Rating: 
Summary: A great, bizarre horror story
Review: "Pet Sematary" is one of my favorite Stephen King books simply because of how weird it is. It's the scariest one he's written, along with "'Salem's Lot." This one is about a nice little family who moves out to a rural area in Maine. The father is a doctor, the mother a housewife, and they have two little kids and a cat named Winston Churchill. They go walking with their new neighbor, and discover an animal graveyard in the woods behind their house. But further in the woods, beyond the "Pet Sematary," is an ancient Indidan burial ground which supposedly raises who or whatever is buried there back from the dead, but they come back a bit more evil than they were in their past life. This is one of the best King books because it is very bizarre, but is not for a reader with a weak stomach. If you want a scary, gruesome book with a twisted plot, than this is the one to get.
Rating:
Summary: For me - this is the scariest book ever written
Review: Different people have different ideas about what is "funny" - same with "scary". If snakes or spiders or great-white sharks scare the peedoodle out of you, then your reaction to a story about them might be different than it might be for, say The Crocodile Hunter.Stephen King is prolific beyond belief. He is sometimes redundant. In Pet Sematary he wrote a story so compelling that I literally could not put it down, yet at the same time so horrifying that I practically screamed at myself NOT TO TURN THE NEXT PAGE!!!! King knows a thing or two about humans and human relationships, and in Pet Sematary he creates a realistic family that you care about.... then he does absolutely TERRIFYING things to them. Without giving anything away - I have to say that one of the reasons that this book affected me so deeply is that I had recently become a Dad back when this book first was released, and this book hones in on a new parent's worst nightmares, then just gets worse and worse and worse. If you like being scared by a book, and you can't think of anything worse than seeing your child killed - this book might hit you like it hit me. I repeat: This is the scariest novel I have ever read. As an aside: The "scariest book ever" was turned into a fairly cheesy movie. I give the book a solid 5 stars, but wouldn't rate the film any higher than 2 or 3. Another aside: My personal choice for "scariest movie" is "The Exorcist", while I found the novel of "The Exorcist" fairly bland and not paced well enough to scare me.
Rating:
Summary: Don't bury "Pet Sematary" among your other books!
Review: I definately think that Stephen King's "Pet Sematary" is among his best works! Although the movie version of "Pet Sematary" was one of my favorite movies as a kid, it is -as expected of a Stephen King novel/screenplay-miles away from being comparable to the book. The grief and deep personalities of the characters are simply shocking. One unforgettable aspect of "Pet Sematary" is it's depressing, gradual downward-spiral. That's the thing that keeps you saying," I can't possibly get any worse!" while you are reading it, and keeps you thinking, "What would've happened if THIS didn't occur?" after you've read it. Anyone who has read this book can attest to that. Even though Stephen King had said in the book a few times that "something" was causing the events to happen in their precise manner,I always wonder what may have become of the Creed family- as well as Church and Jud- if the cards had fallen differently. Say, what would the outcome have been if Louis chose Derry over Ludlow, or even if Victor Pascow had chosen another day to go jogging? Well I guess we all know what would have happened if things would have been different-it wouldn't be a Stephen King book!
Rating:
Summary: super good
Review: i only recently discovered stephen king books. but, i read quite a few already. this book is really good. it doesnt deal with lame antagonists like monsters or something like that. it deals with real world fears, such as losing somebody you love. this book is not that scary, but it still is scary. it is hard to find an even remotely scary book. if you want to read an excellent and scary book, i truly recommend this book. it is awesome.
Rating: 
Summary: "The soil of a man's heart is stonier"
Review: Louis Creed wants nothing more than the best for his family, and with this in mind he takes on a new job as a doctor at a university health center, and moves the four of them (plus the family cat "Church") to rural Maine. Upon first arriving at the new house, Louis loses his keys, his daughter Ellie stumbles and scrapes her knee, and the youngest child Gage gets a nasty bee sting. Though some might consider these bad omens, Louis and his wife Rachel shrug these incidences off and get on with their lives. Little do they know that an ancient evil lurks within the woods beyond their new home.
When Ellie's cat Church gets hit by a truck in the road over Thanksgiving, the Creed's neighbor, Jud Crandall, divulges the secret of the Micmac burial ground and it's evil properties to Louis. In a desperate attempt to keep the pain of death and loss temporarily from his daughter, Jud leads Louis out to bury Church. Though changed in somewhat inexplicable ways, Church comes back from the dead and Louis's daughter Ellie gradually learns the lesson that "sometimes dead is better." However, this particular lesson will come much later for Louis himself and his wife Rachel.
I must admit that I'm not a huge fan of King. Pet Sematary, like many of his other books, is very predictable. King even divulges much of the plot well before it happens saying things like he "now had less than two months to live." In other words, little, if anything, is left to surprise. Furthermore, the prose is somewhat less-than-eloquent. Though that does make this an extremely easy read for those looking for something simple and fun. I also found Ellie's prophetic powers to be somewhat cheesy in this particular novel.
However, all of the aforementioned quibbles aside, this tale is tolerable in that the plot is intriguing. I also enjoyed King's inquiry into the human nature as it deals with the extremely real element of death. This seems to be somewhat of a "road less traveled" for many authors, even in the horror genre. Though many reviewers seem to think that this book would have been better without a good chunk of the first half, I would tend to disagree. The first half of the book sets the stage for the way these individuals deal with death and grief, and what their opinions are on the subject, which is all too human and realistic. It's an inquiry into simple human nature. In the introduction, King explains that he was concerned he "had finally gone too far." Perhaps that is because many people, like Rachel's character in the book, would rather pretend death isn't a part of reality and thus would not like to have it shoved in their faces.
King also notes in his introduction that "'sometimes dead is better' is grief's last lesson....That lesson suggests that in the end, we can only find peace in our human lives by accepting the will of the universe." All grudges with King's books aside, this is a worthwhile lesson to be learned, and I enjoyed reading his ponderings on the subject and the way in which they were presented in this novel.
This book is definitely worth a read. Though the movie adaptation sticks quite well to the majority of the plot, the intricacies are left out (as is the case with many movie adaptations). If you read one Stephen King book, this should be it.
Rating: 
Summary: Am I the only one who sees through this?
Review: Now don't just give me a non-helpful vote cause I didn't like the book, at least hear me out. I like King...a lot. He was one of best American authors in the latter half of the 20th Century, and has churned out thriller after thriller that are rightfully critically acclaimed. However, no matter how much I like a particular author, I judge each book individually, and this is not a good book.
Characterization is one of the things that makes King more than Dean Koontz: he develops his characters to the point where the reader really cares what's happening to them. In addition, if you pardon the cliche, his books are "tightly-plotted," moving quickly from situation to situation and keeping the reader involved. Both of these crucial developments are missing in Pet Sematary, none of the main characters are well developed, and so when terrible things begin to happen the reader remains more detached than involved. In addition, supporting characters are brought in at times when the plot calls for it and then thrown away, without ever being developed at all.
The plot is also surprisingly flimsy for a King novel, used only as a clothesline to hang scary and macabre situations on, instead of supporting the novel itself. The actions by the characters often don't make sense, especially at the climax of the book, and the wonderfully set-up "Pet Sematary" itself is inexplicably abandoned in favor of the place "beyond" the Pet Cemetary over the big dead tree.
Look I wanted to like this, I really did, but it's a poor piece of writing that people like because it's macabre and written by Steven King. 3/10
Rating:
Summary: I'll Never Look at Cats the Same Way Again!!
Review: PET SEMATARY is a book that will stand the test of time. It is, of course, one of King's early novels, and we can see the author at his peek. The horrors he reveals (from family dynamics to supernatural burial grounds) are chilling enough to scare the bejesus out of the sternest of hearts!
The story revolves around the Creed family and their move from a bustling Chicago suburb to quiet Bangor, Maine, where the father (Louis) starts work as a physician. He brings with him his wife and two children (Ellie, a preteen daughter, and Gauge, a preschool boy still in diapers). The house they move into is beautiful with plenty of land for the children to play on, and a nice old neighbor couple across the "road", the Crandalls. It is this "road" that causes some immediate concern to Louis as Judd Crandall tells him about the deaths of animals caused by the big semi-trucks that blaze down its blacktop.
Judd becomes friends with the family and eventually takes them (or rather is drawn into taking them) on a small path behind the Creed's house that leads to a very special place: the PET SEMATARY. This is the place where most of the animals that'd been killed on the "road" are buried. It's a strange place with concentric circles, the shape the multiple graves make as they are laid out against the well-kept grounds. Louis and Ellie notice a large deadfall tree and Judd warns them not to climb it because it is too dangerous. But there's more to the story than that. What lay beyond the deadfall tree?
Ellie's cat, Church, is eventually killed on the "road", and Judd and Louis decide to bury the cat, but not in the PET SEMATARY; they go beyond, over the deadfall, and into a very special place known as the Micmac burial grounds, a place that has existed since the Earth began, and has the power in its soil to bring back the dead. But at what cost?
"Has anyone ever buried a human being back there?" Louis asks Judd.
"Don't even think such a thing, Louis!" Judd replies.
Church returns to the living, but is much changed. The cat smells foul, and has a very cold and evil manner about it. But at least Ellie has her cat back, right?
Eventually the "road" takes more than just an animal of the Creed's. In a horrific set of narratives, Mr. King draws us into what might happen if humans were brought back from the dead. What happens to our soul if we're brought back? Does it come with us? Or does it stay on the Micmac grounds? Or perhaps something in-between?
This book will, in every sense of the word, "freak" you out! It's terrifyingly terrific, as were many of King's earlier novels. A must read for the horror afficionado.
Rating:
Summary: dead is sometimes better. HOW?
Review: Steven King! Another masterpiece in my full honest opinion. It kept me awake for nights because i allowed myself to think the unthinkable.The most outrageous thought abstracted from the book crossed my mind and i found it frightening and full of awe. It has an aura of death that won't make you want a second read.
The story:
Aman named Louis Creed moves to a town anmed Ludlow, Maine from upstate Chicago. He has just been promoted to Head of the medical department at the University of Maine. He finds friendship with an old neighbor named Judson Crandall who lives with his sick but strong wife. At the beginning we sense that Jud is an energetic character and we have warm feelings towards him. But in the Second chapter we begin to dread him.
While his wife and two children are on vacation he is left home alone with his daughter Ellie's cat, Church. He is phoned by a shaken Jud who tells him Church the cat has been run over. Louis is devastated because he does not know how to tell this to his daughter who still does not accept death. JUD has an idea. A very bad one.He escorts Louis to the burial ground beyond the pure ,child created Pet Sematary beyond his yard.The Micmac burying ground. Believed to be a place of pure evil. It is here that they bury Church and Jud does not give reason to their actions.The is something wrong with Jud, his face has a look of unbelievingly pure joy. Like something is igniting him to proceed on.The very next morning Louis awakes to find Church alive and well, but something is different. He smells of death. There is blood on his muzzle! He has an urge to kick the cat but he withdraws. The mission is accomplished.
Soon later his son, a mere toddler, is hit by a truck and dies. Thoughts overwhelm Lois, surely he could bring back his son and his wife and daughter will be joyful. He does not allow the thoughts of Church's change in atmosphere distract him and he easily thinks he could play God. What a fool. We cannot blame him though, he has to carry on the mission. The burying ground is taking over his being.
We already know the proceedings but what will Gage's return influence?
Rating:
Summary: Greg Taylor Greg Taylor
Review: this is a great SK book but it doesn't get going to very far in the book. in all honesty the horror of it didn't dtart until the last fifty pages. But it still has a good plot and i recomend it to anyone who enjoys reading.
Rating:
Summary: Very Well Done Suspense and Horror
Review: This is one of King's better books. And at times it is very cringe inducing. The book takes place in Maine (as do most of King's books). A family moves into an old house and befriend this old couple across the street. The old man takes them on a tour of the woods and they visit the Pet Semetary (made by kids, that's why it's mispelled). Anyways, it's mentioned that there were Indians who used to be settled up there, past the Semetary.
Later in the book, the family's cat dies. The old man takes the man and the cat up to the Semetary in a pretty intense sequence of suspesful atmosphere and weird nature and inatural sounds. He takes him to an old Indian Burial ground and there they bury the cat. Who comes back in a few days. Though he's been changed. The cat acts more aggressive. The man learns that this place resurects the dead, but a price is paid, they come back changed.
Then, his youngest son, only a few years old, is hit by a semi. This starts the chainreaction that makes the man loose his mind, near enough and causes the breakdown of the family. One by one. Very good book and pretty scary.
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