Throwback Book Review: Cujo by Stephen King
Published in 1981
If it wasn’t already apparent, I have a bit of a soft spot for Stephen King. It’s partly because he’s undoubtedly talented, but it’s also partly nostalgia.
My mom was an avid reader. Among all the actual literature was a good proliferation of Stephen King paperbacks, many of which are still in the basement of my dad’s house. I grew up with these books — seeing them, asking about them, and taking them to school. Ask my dad about the time my third grade teacher phoned my mom to tell on me for reading Firestarter. Her exact response was “Yeah, well, that’s what she’s reading.”
Cujo was released in 1981. I was born in 1984. It was probably around 1989 or so that I noticed my mom reading it and asked her what it was about. I remember her describing that it was about a mom and her son trapped in a car and they can’t get out because of a dog with rabies outside. I don’t remember how that made me feel, but probably a little scared.
Cujo came up again for me this year, just shy of my 40th birthday, because a booktuber mentioned that it’s one of his favourites. I’ve read a lot of Stephen King since the early nineties, but this was the first year I felt the urge to actually pick up Cujo and give it a go.
