Cujo, by Stephen King, is the story of a dog that goes beyond rabid, and goes on a killing spree. The story takes place in a small town in Maine, in which King does an excellent job bringing to life the “small town” feel. All of the characters in the town, particularly the main families involved, are all wonderfully realized and complex. No one person in this story is perfect, and every single character has flaws. This book explores what it really means to have flaws, to make mistakes, and how one bad decision and can lead to another.

An interesting part of this story, is that you sometimes get the perspective of the dog, Cujo. You can hear what he’s thinking as he interacts with his family, gets bitten by an unknown predator, and ultimately descends into madness. Being an animal person myself I am be biased, but I actually found myself feeling bad for Cujo. He always tried to be a “good boy”, so he did not have any control over the vicious disease that took over him. Watching him be so violent and not being able to control it did make my feel sympathy for him.

Part way through the book, there were some side plots that left me wondering what they were there for. Having finished the book I see now that everything that happens in this book is some sort of a metaphor for what happens at the end. For example, the side story about the Sharp Cereal Man… just like Cujo, it wasn’t his fault either. Again, this book really brings to light how one bad decision can lead to another, and another. When everything that can possibly go wrong does, are we the cause of our own disasters? There is a lot to think about in this simple book about a dog. The ending of this book is quite sad for many different characters, so this is not the book to read if you are looking for a happy ending.