Book Review: Cujo

Source: Amazon.com

Cujo, by Stephen King

From the book’s cover:

Cujo (1981) is a psychological horror novel by Stephen King about a rabid dog. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982, and was made into a film in 1983.Cujo's name was based on the nom de guerre of Willie Wolfe, one of the men responsible for orchestrating Patty Hearst's kidnapping and indoctrination into the Symbionese Liberation Army. Stephen King discusses Cujo in On Writing, referring to it as a novel he "barely remembers writing at all". The book was written during a period when King was drinking heavily. Somewhat wistfully, King goes on to say that he likes the book and that he wishes he could remember enjoying the good parts as he put them down on the page.


The Review:

Well, well, well. Another King book. Was it any good? Let me qualify that. I did like Cujo well enough, don't get me wrong. It's just that it seemed in places to drag on a bit. Really, I think this one might have been better as a short story.

I liked the concepts involved. The idea of the essence of a bad man that lingers, like an unseen evil, until one day it spurs an already rabies-ravaged dog to attack a certain mother and son who are trapped in their car, is intriguing to me. Further, I chose to expedite reading this novel over some of King's other works because in his nonfiction work On Writing, he admits that while working on Cujo, he was suffering from alcoholism and doesn't remember writing most of the book. This idea fascinated me when I heard it, as I have no idea what it is like to suffer from the de-habilitation of drink like that. I wondered how it affected his writing.

The author, Stephen King.  I believe this image is from the back flap of the paperback version of Cujo. / Source: Amazon.com

The results of King's problem at the time seem to be that he does take some pop shots at his own characters for exhibiting flaws he may have suffered from at the time (issues with family, substance abuse in the form of alcohol, and maybe other things I didn't readily click to in my reading but were certainly there under the surface). The idea of the monster in the closet, described directly in Cujo, is a central theme in many of King's works that I have read so far. I liked the way it is handled in Cujo. The "thing" is in there, but it uses other hands to do its dirty work. Its more like the sentient presence of evil that stalks its victims slowly and yet relentlessly. I definitely liked that. So much of modern spook stories is either a bad person who hurts people for fun (see the Saw movie series, as one prominent example that comes to mind, or the career of any modern serial killer - ugh), or an obviously malignant otherworldly thing (ghosts, zombies, vampires, Jay Leno, etc...)

So I liked Cujo. But on the other hand, I did feel that the book ran on too long. There were times when King was describing a situation, and I wished he'd give some closure on it, but he'd cut to some other character who is part of the story arc, and I'd feel frustrated. "Get on with it!," I wanted to shout.

Also I noticed an error in the text. Maybe I mis-read (audiobook, mind you), but a character's eyes are described as brown in one paragraph, and in the next, are mentioned as being very blue. I don't know that it was a reference to mood, but if the color of the iris changed from one paragraph to the other, it would seem a flub to me. Not that such a thing is inexcusable (I'm sure I'd make plenty of mistakes myself if I wrote something of significance), but it seems to me that perhaps Cujo was a period in King's writing career in which he had achieved sufficient fame to get away with more than really he should have. The book could have been a bit tighter paced. That is my thinking.

A bit of fan-art with a relevant quote from the book.  This was one of the parts of the story that I actually liked best.  That is, Cujo was not a creature of malice by intention.  The dog was simply a victim of circumstance, for all intents and purposes. / Source: DeviantArt.net

The ending was pretty good, and I didn't see the final twist of the proverbial knife coming. I wouldn't have predicted what happened. In fact, a nod goes to King for throwing a particularly period-relevant red herring at the reader in the form of a Ford Pinto being the vehicle in which our mother and son are trapped in. I saw a rear-end collision and a fiery explosion coming at some point, and it never did (not to spoil that, but there you are). For those who don't know, the Ford Pinto was accused of being unsafe due to a flaw in design that caused severe fire risk if a rear-end collision occurred. King weaves this in masterfully into the tale, but doesn't use it other than for reference and to keep up tension. Readers when this book was first released probably would have noted this possibility more quickly than most modern audiences, as it was big news just then.

As for the titular character, the dog is the best part of the story. King does have a knack for describing the point of view of non-human characters, and Cujo is sympathetic throughout the novel, despite his eventual rabies-induced frenzy. Of course, the dog dies in the end (yeah, I should call SPOILER ALERT, but do I?). But the book's end is both relieving, and also sad. After all, this wasn't a demon from the pit that deserved nothing better than to be sent back from whence it came. This was some person's loyal pet and companion, and misfortune was the reason it brought so many people to grief.

A still image captured from the 1983 horror film, based on the book.  As I mentioned in the review, the ending was one of the novel's strongest parts.  The idea of being trapped in a small vehicle, out in the heat, with little to nothing in the way of food and - most importantly - water, is scary enough.  But with a 200 lb rabies-crazed St. Bernard trying to get you...  well mark this off my list of things I'd like to experience. / Source: IMDb.com

I will also say that he tension of the stand-off between the dog and mother/son in the yard is first-rate, and like I said, I'd wished King would have got us there a bit quicker and not drawn away quite as much. And too, I found the advertising exec husband to be a little less convincing than many of King's main male protagonists, but maybe it is because the idea of such a person seems so... well, Darren from Bewitched comes to mind when I think of such things, as well as the characters from plenty of old Hollywood movies featuring swanky ad men who fall head-over-heels for Doris Day or some such. Seeing our lead as a dynamic person was thus that much harder for me. This of course is my own brought-in bias, and shouldn't affect all interpretations of the novel by other audiences without my particular background. But it did affect me.

Bottom line: Cujo is well written overall. There is typical violence, some sexual content, language, and adult themes that could turn the more squeamish off. But for those who like King's work, this one isn't too bad. As mentioned, the book was too long and could have used a tighter pace. But it was still satisfying to read, and is recommended, with the previous notes taken in mind by the potential reader-at-large.

Learn more about Cujo, by Stephen King, on Amazon.com


The parting comment:

Source: LOLSnaps.com

The traveling literary critic dog:  "I personally thought Cujo was somewhat derivative.  I mean come on.  A rabid dog does runs amok?  Give me a break.  Now Old Yeller?  That was poetic.  Now please, if you don't mind, I'm going to sit quietly and enjoy the rest of the drive.  Could you roll down a window for me, so I can stick my head out and enjoy the breeze, dog-style?"