Pet Sematary ~ How It Affected You

I'm re-reading this right now. I read it when I was about 21 and haven't read it since. That was pre-kids, and 28 years ago. Jeez I'm old. I still have little kids at home, so it's going to be... unsettling... I think that's what I'm expecting to feel. We'll see. I'm only up to Jud telling Louis the story of the burial ground after Church returns, so I'm not to the really bad (good) stuff yet.

Knowing what's coming, I'm enjoying SK's ability to gradually coax us out into the darkness before shoving us through the door and slamming it shut behind us.

This was the first book of SK that I read. I had checked it out at the library for a Halloween read. It did scare me (Zelda....:eek2:), but I did not expect it to be so heartbreaking. When Gage is killed, I had such a difficult time reading that part.
I can see why SK was hesitant to have it published, but I'm so glad he did!

Loved the character Victor Pascow. He's kind of like a creepy guardian angel.

It was so sad in some parts, I couldn't believe it. I had to set it down & leave it for awhile, my heart hurt so bad. :(

I remember reading Pet Sematary for the first time when I was about 13 or 14, in the mid 80s. I'd already read The Shining, Salem's Lot & Carrie, but Pet Sematary scared me the most. In fact it ended up triggering a serial nightmare that I still have fairly regularly. When I read the book originally, I had sadly lost 3 cats in quick succession, one hit by a car & the other two simply disappeared. (BTW, I relate to SK's observation in the book that cats are like the gangsters of the animal world, prone to violent deaths)
In the dreams, my lost cats return, which should be a happy reunion, but my dreaming self knows how wrong it is. The cats don't seem quite right, & I feel menaced by them, as if they are an abomination, against nature.
Over the years, the dream scenario has actually become even worse, as I know how totally wrong it is for a lost cat to turn up after 25 years!
Unfortunately, it also happens with people I have known that have died, I dream that they are alive again, but I'm repulsed by them, even though they are people I loved.
I recently re read Pet Sematary & it is just as powerful & scary. I have read a lot of horror & crime/thriller fiction over the years, but there's just something so compellingly menacing about Pet Sematary. It's something about the idea of raising the dead that is so appalling - we need to try to learn to cope with our losses, as tough as that is. A hard message, but that's the reality of life, that death must come to us all.

I also read this as a teen in the 80s. I slept with the light on for a week afterwards. It was my first SK book and I was hooked! I am a serial re-reader, so I have read it many times since, however, when I was pregnant with my daughter, I just couldn't bring myself to read it again. Now that she's older than both kids in the book, I have re-read it and enjoyed it, but yes, your perspective changes a lot when you are a parent. As many have said, it's tough and powerful!

I so agree that you are right even though I am only 14 and I am reading these kind of books. But to have nightmares is not unusual at all I even have them!

I just finished it literally a few minutes ago. I'm 17 too, coincidentally. I'm not really sure what to think. I think I'm, I guess, disturbed more than anything. I put it on my bookshelf and don't really want to touch it again. The thing that's gnawing at me most is what Gage said about Norma. I've been wondering if that was really true. If so, that'd be a damn shame.

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Originally Posted by Sealskie

I just finished it literally a few minutes ago. I'm 17 too, coincidentally. I'm not really sure what to think. I think I'm, I guess, disturbed more than anything. I put it on my bookshelf and don't really want to touch it again. The thing that's gnawing at me most is what Gage said about Norma. I've been wondering if that was really true. If so, that'd be a damn shame.

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Give yourself some time to process it. :smile2: (This book was a difficult one for me personally... not that it wasn't a good read, just --emotionally tough.)

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Originally Posted by FlakeNoir

Give yourself some time to process it. :smile2: (This book was a difficult one for me personally... not that it wasn't a good read, just --emotionally tough.)

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Me too Flake..I had suffered a family loss in the early eighties shortly before this came out,and it really gave me some tough moments of recall..however I think in the end,Stephen King's message of love,intense love of family,still we have to realize that sometimes we must let go..well I am okay with it..but I really don't think I will ever read the book or see the movie again,just too hard..

It's strange isn't it. I used to love horror films when I was younger. Since I've had a child, I can't watch them so much anymore. I haven't read this book in years and years. Going to pick it up again. I'm reading the Mist at the moment in Skeleton Crew, and it is again, first time I've read it in years. Keep thinking about the boy in it, and mine, and how the holy hell I'd deal with it.. Wierd.