Cujo
- 352
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
- August Derleth Award
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Our view
“Cujo” is a sadder and fuller book than its reputation as a monster-dog story suggests. King follows two families as well as the rabid Saint Bernard himself, and the passages told from the dog’s side are the ones some readers like best. The book has no chapter breaks, which for some blurs the passing of time, and some find its human characters hard to like. The ending divides: flat to some, devastating to others.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Cujo is a 1981 horror novel by American writer Stephen King about a Saint Bernard who contracts rabies, then goes on a killing spree in his hometown. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982 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. King mentions Cujo in On Writing, referring to it as a novel he "barely remember[s] 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.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.1 across 671 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 82% of the weight and the score stays at 7.2 — the Horror average of 7.5 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.4 | 50 | 8% |
| Hardcover | 7.1 | 621 | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is Cujo?
It has 352 pages — shorter than 68% of the ranked books in Horror.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Horror — with scores between 7.1 and 7.2, closest to this book.
