Cujo is the 24th King book I've read (never re-read one), and of course, many of you guys in this thread have a lot more experience as Constant Readers. Cujo is also one of the earliest King books I've read, along with Night Shift, the Shining and Roadwork. I loved Night Shift and the Shining dearly, and liked Roadwork just okay. In the last month I've finished two others: Nightmares & Dreamscapes (loved it) and Different Seasons (liked it a lot). It would be fair to say that I like the King-style better than the Bachman, and that I'm a lot more familiar with his newer stuff. I know I'll be very much in the minority on my opinion here, but I'm hoping some loyal fan will give me an insight that will allow me to appreciate this book, whose story I thought I loved. I would compare Cujo, oddly enough, most closely with a very recent book, The Outsider. Anyone else read Cujo since reading the Outsider? Also, the opposite of Laurie, or even Elevation. Anyway, here goes, feel free to stop reading if you love this book.
I really, really hope I am missing something, but I have to adamantly disagree with that sentiment about the ending. First off, the ending of the book is not tragic--it's far, far from that--and the ending of the movie is not hollywood fluff. Let me qualify that--[ISPOILER]I'm super glad the kid dies. And it's so clearly not the mother's fault. Are we supposed to think it's some kind of infidelity karma? [/ISPOILER]. I mean, really. Did you actually like any of the characters in this book? If this were a Tales from the Crypt episode, everyone would end up getting killed or suffering some horrible fate and the nerdy old librarian would go on reading books as the credits played. They weren't tragically flawed, they were just bad people. And there was no lesson behind it--just, sometimes bad things happen, sometimes you win the lottery. Cujo, to me, came off as cheap torture porn:[ISPOILER] okay (wringing hands) here's a little redneck family trouble for ya, oooh and here's a cheating wife with an inferiority complex, oh and a dog gets bitten by a bat and there was a serial killer...back to the family cheating drama! ...and here's a pervert whose poor planning makes it a guarantee he'll be arrested before the end of the book!...and the dog rips out someones guts and gets his head smashed with a baseball bat....ooh and the pervert jerks off on the bed but still has an erection! (sure he does, thanks for that detail)...and the dog gets his head caved in and his ear is falling off...and....are you ready.....the kid is DEAD!!! [/ISPOILER]
I know for sure I'm missing whatever context we're supposed to get out of the William Wolfe SLA reference. And after that experience I really don't care. Death to Donna Trenton.