Cujo tears into me with a horror that legitimately makes me sick to my stomach, and, honestly, I like it. King does not remember writing Cujo, due to his demons with addiction (you can Google the specifics), and I have a theory – perhaps Cujo is his written subtextual and reticent cry for help.
He (Cujo) was a good dog until the nipping, pinching bat’s bite comes and, day by day, eats at the Saint Bernard’s central nervous system and turns him into a bloodthirsty beast hell-bent on attacking anything to satiate his pandering indulgence. The vicious disease consumes Cujo until he’s nothing but mangled fur, bloody eyes, foaming snot, and a poor dog intensely overstimulated and angered by his haywire sight, hearing, and idea of who he was.
That’s the strength of this novel for me. Cujo knows he’s a good boy, a dog who would do anything to protect “The man, The woman and The boy” (his owners), and he tries so hard not to bite, but the disease has fully consumed him. Family, a home, and a purpose (to be a good, playful, and protective companion) exist no more, and he is at the mercy of his corroding body and neurodegenerative erosion.
“Cujo used to be a big friendly dog, lovable and loyal to his trinity (The Man, The Woman, and The Boy) and everyone around him, and always did his best to not be a BAD DOG. But that all ends on the day this nearly two-hundred-pound Saint Bernard makes the mistake of chasing a rabbit into a hidden underground cave, setting off a tragic chain of events. Now Cujo is no longer himself as a growing sickness slowly overcomes him, one that consumes his mind even as his once affable thoughts turn uncontrollably and inexorably to hatred and murder.” – from the BCCLS catalog
Cujo is a masterclass in animal and psychological horror that is an early hallmark in King’s “what if” structure – what if a mother and son are stuck in a car and a rabid dog is stalking them? What if a dog is defenseless (no vaccine) to a terrible disease?
It’s a horror that could reach into all of us, and once a virus latches on, it’s up to us to fight it. How can we find a way to survive? But what if we can’t?
Cujo comes in at just under 400 pages. The audiobook is also extremely well done. The story haunts me the most of any King novel because of how it’s grounded in the irrationality of an evil that very well could consume others walking among us every day. When a poison has you by the throat, what defense to rationality and logic have against brute insanity and hunger?
Cujo is available in the BCCLS catalog here. The audiobook is on Hoopla here and the Ebook on Hoopla here.
Once you’ve had a read or listen, grab the movie in the BCCLS catalog here.
Rattlesnakes, the novella sequel, is available in You Like it Darker by Stephen King (2024).
Cujo was September’s Horror/Thriller Book Club pick. If you are interested in joining, you can email reference@hobokenlibrary.org
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Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant
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