Pet Sematary by Stephen King (1983)

I am not one to typically do a prologue at the beginning of my articles but I feel that is necessary for this book. I was in my early teens when I was first shown some of King's work through film such as Silver Bullet and Christine. It was not until in my early twenties that I started to read his work. I am not sure what it is about his writing or the worlds he creates but I am very drawn to them. Perhaps its the intricacy of his plots and the whole atmosphere he has created. For me, horror and mystery has always gone hand in hand and always will, and yet I do not in any way view his work as scary. This most certainly a genre that I do not read all the time as I also enjoy more simpler books surrounding more light hearted material. Please note there are questionable things that in fact take place in this book, some I do not condone as acceptable, however with that being said I do not deem it unreadable content. As a warning now before my review, this content may not be to everyone's liking or may be viewed as too heavy of content for some people to read. There are other articles to enjoy on my blog that may be more suitable for you.

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We are introduced to a small family, the Creed's as they are moving to Ludlow, Maine. Louis and Rachel have two children, Ellie and Gage. They have a family pet named Churchill or Church for short. Louis is a physician and has just accepted a position as a main care provider at their local university. They arrive to their new home, it is on the far outskirts of town on a main thoroughfare that a lot of semi trucks use to pass between towns. Ellie cuts herself on the swing set on the property. Louis unfortunately does not have too much patience when it comes to his young daughter's crying and temper tantrums. Not too long after Gage get stung by a bee. Their neighbor across the street comes over and helps them with the bee sting with an remedy with baking soda and introduces himself as Jud, Jud Crandall. Him and his wife Norma live just across the street.

Later that evening after getting settled in Louis goes over to have a beer with Jud. He tells him lots about area and how long he has lived in the town. The house Norma and Jud live in is the same one he grew up in. He tells Louis more about the property he just bought that him and his family moved into. Goes back several acres bordering into land that the local Native American's own. On a small piece if that is a pet cemetery. After talking Louis goes back home and dreams of being in Disney World with his son Gage whom in the dream is much older than he is now.

Only a few weeks until all the students would be returning back to the university and Louis is starting to get an understanding of what he would be mainly treating. He finally meets Jud's wife Norma, has a bad case of rheumatoid arthritis which he tries to help with the best he can. Ellie is also going to kindergarten now only doing half days but would eventually be an all day matter. That evening Louis felt a strange cold sense hit him as something not alive was watching him in their home. He put Gage to bed and did not think on it any longer.

Over the weekend Jud offered to take the Creed family for a small hike to go see more of their property within means of staying on the path. They find the pet cemetery. Very neat and orderly and well cared for. Jud explained some local children come by every so often and help tend to it. His dog and some of his friend's animals were up there as well. Aside from its morbid location it really did have a wonderful view of the property and the wooded area. It gave good time to explain to Ellie why there are some places you do not go without and adult for a reason.

The next day as Louis is working on his miniature car models Ellie pops the question about how long Church will live. He explains not as long as humans because of metabolism, and its just a another part of life that we have to deal with. After putting Ellie to bed his wife Rachel tells him that she does not want the kids anywhere near the cemetery especially since Ellie being as young as she is is asking too many questions about death.

The time had finally come for Louis's first full day at the university with the students back on campus. The university even had a reserved painted spot for him. Getting reading to start the day he is notified that their ambulance was in shop, most major injuries or illnesses were driven into the next biggest town to treatment. After dealing with some typical cases of sudden illness to get out tests and everything in between, both Louis and his fellow colleague were directed to be outside to assist. There had been a major accident. A car had hit a pedestrian. Louis had determined by just visual examination this young man, Victor Pascow had only minutes to live considering the visible brain trauma. The police were call to help rush him to the nearest hospital since their ambulance was out of commission. Louis had gotten down to be with the patient. The last few that he could hear that were audible was about the Pet Sematary, and Victor called Louis by his first name. He had never even been introduced to this young man.

After the young man was taken to the next town over by police, shortly after a press conference was held at the university. Louis stated that patient had immediately died to due the impact of the incident. He went home early and had dinner with Rachel. Their neighbor's took the children for the night to be able to let Louis wind down since everyone had heard what had happened that day. After everyone was home and in bed sound asleep, Louis was awakened by something. He looked around their room to see Victor. He knew he had to of been dreaming, but the way Victor looked it was certainly no dream at all. The young man led him out of the house and up to the cemetery. He warned Louis to never open door up there. He was warning him as a friend and always remember this.

Stephen King certainly knows how to get a book off to a great start. It most certainly is relatable. Hundreds of people move every single year, you cannot tell me that at some point someone was thinking this as a possible scenario in the back of their mind. And at some point where ever you live their is an older neighbor that knows everything there or has grown up knowing the area. New job, worst thing happens on your very first day. Then the dead person whom you attempted to save their life follows you home in the dead of night to drag you to a cemetery. Okay so most likely the last part has probably not happened to many people. I being in the medical field for the last several years have been around a lot of death. I specialized in hospice for a good portion of it. Thankfully I never had a spirit linger as Louis is dealing with. But I do believe even after someone is dead, that person may not have completed all they were meant to do, and once they have completed what they need to have done they can pass on. I personally believe that after death that the body becomes absent of the spirit and has parted, but I do know some cases where that spirit is in the in between place before fully passing. Some religions call that term purgatory. But our scenario, by definition does not fall into that category. With that being said going forward I will be calling it "the in between state", since its in between being dead and having the spirit fully leave the body. King goes into a lot of in depth detail when it comes to the medical terms and incidents. I will try to go to as little detail as possible for those who may not be able to handle it. Also this book will discuss death a lot, since this is a rather difficult topic for some people, I will do my part to be respectful of it as I know everyone views and handles it differently.