Welcome to Lockdown 2.0 people! Let's continue with the spooky sh*t shall we?
I didn't think I could ever be a fan of Stephen King. I have nothing against the guy, but everything he did just seemed so mainstream, it always seemed too good to be true, and through this continued hype I just felt it best to stay away. Don't get me wrong, I've dabbled in the odd King inspired film, IT chapter 1& 2 being my favourites by far, but I could never bring myself to buy his books until my mum recommended them as being 'pretty good'. Now this is high praise from my mum, she's not really a book person, and despite her claims saying she had a few around the house somewhere, I decided to treat myself to a new film inspired edition. I didn't read it for months, as you can tell from the fact the film came out some point last year? But I got to the point that I was stuck for reading material and decided to force my way through the first row on one of my bookshelves. The first book being Pet Sematary. Oh f**k it, let's give it a go I told myself.
So let me just say first of all, while at no point was I scared or at all disturbed by this content, I was actually intrigued and felt the words melting into my brain with ease. I can now fully appreciate why they call him the King of Horror, I now have respect for the literary genius, not necessarily the horror aspect, but the writing flows nicely and is easy to read and imagine. Perhaps over exposure to real horrors has led me to think that way so else I am not afraid. I had this debate with some friends of mine while I was reading this book actually, maybe I have the wrong viewpoint, perhaps it isn't down to needing to be afraid by the imagery, perhaps it is a case of the content being 'wrong' or 'disturbing' and obviously the nature of this would categorize this as the horror genre, it doesn't need to unsettle me in order to be considered good horror and looking at this stand point I quite agree. If the nature is horrific then it's horror, plain and simple I guess.
Now I must admit, and those of you who know me will understand why, but I had to skip a couple of paragraphs in regards to Church the cat. Gage? I had no qualms reading through that part, but when it comes to a poor defenseless animal it is a no go I'm afraid. I remember forever ago when I was at a friends house we *attempted* to watch the original Pet Sematary film, with the guy who plays Herman Munster, I say attempted because we were loud kids with 0 attention spans and while it played threateningly in the background we were none the wiser. Anyway, I remember we were paying attention enough to register what was about to happen with that particular part and I had to leave the room until it was over. I also remember my friend making fun of the terrifying portrayal of Zelda and that is forever ingrained into my mind. We must remember this film came out in 1989 and we were watching it in like 2016, may have been scary then but not so much now.
Speaking of scare factor I have just thought of the perfect analogy. For those of you who have seen Gravity Falls (if you haven't please do), during the Summerween episode we see Grunkle Stan try and scare these two kids who are dressed as a Mummy and Rambo? but fail with every try. He has a trick that melts his face, one that mimics Alien but with Waddles the pig, and then finally these kids are like stick it old man, we've been watching horror since we were 2, NOTHING scares us. And then they show him a video like the Maze Game from the 2010 era where the Exorcist pops up? Remember those? Or that one where you are watching the car and some screaming demon pops up and scares the sh*t out of ya? Yeah, well, they show Stan this vid and it scares him, so he goes off to run this calming bath as he thinks he has lost his mojo and then the kids walk in as he strips to his undies and run screaming because clearly they have never seen a gross old man before.
The moral of this story is that kids these days, or kids back in my prime time, whatever, are desensitized to the horrors that were new and wonderful in the 80s. The movie industry is having to come up with new creative ways, such as severe jump scares, in order to stay relevant. I think that is my issue with this book, it isn't really the book, it's me. I am a part of the generation which grew up with exposure to this so I already know the bad stuff is going to happen, hence why it doesn't scare me, or really disturbs me. I wouldn't say it is because it has been done before as King was the one who did it, but it is that similar feeling isn't it. I already know from the movies, or from hear say, now the original concept after all these years just feels overdone.
I think otherwise, before this turns into a post regarding scare factor within the media, I should get to the actual book. I have chosen to review the book for previously stated reasons, and for this moment in time, due to the fact it is still the dregs of spooky season before we hit Santa Central. It is easy to review a bunch of spooky films, but I felt I should let the books have a chance as well.
I like how we are basically in Louis' mind. We know him inside and out within a few short chapters, and I'll be honest, I disliked him from the get go. The fact he idolised his little boy but looked at his first born and thought she was so annoying she could do with a smack? I mean I have felt like that many times in my life, mainly towards other adults, but for him to show an instant bias feeling towards his children?, if that is parenthood I don't want in. Ellie was obviously at that age where questions burn no matter what, she is growing up and her maturing obviously skewered her fathers feelings. It is a common fact kids crave attention like pets, it is all natural, what was he going to do when Gage grew into that stage and became equally annoying? Look the other way while he punished his daughter for the same? Knowing Louis Creed, probably. You might think different but a little part of me thinks that this opening chapter and his overlapping thoughts and personality, set him up perfectly for the dreaded place to influence him so. He was really quite a hateful person, he was almost deserving of it. Almost.
I will tell you something that surprised me, and kinda gutted me actually. Jud and Norma. When the truth came about about Jud's whores and Norma's adultery, mate my heart shattered. I started this damn book idolising this old couple. I almost cried when Norma died despite being warned of her impending death earlier on in the book, Jud's reaction, I thought he loved her. Some might argue that just because he was caught in a sexual trap doesn't mean he didn't love her, it doesn't mean he wasn't entitled to grieve. But I struggle to see it like that, to betray and abandon your self proclaimed soul mate, your life partner, I just can't imagine you ever loving someone to do that, to give that part of yourself to someone else. And as always it comes as a shock in regards to an old couple that seemed in love, you sort of forget they were young and reckless once too. Like with your Grandparents, you forget they were once like you, that they had a life before you came along. You only ever see people who are relevant to your own story, you never pause to take a look into theirs until it impacts your own. Even still, I hated that part.
There is a part of this novel that I would love to see expanded, or the idea looked into further somewhere else. But the part about that guys son being killed in the war and he was so grief stricken that he dragged him up to the Sematary once his body was returned and brought him back to life. That whole section where people started noticing something was weird, while this reanimated corpse walked around, still living and breathing but with no soul, I want something more. I know that is basically a Zombie, but it also isn't. A Zombie doesn't have the ability to think, depending on what version you base your nightmares on, it just has the basic need for hunger that drives it. This reanimation explored in King's universe isn't like that, these bodies are possessed by something otherworldly, probably demonic, and therefore they have the ability to think and control and murder for other reasons than that instinct to feed, at that point the corpse is just a shell, a body suit like from Men in Black, for something much more sinister than a mere Zombie. I'm hopeful that this idea has indeed been explored elsewhere and if you know of such a thing feel free to drop it in the comments or send me a 'gram!
I think we have pretty much explored everything I wanted to say on the subject of this book. I dislike Louis Creed, Rachel isn't much better and is in fact quite toxic, you could put it down to trauma but I personally put it down to being a selfish b*tch who wants to get her own way due to lack of attention, but no matter how hard I try I cannot dislike the book. I hate the subject matter and the characters and rather than making me scared it actually made me sad, I still really enjoyed it. As with all books we look to feel something and it certainly took me on a journey, but I commend this book for making me feel loathing so well. It made me feel it in stages, sometimes not at all, occasionally I felt sympathy for the characters, but mostly vast dislike.
On that note then, I give Pet Sematary a 7/10. As creepy stuff goes it was pretty good. Outdated, but well written and perhaps if I was from another time I would not have been able to sleep or read it after dark. On a side note I love books that have a warning on the back saying 'not to be read after dark' they almost always aren't even the slightest bit scary. (I'm looking at you Spooks books)
As always my loves, be safe, be friendly, and don't wander into a main road or bury people outside of a lawful place of death.
Comments
Post a Comment