Bracket #4: Pet Sematary (1983)

[mae]

Pet Sematary, 1983
http://www.thedarktower.org/gallery/data/510/medium/Pet_Semetary_face.jpg

Please vote for Pet Sematary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Sematary) using the following scale:

5: I loved it
4: It was good
3: Average
2: Only so-so
1: I didn't like it

If you haven't read this book yet, please vote Never Read. Feel free to discuss your votes in this thread.

[Jean]

bears loved it, even though they were really scared

[mae]

My first King book. Maybe a nostalgic choice, but I feel, for me, it's King's best work.

[Heather19]

This was also my first King book, so it'll always have a special place in my heart.

[mae]

Two votes for "Average"? :angry: Bring me their heads!

[Daghain]

Make that three. :)

I vacillated between 3 and 4, but really, it was good, not great.

[mae]

Not great? Not great?!

:cry:

[Brice]

Just remember she's a Jane Austen fan so her opinions may be tainted on some matters. <_<

[vacant lot]

Hit too close to home, but it was good.

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

5. One of my absolute favs. Also my first (I was about 9 or 10). Only book that I ever finished and IMMEDIATELY flipped back to the beginning and reread.

[Sam]

Agree with Dags I must. It was good, but not great. I'll give it a 4, but I've never wanted to reread this one.

[mae]

I vacillated between 3 and 4, but really, it was good, not great.

Well, nice use of an SAT word there :dance:

[divemaster]

Ok, I'm going to reserve my vote until I really comes to terms on how I feel about this book. From a plotting standpoint it is a masterpiece. It grips you by the balls and does not let go. It's horrifying. And like I've said in other comments, King is a master in getting into a character's head. We see the father coming closer and closer to this horrible decision, we almost want to scream into the pages "NO! STOP!" The father on one level even wants to stop. But he can't. He's driven to take this terrible action, and we are with him every step of the way. And we understand why this is so. And that's why King is such a good writer.

So, where's the conflict? I don't think l'll ever want to read this again. After it was over I just felt BAD. Like I needed to curl up in the shower and let the water cleanse me from what I had just read.

[Cutter]

This ranks as a top 5 King book, imo

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

I think Pet Sematary is somewhat unique within the SK works, as it is the only true literary tragedy that I can think of in King's bibliography. I'm not sure what Louis's fatal flaw would be defined as, but I'm sure its there and that it lead to his demise, making it a definitive tragedy.

[Kronz]

Scariest supernatural horror book I've ever read by far, and I've read all of King's other than Duma Key. My favorite scary book is It, but it's not half as scary as this beast. So grim and hopeless! I wish there were more pitch black novels like this. Five stars easy.

[Brice]

I think Pet Sematary is somewhat unique within the SK works, as it is the only true literary tragedy that I can think of in King's bibliography. I'm not sure what Louis's fatal flaw would be defined as, but I'm sure its there and that it lead to his demise, making it a definitive tragedy.

Confusing the line between love for an individual and love for that individual's place in one's own life?

[Tito_Villa]

Was a great read :) i gave it a 5 ... actually thinking about this i might read it agin after ive finished the book im on!

[High_Desert_Gunslinger]

I loved it personally. Very interesting and creepy.

What shocked me was that 3 people said they didn't like it :beat:

[mae]

What shocked me was that 3 people said they didn't like it :beat:

Exile them to Ludlow!

[High_Desert_Gunslinger]

What shocked me was that 3 people said they didn't like it :beat:

Exile them to Ludlow!

and make them read old physics textbooks everyday (I couldn't think of a worse punishment :P)

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

I think Pet Sematary is somewhat unique within the SK works, as it is the only true literary tragedy that I can think of in King's bibliography. I'm not sure what Louis's fatal flaw would be defined as, but I'm sure its there and that it lead to his demise, making it a definitive tragedy.

Confusing the line between love for an individual and love for that individual's place in one's own life?

That's very eloquently put. I was thinking simply "selfishness", but I think you might have nailed down.

[pathoftheturtle]

I do think that such confusion is a common problem in life, and I don't want to scoff for even a second at real love for real others, but I think that there's even more subtleties to this book.
Ever seen the movie Deadly Friend (1986, Wes Craven) ? If so, then I ask you; can we classify that alongside the Greek tragedies? I doubt it. Yet, unlike the novel, I don't find Stephen King's Pet Sematary (1989, Mary Lambert) to be substantially better than Craven's ham-handed treatment of Brice's theme.

Anyroa, my rating of Stephen King's Pet Sematary, the novel: 5

[Woofer]

I read through the night and finished this one the first time I picked it up. Even though you know exactly what's going to happen, it still manages to maintain the tension and kick it up a notch periodically.


Louis...

[Candice Dionysus]

Seeing as this was the first King book I ever read, and I was only 8 when I read it, I feel I should clarify a little bit.

I voted that I love it. I loved it when I was 8, and I've loved it every time I've read it since. It never loses love. <3 That book and I are like: :couple:

[mae]

I cannot believe three people did not like this book at all :cry:

[mae]

The poll has closed. Pet Sematary has earned a FAS (final average score) of 4.460674157 or 89.21%, placing 2nd (runner-up) in this bracket. It will be moving on to Round 2. In 2009, Pet Sematary also placed 2nd with a FAS of 4.390243902, so it gained 0.070430255 (+1.60%) this time.

[pathoftheturtle]

I cannot believe three people did not like this book at all :cry:Oh, I most certainly can believe that. You can't expect to please everyone. People don't always judge literaure objectively; there's all sorts of different standards. Pet Sematary is no typical book.

[Patrick]

I'm too late to vote in Round 1, but I would have given this book a 5 and plan to do so in the next round.

[Woofer]

There was a lot of bad publicity around this one. IIRC, King debated a long time before actually publishing it. One of my favorites. I think I'll do a reread after I finish Sense, Sensibility, and Sea Monsters and before I read the True Blood series.