CUJO

I read the book Cujo, by Stephen King. I don’t really like to read, at all. When I do though, it’s about dogs. I love dogs. Anyway, I really liked this book, it was scary, but not too much. The amount of detail and back story was amazing. It was more than a mother and a son trapped in a car by a rabid dog. It explained their lives. I gave it four stars.
The book takes place in Castle Rock, Maine. It is a fictional town, made up by King. The book consists of two Families, the Cambers and the Trentons. The Trentons are new to town. They moved from New York with their young son Tad. The father is named Vic and the mother is named Donna. Donna has been having an affair with a local man named Steve Kemp. Vic has just found out and is distrait. He has to leave town on business, he works for a failing cereal company. Donna’s Ford Pinto keeps breaking down so she decides to take it to a mechanic out of town on a rural farm.
The Cambers, the owners of Cujo, live on that farm. Joe, the father, is the mechanic. He abuses his son Brett and his wife Charity. Cujo, is Brett’s sweet, caring St. Bernard. Charity has just one the state lottery and decides to take Brett and herself to visit her sister in Connecticut. Joe plans to get some of the money and go with the neighbor, Gary Pervier, to Boston. Right before Brett and Charity leave, Cujo chases a rabbit to a limestone cave and shoves his head inside. He looks around and a rabid bat bites him on the nose. His illness goes unnoticed until his mind starts to change. He attacks and kills the neighbor, Gary. Joe then finds Gary slaughtered and tries to call authorities, but he can’t. Cujo kills him in the process. Donna and Tad then come in the breaking down Pinto. It breaks down in the lot of the farm. They get out but get right back in when Cujo tries to attack. He nearly breaks inside, but quits after a while. The hot sun makes the car scorching, which Donna has run the battery dead. Meanwhile Vic is trying to reach Donna, but he cannot, so he decides to leave to find her. Steve, Donna’s ex-lover, has ransacked their home and wrote terrible things inside. Donna tries to get away, but Cujo bite her stomach and leg and injures her. When Vic arrives, he called the authorities and they arrest Steve for kidnapping Donna and Tad. Vic tells them they might be still at the mechanic’s farm. They then send the sheriff over to look. He steps out of his car and Cujo attacks him. He kills the sheriff, within a minute. Donna realizes Tad is dying of hydration, she has to do something drastic. She runs out and grabs a baseball bat. She hits Cujo and breaks the bat over his head. When gets up she stabs a fatal wound to his eye and kills him. She runs to save Tad’s life, but it’s too late. Vic arrives right after Tad dies.
Cujo’s head is send to lab to see if he had rabies it was positive, he did. Donna was treated for rabies and went on to live a happy marriage with Vic. Charity bought Brett a new puppy and they named him Willie. Soon everything was back to normal.
I really like this book, again, it was really detailed, such a good background story and setting to go with the plot. It was so exciting, but a little scary. This is good thing though. You should really read it sometime. It is defiantly an original classic.