coworkers, observes him heading into the woods with Rachel's body.
While terrified and concerned, Steve is also swayed by the burial ground's power and even contemplates assisting Louis in burying Rachel, but he leaves in horror and later relocates to St. Louis. Later, Louis is sitting alone inside, playing solitaire, when Rachel's reanimated body comes up behind him and places a chilly hand on his shoulder, rasping, “Darling."
Rating: 100/100
Recommended: 100/100 Yes.
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Pet Sematary
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