Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
Stephen King’s ‘Revival’ is a playful book! How many times and ways does King revive his main character, Jamie Morton? He revives after overindulging in illicit drugs, he revives his employability, he revives relationships! But that is not all! Morton’s antagonist and ‘change agent’, Reverend Charles Jacobs, performs many revivals as well. However, gentle reader, do not be distracted by counting the many forms of revivals Stephen King has constructed into this story of obsession and hope. You know King will mischievously upend every expectation a reader has begun to anticipate! Horror abides....
Reverend Charles Jacobs has an obsession with what he calls ‘secret electricity’. He has been experimenting with secret electricity in his garage, partially in the building of electrical toys. When Jamie meets Charles in 1962, Jamie is six years old and Charles is in his late twenties. Charles is the new minister of a dying rural church called the First Methodist Church of Harlow, which the Morton family attends. Charles uses his electrical toys to illustrate biblical stories, such as Jesus walking on water. He is hoping to revive the interest of the community in God and religion.
Conrad, called Con by his family, who is Jamie’s older brother, suffers an injury to his throat three years after Reverend Jacobs begins preaching. Con loses his voice. Jacobs offers to cure Con through an experimental electrical device he has been hoping would limit pain and stimulate muscles. It works! Con’s voice is revived! The device Reverend Jacobs uses is powered by special batteries Jacobs invented which may or may not be using the ‘secret electricity’.
Con is Jacobs’ first ‘cure’....but unfortunately, one thing Jacobs cannot fix is the unexpected deaths of his loved ones. Are his loved ones with God? Why did they die so horribly? Is the Bible true? Will God save us only after death? Is there a way to pierce the veil of Death? What is the value of being alive? Is it all a con?
Quoted from [b:A Tale of Two Cities|1953|A Tale of Two Cities|Charles Dickens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344922523s/1953.jpg|2956372]:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Despite what I think is the MacGuffin object of Christian faith being used as a thematic third rail in this novel (third-rail systems provide electric power to trains; electrified rails will electrocute anyone wandering or falling onto the tracks), ‘Revival’ is a ultimately a book of horror entertainment (eventually) and King’s usual revived remembrances of his childhood, gentle reader (and perhaps expressing some residual rage). Purely for fun. Right?
For those who have read the novel already, I felt Jacobs’ ‘Terrible Sermon’ rings so true I was pumping my fist and cheering him on, almost dropping the book in my excitement. I re-read it for days.
Reverend Charles Jacobs has an obsession with what he calls ‘secret electricity’. He has been experimenting with secret electricity in his garage, partially in the building of electrical toys. When Jamie meets Charles in 1962, Jamie is six years old and Charles is in his late twenties. Charles is the new minister of a dying rural church called the First Methodist Church of Harlow, which the Morton family attends. Charles uses his electrical toys to illustrate biblical stories, such as Jesus walking on water. He is hoping to revive the interest of the community in God and religion.
Conrad, called Con by his family, who is Jamie’s older brother, suffers an injury to his throat three years after Reverend Jacobs begins preaching. Con loses his voice. Jacobs offers to cure Con through an experimental electrical device he has been hoping would limit pain and stimulate muscles. It works! Con’s voice is revived! The device Reverend Jacobs uses is powered by special batteries Jacobs invented which may or may not be using the ‘secret electricity’.
Con is Jacobs’ first ‘cure’....but unfortunately, one thing Jacobs cannot fix is the unexpected deaths of his loved ones. Are his loved ones with God? Why did they die so horribly? Is the Bible true? Will God save us only after death? Is there a way to pierce the veil of Death? What is the value of being alive? Is it all a con?
Quoted from [b:A Tale of Two Cities|1953|A Tale of Two Cities|Charles Dickens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344922523s/1953.jpg|2956372]:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Despite what I think is the MacGuffin object of Christian faith being used as a thematic third rail in this novel (third-rail systems provide electric power to trains; electrified rails will electrocute anyone wandering or falling onto the tracks), ‘Revival’ is a ultimately a book of horror entertainment (eventually) and King’s usual revived remembrances of his childhood, gentle reader (and perhaps expressing some residual rage). Purely for fun. Right?
For those who have read the novel already, I felt Jacobs’ ‘Terrible Sermon’ rings so true I was pumping my fist and cheering him on, almost dropping the book in my excitement. I re-read it for days.
An interesting story but not one of my favorites from King. There were several times I found myself wondering if we were ever going to get at what was being hinted at and the payoff of the climax was not what I would call satisfying. It was entertaining enough to keep me reading but it didn't leave me with spin-tingling chills or an altered perception of the world or what might lie beneath the world like I thought it would.
I gave this 3 stars because the writing is awesome! So descriptive--King really can weave a story like no other.......BUT come. On. I kept reading thinking, ok Here comes the exciting/creepy/King-esque twist.....and still thinking I must have missed something. There were a ton of details about Jamie's life--but all I really needed was a brief timeline then the ending. *sigh*. NEXT....
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Something… happened…
This is more like it. It felt like my favorite author much more so than Mr. Mercedes. I felt empathy for the main character and actually cared what happened to him, and the story was nicely paced with horror here and there to keep my interest. In fact, two weeks after finishing it, I found myself laying in my bed thinking, "something happened," and had a little shiver before falling asleep.
Starts out slow so you can really get to know the character, but that ending blew me away. I’ll be thinking about that imagery for a long time. The ending has to be one of his best. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Lovecraft fans will love this.
The beginning and ending of the story were the only parts where stuff was happening. I feel this story could be condensed into a novella with the middle stuff all taken out. The middle parts (maybe 200 pages) is only about the MC growing up, getting into drugs, playing music, meeting other people and it was all boring too me. The only interesting parts was when the pastor came in, but that was maybe only 30% of the story unfortunately.
He estado un buen rato intentando decidir la puntuación que le daba a este libro y sigo pensando que las medias estrellas son muy necesarias. Tres estrellas y media sería lo justo, pero como no puedo ser muy objetiva con King se lo dejo en cuatro. Me han gustado los personajes y la trama, pero el final no me ha terminado de convencer. Me he pasado todo el libro esperando que ocurriesen cosas, que se nos desvelase algo, y por mucho que el personaje del reverendo Jacobs sea perturbador faltaba algo. Y el final me ha dejado también con esa sensación.