Stephen King Fans discussion

So who is reading along this month? **Remember as you talk about the book to mark any major plot spoilers so anyone who is reading along can join in the discussion as well. If you are not sure then it probably is a spoiler.**


Why is the title Pet Sematary instead of Pet Cemetery?

Oh and in honor of Pet Sematary month I have made my avatar my two cats... Pippin and Merry. As you can see Pippin if very vicious! :)

I'm very frightened. (Love the names by the way! Yay Tolkien!)

If I remember correctly, the title is misspelled because the pet cemetery in the book was created by children whose animals had died on the highway. When they made the sign for the cemetery, they spelled the word phonetically, like it sounded.

I think that in addition to the quirkiness of being a cute kid mistake, it also helps readers separate the book from reality. This is one of King's more terrifying books, and could easily traumatize someone!

I never knew the title was misspelled until we had it as a book club pick. When I reserved it at the library I thought they didn't have it because obviously I spelled it wrong. The when I searched under Stephen King I found it.

That King! You have to watch him... he's a tricky guy! ;)

I'm not rereading it either. I just read... Well, not JUST read it, but it wasn't that long ago anyway.

I am going to reread it, but not Feb 1st. I have also read it a few times, but there are always little details I like to nitpik over. I can be a pain, I guess;)

Surely not! ;)

I read it a few years ago and have seen the movie a couple times so I'll participate in discussion. I'm not sure I wanna go through what this book did to my head again. :) And just for the hell of it, I'll throw in my own crazy cat photo, my master, I mean, cat, Spanky.

I started to read it again this morning and the first thing that struck me was a small scene early on when Jud tells Ellie to be careful walking in the woods that surround Pet Sematary.
"You might lose the path and God knows where you might end up then."
Was this the inspiration for The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon that he wouldn't write for another twenty years? Love how he can throw little references to his own work that regular readers can pick up on. A rabid St. Bernard also gets mentioned.

I just finished rereading it and remembered why I never really wanted to reread this book. There are parts that are just too painful. In any case I'm ready to go.

Rachel.... how in the world did you get your cat perfectly behind you? Love it!

I am not very far either.... and Jud tells Ellie to be careful about going on the path and to not go alone. Makes me wonder if it is dangerous back there why she wasn't told to not go back there at all!

I was actually just trying to take a picture of her while she was sitting on my back which she loves to do while i'm laying on my bed. In order to take the pic I had to keep lowering my head until it wasn't blocking her but was still in view of my webcam so you could see me. And as I'm writing this she's back on my back!

When a truck kills Gage I'm heartbroken.

Alan, that's why I have resisted rereading it over the years and it hit me as hard this time as it did the 1st.

Humm... well I am not going to comment until I am done reading so there are no spoilers... see you when I am done! :)

This is one of my favorite King books. I'd like to reread it if I can, but no promises that it'll be done soon! XD Busy life is interfering with my time to read books, ahhh!

Am I weird for liking the passage that describes Pascow's condition when he arrives? For awhile I had that paragraph memorized. How morbid I was as a kid!

I apologize if I spoiled it. Hasn't everyone read it before?

I remember reading this book and doing a double take at the line when the cat comes back. I knew it was coming but the subtlety of the cat just being back in the garage, a little off freaked me out.

No Alan, I don't think everyone here has read it. Although, I'm sure that most everyone is at least familiar with the story... You might want to mark potential spoilers though! :)

I'm also one of those people who find it difficult to reread this one - I tend to pass over it when I take out or buy a King book, as if once was enough, or one needs to build up enough "emotional skin" before opening the covers, knowing he's going to rip that "skin" right off. What I can't forget is SPOILER** expecting something to happen to Gage's mother, as she's the only one left, and the feeling of resignation Gage's father has when she does come back.

Okay, Becky, I'll mark 'em.

I didn't read any of the previous posts, I promise! I am much further in now and this book is crazy creepy! Spoilers: Imagine a guy with leaky brains talking to you and saying your name.... and then talking about the pet cemetery right by your house! Talk about driving you crazy. And not even being able to talk to anyone about it for fear that others would think you are crazy!

Read Pet Sematary first back when I was fourteen years old, home sick from school. Only the third King I'd read after Christine and Firestarter back then. Book freaked me out a little. Wondered how I'd feel reading it now, twenty-four years later. Damn if it hasn't freaked me out again! Totally forgotten how down-beat a tale it was. Almost half the book, from the *SPOILERS* funeral of Gage to the end is almost relentlessly dark and grim. Although got to be said, what a book!

lol Alan, thanks for blowing the plot for me : (.... o well, I'm still reading it.

You're welcome. That's a small part of the plot though.

I started reading it yesterday. There is one part I have a very difficult time dealing with. That is the reason I have not read it since. I also did not want to watch the movie until that part was over. Once I have passed that point I am ok.

Possible Spoilers:
So I am about to start chapter 31, I love how church stinks. Smells like death... that would scare me. I think everyone who has a pet knows they smell a certain way and then one day they don't smell that way anymore! And I am dying to know what happened to Jud's dog the second time it died.

I haven't seen the movies yet, I don't like to watch movies until after I have read a book. Though I went to my local BBV and I think they only have the first movie. :( Is the second one even following the book, or is it it's own story?

PS2 is a completely independent story... The only thing that it has in common with the book is the "Pet Sematary". Although, PS2 is worth watching, if only for Clancy Brown. :)

When did PS2 come out?

Is anyone else reading this book for the first time?

PS2 came out in 1992.

I am on the home stretch now. I could finish the book tonight but Halo is calling my name. This book is crazy! It makes me scared of my parents dying (I have no kids). Is this how I am going to feel????! I just want to call them right now and make sure they are hitting the treadmill.

Spoilers: Well I just finished. The end of this book is very good. Though we still didn't find out what happened to Jud's dog. Do the animals die on their own or do you have to kill them at some point? And the ending is crazy... I thought for sure that the cycle would end only to find out it keeps going!

I thought I would post here the song that King mentioned in the book incase some of you have not heard it, "the cat came back" it is very catchy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wacMg...

_Spoilers_

I seem to recall Jud (or maybe Jud's dad?) re-killing his dog. It's been a while since I read this, so I don't know if I am remembering the book itself or what I inferred from it, but I keep thinking of Jud reburying the dog. It seems to me that would be something that Jud's dad would do to teach him about responsibility and manhood. But then I probably just "remembered" all of that from scratch. *shrug*

Becky I seem to remember that too

Oh good! :)

I don't remember if it was Judd's father or uncle but i'm pretty sure he had to rebury the dog which implies somebody rekilled it.

Hummm.... I don't remember reading that part at all. I am about to take the book back so I am going to skim though it tonight to try to see if I can find that part.

If you find it Angie let me know. It's been a while since I read this book but I vaguely remember something like that...or I'm talking out my a$$ :)

I can't find it......I don't remember reading anything about it either????? I keep reading that there is going to be a Pet Sematary movie remake out in 2010. That is all I can find about it. No actors and no director, and I can't read about it in IMDB.com either because you have to be a member to read information on that movie. I don't know why.. but you do. Anyone a member?

I just reread it the way I understand it was the dog eventually died and they buried it. I could be wrong and I'll try to find it.

I can't remember exactly what happened to Jud's dog either. It's been a while since I read the book, so I might have just created my memory out of thin air...

If I have time, I will try to look it up tonight.

Spoilers:
So the animals just die of old age? Because I was wondering if when a human was buried and came back do they age? So would Gage have aged? Would you classify this book as a zombie book?

No, they weren't zombies. The Indian burial grounds were scared to the Indians and magically things could happen there. I would guess Gage would have aged I think Louis assumed that he would. SK wasn't terribly specific about some of the details. Leave it up to our imagination I would guess. In any case,
I found the book very sad and had a very hard time rereading it. The question is how far would you go to bring a loved one back from the dead? Also, second book we read where a place is the villain.

I don't know if this introduction is in every edition of this book but did anyone else read the intro where SK talks about getting the idea for the book partly from a conversation about pets and death he had with his daughter? That's why this book makes me sad. I don't have kids but I'd be really distraught if my cat got run over by a car.

And THE LIVING DEAD anthology tried to classify Pet Sematary as having "zombie elements" but I think it works better under it's own theme that sometimes dead is better. Call it anti-zombie fiction. :)

In any case I looked up the part where Jud's dog died and his father shot it the 1st time because it was going to die and the 2nd time he died of old age and was buried in the Pet Sematary.

i knew there was shooting involved some time

I too would be upset if my cats got run over... that is why they are not allowed out. Plus all the looney cat haters out there.

Marilyn what page or what chapter did you find that in?

I guess zombies are more of a virus right?

Thanks for the clarification Marilyn... I knew that Jud's dad was involved somehow, I just had the details wrong! :)

Angie, I don't know if I would say that all zombies are caused by a virus or illness... In "Dawn of the Dead" I believe the explanation is that Hell is overrun and so the dead are now walking the earth. And the zombies in "Cell" were caused by technology. It does make sense for it to be viral though, considering the way it spreads-- except for "Cell" of course.

I wouldn't call PS a zombie book, although it does involve "reanimation". None of the "reanimated" corpses are able to "turn" anyone else, they can just kill. There's also no chaos. Things do start to accelerate and escalate and fall apart towards the end, but its a very grim and determined kind of deterioration, if that makes sense.

To me, the basis of a good zombie book or movie is the rampant violence, the spread and creation of new zombies, the chaos and the fear that at any minute we could be ambushed and turned ourselves... Maybe I'm just morbid. ;)