Cujo: A Novel

I've been fascinated by Cujo ever since I was like 11 or 12 and was horrified by the original DVD cover when I saw it at Wal-Mart in the early '00s. Looking at it now, it's clearly a bad photoshop job (which in a way makes it even more unsettling), but the image of that snarling dog with gigantic teeth and eerily human looking eyes, juxaposed against a blue sky with fluffy white clouds, terrified me for years as I avoided it in the DVD department at any given store. Beneath all this, I was curious about the movie itself. I eventually saw the movie and loved it (and as soon as the Special Edition was released, with less horrifying cover art, I snapped it up). But I never read the book... until now.

This was the first full Stephen King book I ever read, and it won't be the last. Its relatively slow pace may surprise some people - the book doesn't get to the main setpiece, Donna and Tad trapped in their car by the rabid St. Bernard Cujo, until almost halfway through - but King's writing and excellent character work kept me engaged the whole way through. I was as engaged with the stupid cereal commercial subplot as I was with the horrifying main plot. And as frightening as this book is, it's also absolutely heartbreaking, especially if you're a dog lover like myself. The glimpses into Cujo's deteriorating mental state, and his sendoff... poor thing. He was a good boy who deserved so much better. And I don't wanna spoil it, but that's not the only heartwrenching thing that happens.

In short, this is an excellent book that I'd recommend to anyone interested, but be warned that it packs an emotional gut-punch. Not bad for a book written by a guy who was so drunk and stoned that he barely even remembers writing the thing. Or so I've heard. I've come across conflicting reports as to what the writing process here was really like, so I don't know for sure what happened. What I do know is that King made a masterpiece with Cujo.

since I first read this book. But since I just read "You Like It Darker" I thought I should re-read it. Looking back I remembered it as scarier. Regardless of what is in the closet the dog was always the monster for me and very much real, and therefore scarier than many of King's supernatural creations. It is still a great book but I have been starting to prefer his newer writing where he edits his descriptions a little to make a tighter story.