Cujo: Book Review (Quickie)

Cujo: Book Review (Quickie)

I just finished reading Cujo, by Stephen King, which is one of his most popular books—so popular, in fact, that Cujo is now a household name known by basically everyone. Most people already know the basic premise: a 200 pound Saint Bernard goes rabid and threatens the lives of the main characters.

All things considered, I think this is one of my favorite King novels. The horror is close to home, the supernatural elements are pared back to great effect, and the characterization is on point.

Overall (No Spoilers)

The last three King novels that I have read have been disappointing, even if there were elements in the stories that I liked. For reference, those stories were The Stand, Pet Sematary, and The Outsider—and you can go read my reviews of all these books on this blog. Because of this, Cujo was a refreshing return to form. King created serious conflict with compelling tension and an amazing ending. I read one review suggesting that all that cocaine gave him the balls to write the story the way he did—and perhaps this is true, given that he doesn't even remember writing Cujo from the binge.

For every King novel, the characters are rather worth mentioning, and it risks being repetitive. King is at his best, creating characters with unapologetic flaws that pop off the page. You are immersed in the everyday lives and struggles of the characters, and this makes them so much more real. One criticism I have read is that King has a lot of fluff in the story, having us follow the trials and tribulations of various loosely connected characters. The criticism is fair, though it never annoyed me. I was invested in all the characters and loved how the splicing of the storylines created tension in the main one, with the constant hints that one of these other storylines might catch on to what is happening; seeing the continual delay only adds to the desperation.

And the violence is on point. One of the things I like most about King is the portrayal of violence in the climactic moments of the story. And every instance of violence in this story, from beginning to end, is so cathartic. And no, I'm not a sociopath.

One negative thing that comes to mind is that I thought some of the child's dialogue was too complex for him. I think it had to do with the sentence length. Kids who are his age (four years old) do not speak with long sentences, instead communicating ideas in a much simpler way, and I did not think the kid's dialogue reflected that at times.

Another negative/not negative thing is the mention of a serial killer in the town. I don't even remember the name of the man, mainly because he is irrelevant. I remember starting the book and getting disappointed when he was introduced in the opening sentences of the book, because I thought he was going to possess Cujo, which I didn't like. But then that didn't happen, and I was left wondering why he was mentioned at all. Now that I have looked through other reviews, I understand that this was a reference to The Dead Zone, another book in this universe, and the outcome of that story. So, this started out as a nitpick, but is now a different kind of nitpick. I don't care about multiverse references, but they should be less confusing to the uninitiated.

Conclusion

Overall, I loved the book. I will give it a 9/10.

Overall (Spoilers)

For the spoiler talk, I want to mention the premise and the ending. First, the premise is just so compelling. The mother and her four-year-old son are trapped in a broken down car in 100 degree weather, with a 200 pound rabid Saint Bernard waiting outside to maul them alive. And I especially loved how King wrote all the character interactions that led up the moment. The best part of horror stories for me are the psychological aspects, where we get to see characters make dumb decisions for reasons that make sense for who they are and the situations they find themselves in. While the climax disappointed, Pet Sematary is the best example of this. But Cujo had this in a smaller capacity, which I enjoyed.

The best part of the book, by far, is the death of Tad. Everything about it was devastating. Admittedly, I knew that the boy was going to die because I heard King talk about the backlash he got for it (notably that it was less than when he killed an animal in his story). And maybe I was hoping for some sick display of violence when Cujo finally got his teeth on the boy, but the way things went was great in its own way. Tad's death by suffocation in the heat of the car was not just tragic in its own right, but in the way it was revealed, too. Basically, we don't know when exactly it happened. All we know is that he was dead when Cujo was finally killed, and Donna is unable to accept it. The realization that he was likely dead long before her final confrontation, and that she was simply blind to it is just gut wrenching.

Conclusion

Overall, I loved this book. I will give it a 9/10.