This year I ended with a book by Stephen King. It was his fourth book I’ve read in a row. I started the holiday season with thoughts on this novel, which deals with death.
I won’t convince anyone that Stephen King is a philosopher and he tries to fill his novels with sophisticated theses about the meaning of life and death. But in “Pet Sematary” I noticed much more of this type of content than in the author’s other works. Here we have death depicted from the perspective of a child, parents and elderly people.
Tension is built slowly here. The plot moves lazily, and in places we learn about the somewhat dark history of Ludlow and what the surrounding woods hide. There is a theme here that I really like in Stephen King’s work. The depiction of the life of a sleepy town in the middle of nowhere (here in Maine) and its history, which ends up being very connected to the main character.
The closes to the end the more dynamic and unpredictable it becomes. I like the way Stephen King is showing us how the main character is falling into madness. The supernatural factor, often present in King’s works, is important here also. In “Pet Sematary” it is the theme of the traditional beliefs of the local indigenous people and their approach to death.
Very grim and dark book. For a fan of horror literature like me, it was a good ending to this year in terms of literature.