Cujo (original 1981; edition 1982)

by Stephen King

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The #1 national bestseller for Stephen King's rabid fans, Cujo 'hits the jugular' (The New York Times) with the story of a friendly Saint Bernard that is bitten by a sick bat. Get ready to meet the most hideous menace ever to savage the flesh and devour the mind. Outside a peaceful town in central Maine, a monster is waiting. Cujo is a two-hundred-pound Saint Bernard, the best friend Brett Camber has ever had. One day, Cujo chases a rabbit into a cave inhabited by sick bats and emerges as something new altogether. Meanwhile, Vic and Donna Trenton, and their young son Tad, move to Maine. They are seeking peace and quiet, but life in this small town is not what it seems. As Tad tries to fend off the terror that comes to him at night from his bedroom closet, and as Vic and Donna face their own nightmare of a marriage on the rocks, there is no way they can know that a monster, infinitely sinister, waits in the daylight. What happens to Cujo, how he becomes a horrifying vortex inescapably drawing in all the people around him, makes for one of the most heart-stopping novels Stephen King has ever written. Cujo will forever change how you view man's best friend.… (more)

▾Book information

Member:	cavcali76
Title:	Cujo
Authors:	Stephen King
Info:	Signet (1982), Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages
Collections:	Currently reading
Rating:
Tags:	None

Work Information

Cujo by Stephen King (1981)

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The Dead Zone by Stephen King (sturlington)
sturlington: Also set in Castle Rock.

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Showing 1-5 of 130 (next | show all)

I originally read this when it first came out. Paranormal horror thrillers don't really bother me that much, because deep down, I don't really believe in it. This book gave me a healthy fear of rabies that I've carried with me ever since I first read the book. There a few different storylines that all get woven together ending at the Camber's residence. I've read some reviews that felt it was padding that detracted from the main part of the story. I think it works. This takes place over a few days and the 'filler' shows how life can just go on while Donna and Tad are fighting for their lives. You get a better feeling for how long they are stuck their and how hopeless they must feel. (

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GinGirl70 | Jan 4, 2025 |

If you think this book is all about a rabid dog, you got another thing coming'. After all these years, reading this one made me wonder if I ever read it before. It's hard to imagine I neglected the fury/furry mutt,. but I may have. Regardless, the book deserves a place with Uncle Stevie's best work. Sure, there's a rabid dog - and we get part of the narrative through Cujo's own perspective, Londonesque, and he does Jack proud. But the bones of the book, the ones buried under the porch, are the small-town-Mainers who have to deal with Cujo's rampage and the consequences of their own choices that compound everything. For those true Constant Readers, Uncle Stevie comes back to Vic Trenton, still haunted after all these years more by what he hears in the closet than by a rabid dog, in his story Rattlesnakes from the collection, [You Like it Darker]. And it's dark, this sequel - one of the spookiest stories from the spookmeister.

5 bones!!!!!
Highly Recommended!!!!! (

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blackdogbooks | Nov 11, 2024 |

I think there's something to be said for the cultural impact this book had and that everyone knows what you mean when you call a dog Cujo. I heard that growing up all the time and clearly King impacted an entire generation of readers to the point where this became a household phrase to describe a big and scary dog.

I finally got around to reading this one and I liked it--but it isn't nearly as good as the other early King novels of this time (Salem's Lot, The Stand, etc.). In many ways and for obvious reasons, I think Cujo was a sort of precursor to Pet Sematary, which, to this day, is the most horrifying novel I've ever read (especially as a parent).

Good book. Not the best of the early years, but the last quarter was a wild ride. (

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remjunior | Oct 2, 2024 |

You can't win 'em all. Found this one not believable. (

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jennievh | Sep 18, 2024 |

I originally read this when it first came out and haven't read it since. I was going to try for a re-read but I just couldn't. Once King started writing from Cujo's point of view, I had to stop. I tend to over empathize with animals and I just can't go there, watching Cujo deteriorate, not understanding what is happening to him. I don't know how I read the book before. (

)

AliceAnna | Sep 12, 2024 |

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▾Published reviews

1 review

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added by DoctorDebt | editNew York Times, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt (Aug 14, 1981)

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (15 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Stephen King	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Christensen, Harro	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Kalvas, Reijo	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Raver, Lorna	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Zimmermann, Nathalie	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

Albin Michel, Spécial suspense

Bastei Lübbe Taschenbuch (13035)

Bookspan, The Stephen King Library

J'ai lu (1590)

Kolekcja Mistrza Grozy (49)

Is contained in

Firestarter / Cujo by Stephen King

Carrie / Cujo / Night Shift by Stephen King

Christine / Cujo / The Shining by Stephen King

Stephen King 4 Books Collection Pack Set RRP: Â£40.52 (Cujo, Thinner, Full Dark, No Stars, From a Buick 8) by Stephen King

Has the (non-series) sequel

You Like It Darker: Stories by Stephen King

Has the adaptation

Cujo [1983 film] by Lewis Teague

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Balrog Awards (Nominee – Novel – 1982)

British Fantasy Award (Winner – August Derleth Award for Best Novel – 1982)

Locus Award (Nominee – Fantasy Novel – 1982)

Distinctions

New York Times bestseller (Fiction – 1981)

Publishers Weekly Bestseller (Fiction – 1981)

Notable Lists

ALA 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-1999

ALA 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000

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▾Common Knowledge

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Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Castle Rock, Maine, USA (fictional)

Maine, USA

Important events

Related movies

Cujo (1983 | IMDb | Lewis Teague)

Castle Rock (2018 | IMDb)

Epigraph

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along...
—W.H. AUDEN, "Musée des Beaux Arts"

Old Blue died and he died so hard
He shook the ground in my back yard.
I dug his grave with a silver spade
And I lowered him down with a golden chain.
Every link you know I did call his name,
I called, "Here, Blue, you good dog, you."
—FOLK SONG

"Nope, nothing wrong here."
—THE SHARP CEREAL PROFESSOR

Dedication

This book is for my brother, David, who held my hand crossing West Broad Street, and who taught me how to make skyhooks out of old coathangers. The trick was so damned good I just never stopped.

I love you, David.

First words

Once upon a time, not so long ago, a monster came to the small town of Castle Rock, Maine.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

813.54

Canonical LCC

PS3561.I483

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Stephen King bibliography

▾Book descriptions

The #1 national bestseller for Stephen King's rabid fans, Cujo 'hits the jugular' (The New York Times) with the story of a friendly Saint Bernard that is bitten by a sick bat. Get ready to meet the most hideous menace ever to savage the flesh and devour the mind. Outside a peaceful town in central Maine, a monster is waiting. Cujo is a two-hundred-pound Saint Bernard, the best friend Brett Camber has ever had. One day, Cujo chases a rabbit into a cave inhabited by sick bats and emerges as something new altogether. Meanwhile, Vic and Donna Trenton, and their young son Tad, move to Maine. They are seeking peace and quiet, but life in this small town is not what it seems. As Tad tries to fend off the terror that comes to him at night from his bedroom closet, and as Vic and Donna face their own nightmare of a marriage on the rocks, there is no way they can know that a monster, infinitely sinister, waits in the daylight. What happens to Cujo, how he becomes a horrifying vortex inescapably drawing in all the people around him, makes for one of the most heart-stopping novels Stephen King has ever written. Cujo will forever change how you view man's best friend.

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