| Cujo | |
| Author: | Stephen King |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Publisher: | Viking Press |
| Release Date: | September 8, 1981 |
| Media Type: | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages: | 319 |
| Isbn: | 978-0-670-45193-7 |
Cujo is a 1981 horror novel by American writer Stephen King about a rabid Saint Bernard. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982[1] and was made into a film in 1983. Cujo's name was based on the alias of Willie Wolfe, one of the men responsible for orchestrating Patty Hearst's kidnapping and indoctrination into the Symbionese Liberation Army.[2] [3] King discusses Cujo in On Writing, referring to it as a novel he "barely remembers writing at all." King wrote the book during the height of his struggle with alcohol addiction. King goes on to say he likes the book and wishes he could remember enjoying the good parts as he put them on the page.[4]
According to King, the novel was partly inspired by his trip to a mechanic during the spring of 1977.[5] In a 2006 interview with The Paris Review, King describes how issues with his motorcycle led him to visit an auto shop on the northern outskirts of Bridgton, Maine.[6] He claims his motorcycle died when he arrived at the shop, and moments after, a Saint Bernard emerged from the garage, growling at him and eventually lunging for his hand.[7] Although the mechanic stopped the dog from harming King by hitting the dog's hindquarters with a wrench, King was still startled by the encounter. This incident, as well as a story published in a Portland, Maine, newspaper about a young child who was killed by a Saint Bernard, provided inspiration for the novel. King also owned a dysfunctional Ford Pinto at the time, which is the same car model the novel's protagonist, Donna Trenton, drives to the auto garage where she encounters the rabid Cujo.
In 1977, the middle-class Trentons move from New York City to Castle Rock, Maine. In the summer of 1980, Vic learns that Donna has recently had an affair with local tennis player Steve Kemp. In the midst of this household tension, Vic's advertising agency is failing due to a scandal over a cereal. Vic is forced to go on a business trip, leaving Donna and their son, four-year-old Tad, at home alone.
Joe Camber is a blue-collar mechanic who abuses his wife, Charity, and their ten-year-old son, Brett. Charity wins a $5,000 lottery prize and uses the proceeds to bargain with Joe to allow her to take Brett on a trip to visit Charity's sister in Connecticut and show him the possibility of a better life. Joe acquiesces and secretly plans to take a pleasure trip to Boston with his friend Gary Pervier, an alcoholic war veteran.
The Cambers' dog Cujo, a large, good-natured Saint Bernard, chases a rabbit in the nearby wilderness and inserts his head in a small cave. A bat bites him on the nose and infects him with rabies, against which Cujo has not been vaccinated. Cujo enters the prodromal phase, becoming lethargic and irritable. After Charity and Brett leave town, Cujo kills Joe and Gary.
Donna, with Tad, takes their failing Ford Pinto to Joe's house for repairs. The car breaks down in the Cambers' dooryard, and as Donna attempts to find Joe, Cujo attacks her. She gets back into the car but becomes trapped when Cujo continues to attack them. The interior of the car becomes increasingly hot in the summer sun. During one escape attempt, Donna is bitten in the stomach and leg, but manages to escape back into the car. Tad becomes catatonic with fear and begins to have seizures.
Steve goes to the Trenton home to attack Donna, then ransacks it when he finds it empty. Vic returns to Castle Rock after failed attempts to contact his wife. The police suspect Steve of kidnapping Donna and Tad. They also send Sheriff George Bannerman out to the Cambers' house, but Cujo kills him. Donna, after witnessing the attack and realizing Tad is in danger of dying of dehydration, battles the weakened Cujo and stabs him with a broken baseball bat, Cujo then gets back up and jumps through the house window ultimately dying by gun shot. Vic arrives as the fight ends, but Tad has already died from dehydration and heatstroke. A veterinarian removes Cujo's head for a biopsy to check for rabies prior to the cremation of his remains. Charity receives a phone call and learns of Cujo's rampage and her husband's death.
Several months later, the Trenton and Camber families are trying to move on. Donna has completed her treatment for rabies and her injuries have healed. The Trentons' marriage has survived, as well as Vic's business, and they mourn Tad together. Charity, now working in order to support herself and Brett, gives her son a new, vaccinated puppy. A postscript says that the hole Cujo chased the rabbit into was never discovered, and the bats soon abandoned it. It also reminds the reader that Cujo was a good dog who always tried to keep his owners happy, but the ravage of rabies drove him to violence.
Upon its initial release in 1981, the novel earned and maintained a high position on bestseller lists in the United States.[8] Some critics have criticized the novel for its ending.[9] [10] The 1983 film adaptation of the novel featured a more optimistic conclusion. Cujo received the following accolades:
Despite the above, according to the American Library Association, Cujo was the 49th most banned and challenged book in the United States between 1990 and 1999.[14]