by Jay Wilburn
The plan is to reread all of Stephen King’s novels and collections and assorted other publications in their order of publication. Richard Chizmar of Cemetery Dance set out the challenge for himself and invited others to join in. It is an idea which indulges my obsession with King’s writing. I’m doing it because I am a writer and I want to improve my long fiction and storytelling. I think there are secrets to be discovered or rediscovered in it too. As Chizmar posts his after read posts and Bev Vincent posts his accompanying history, I will add links to those in my corresponding posts.
Here is Bev Vincent’s historic essay.
Here are Richard Chizmar’s thoughts.
You can also go back to the beginning and read Before Carrie and follow all the blog posts through each book.
Here is the link the Master List of all my #StephenKingRevisited posts.
Much of what I write in these posts will really be notes for me. I will do my best to make them into coherent observations for you. I will also style my comments to be as spoiler free as possible for those who haven’t read the book, but in a way which will also work for those who have read the books. Be warned though that I am discussing the content of the book and the writing.
So, let’s explore monsters in the closet and monsters in the yard with Cujo.
Cujo was dedicated to Stephen King’s brother David.
The narrative in Cujo drags for me in several places especially at the beginning. The characters didn’t connect well for me at first and I think this may be why I read the book in broken sections when I was younger. I was having trouble following and getting into the story this time around. I’m not sure I’ve ever not liked a Stephen King story on a second reading, but this came close. The first dog attack is described well, but it took a long time to get to it. This is one of King’s shorter books, but may be the one with a touch too much backstory for the narrative to support. It does come together, but for much of the story, it feels like there are a lot of side characters on side adventures. The story did click and flow into the ending for me better than it began, so maybe it ultimately works just fine. It was close for me though.
I completely forgot about the Frank Dodd subplot. Frank Dodd is a serial killer side character from the Dead Zone. King states he’s not the werewolf, not the vampire, not the ghoul, and not the unknown creature. His mother died shortly after Frank died in the Dead Zone. I think I forgot all this because I read the Dead Zone so much later than starting Cujo. Without the Dead Zone, Frank Dodd hangs out there like something disconnected from the world of Cujo.
Then, “the monster” returned to Castle Rock, Maine in 1980. This seems such an out of place weirdness to put over a largely unsupernatural story. With what Castle Rock becomes in later books, the revenant of Frank Dodd is largely unimpressive.
Tad Trenton sees a monster in his room. Tad’s dad searches. They always get the ladies in the movies, the story muses. Eventually dad, Vic Trenton, will get a glimpse and a whiff of it himself, but won’t ever tell anyone. The monster was once Frank Dodd we are told and it stares out with amber eyes. The sheriff will later see it in Cujo’s eyes too. Both mom (Donna Trenton) and Tad will compare Cujo to this enigmatic thing from the closet. Blankets are moved and the chair is slid from in front of his closet door where the beast dwells. Dad’s “monster words” are meant to ward off the creature in the closest. It works psychologically for Tad and seems to work on the supernatural intruder to a degree as well. “Do you think that’s going to do him any good in the long run?” is asked and foreshadows the terrible limits of the monster words and their power.
Sesame Street and Luke Skywalker are on Tad’s walls. He has Star Wars coloring books. Another character wears a “Darth Vader is Gay” tee shirt.
Staying at the YMCA is a thing in these early stories by Stephen King. I feel like I have seen “green felt hats” in multiple Stephen King stories. Big Mac’s came in Styrofoam boxes.
Tad, Donna, and Vic meet Cujo before the dog’s big change into the monster. Cujo then stumbles on a limestone cave infested by rabid bats. King will eventually close off the story by giving us the outcome for the rabbit being chased and the bats themselves. Very thorough. King writes animal viewpoints well and unique.
A girl Tad’s age starts “throwing up blood” from bad dye in a breakfast cereal. The cereal advertising section was a bit tedious in the setup. A fictional version of George Carlin makes a joke about this imaginary cereal disaster which is the catalyst for leading the father away from the wife and son at just the right moment. The “wolf by the trail” comparison to advertising is an interesting parallel to the danger in the novel.
The mom is cheating just as the father suspects. This leads into an odd terror for Vic. It was his house, but familiar things weren’t right. Things were moved around. Sheets were changed too often. The violation of it is visited upon him again later in the novel and both distracts from the real, immediate danger of his family and in another way helps lead to the eventual rescue. It is a powerful push and pull of fate in the end which gives as well as it takes from the characters.
Donna’s fear of “What if they won’t listen” really connected for me. She feared working with children for that reason. I felt that from my years of teaching.
Cum was spelled “come” in one section. Nerd was spelled “nurd.” I assume these were on purpose. Maybe that was a standard at the time of publication or a choice on King’s part. I do believe there was a typo in the middle of this reprint of Cujo. There is a “she” in the middle of a dialogue break where the father is described as being very tired.
“More like bleeding than crying” is a good line.
“A subconscious garbage disposal running in reverse.” Good line.
“Never saw his daddy alive again.” This is a favorite old trick in Stephen King stories.
King offers moments of escape which are passed over in this novel like many of his other stories. The mom’s moment of escape is when she feels uneasy in the kitchen. She thinks about getting a babysitter or just calling the whole thing off. Tad’s moment of escape is passed over here too when he insists upon going with her. She has a coin flip problem with deciding whether to go for the door which may be locked or to stay in the dead car. The car makes two feet of motion at one point, but then hope is taken away again. The father has a dream and an urge to call at 2 in the morning. This drifts into not calling at all. The difference between rescue and being stranded. Joe remembered to cancel the mail but forgot to get someone to feed the dog. The dog fed himself though. No mailman comes to the rescue. Another rug pulled out from under Donna and Tad. Kemp destroyed her home and erased her message. Alva lost his chickens and forgot to go check on Cujo. The jag stopped a house early. This is the moment everything is figured out but was it the awfully perfect amount of delay also? She goes for the baseball bat, but she does not see the sheriff’s gun in the grass near it.
The terror of being known is used in this novel again by King. The dog is looking at her. It is familiar as she thinks about “the thing in the closet.” The terror of a rabid bite is described well too, spilling blood and hope.
The story ended differently than I remember. Then, there is an odd sentimental wrap-up after the terror. I suppose King did not want to leave the reader broken and hopeless. There is interesting sympathy interjected for Cujo as well.
Next up will be The Running Man with my Before The Running Man post.
— Jay Wilburn, surviving the monsters
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