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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
slow-paced
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Half a point for style, but it was the most boring book I've ever read. The first 15% were intriguing at best, the rest felt like a chore.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Probably the most spooked out I’ve ever been by a Stephen King book. I would rate it 5 stars except for the standard “cringe element” in almost every King book. A 24 year old girl with a 53 year old man?! Really?????
“something happened something happened something happened” Jamie Morton
I did Really Like parts of Revival and parts of it were truly Amazing, but overall, I felt a little let down and could only give it a 3-Star rating.
King’s super-power, IMHO, is his character development. King creates complex characters that the reader can’t help but care about even if the characters are not always likable. This is where he truly excelled in Revival. We meet Jamie (and his family) when he is just 6-years-old and follow him throughout his life. By the end of the novel, I felt like I really knew Jamie and understood how his complicated relationships with his family had helped shape his personality and addictions, how his connection to music pulled him through as well as pulled him under, and why he made certain choices along his path.
King’s fabulous writing compelled me to become very invested in Jamie’s life and his masterful story-telling kept me enthralled even though I was constantly wondering when the “horror” part was going to happen. There were occasional whispers of foreshadowing throughout, but nothing that even hinted of “horror” until after Jamie was a young adult (32% of the way into the story) and then nothing more until Jamie was in his late 40s (57% of the way into the story) and when he was in his 60s (at the 82% mark) when there were brief, vague visions by Jamie and two other characters that hinted of the horror to come.
Finally at the 90% mark, the over-the-top Lovecraftian climax began.
So, although I did enjoy reading about Jamie’s life, I didn’t feel that the “horror” element was successfully integrated into the story. It just seemed that there was TOO much (can’t believe I’m saying this) detail about Jamie’s life -so much so that by the time he got back to the horror of Charlie Jacobs, I had forgotten that was the point of Jamie’s story to begin with.
I did Really Like parts of Revival and parts of it were truly Amazing, but overall, I felt a little let down and could only give it a 3-Star rating.
King’s super-power, IMHO, is his character development. King creates complex characters that the reader can’t help but care about even if the characters are not always likable. This is where he truly excelled in Revival. We meet Jamie (and his family) when he is just 6-years-old and follow him throughout his life. By the end of the novel, I felt like I really knew Jamie and understood how his complicated relationships with his family had helped shape his personality and addictions, how his connection to music pulled him through as well as pulled him under, and why he made certain choices along his path.
King’s fabulous writing compelled me to become very invested in Jamie’s life and his masterful story-telling kept me enthralled even though I was constantly wondering when the “horror” part was going to happen. There were occasional whispers of foreshadowing throughout, but nothing that even hinted of “horror” until after Jamie was a young adult (32% of the way into the story) and then nothing more until Jamie was in his late 40s (57% of the way into the story) and when he was in his 60s (at the 82% mark) when there were brief, vague visions by Jamie and two other characters that hinted of the horror to come.
Finally at the 90% mark, the over-the-top Lovecraftian climax began.
So, although I did enjoy reading about Jamie’s life, I didn’t feel that the “horror” element was successfully integrated into the story. It just seemed that there was TOO much (can’t believe I’m saying this) detail about Jamie’s life -so much so that by the time he got back to the horror of Charlie Jacobs, I had forgotten that was the point of Jamie’s story to begin with.
Stephen King has written over 50 novels, of which maybe I’ve read half, he is a consummate storyteller. This story builds slowly, starting as a contemporary drama type book that creates complex characters, looks at themes of religion and family, and builds up an interesting three-dimensional portrait of a small community. But as the novel moves along, it becomes darker and creepier, you know you can trust King to ratchet up the tension. The story is set over a long timespan. It begins in the early sixties when the protagonist, Jamie is a boy and meets a young new pastor in his district the Reverend Charles Jacobs. Jacobs shows Jamie a model of Jesus seemingly magically walking on the water. As he gets older Jamie realises the model is just running on hidden rails and is not so miraculous after all. Jacobs is obsessed with electricity.“Kids … Electricity is one of God’s doorways to the infinite.” The minister’s wife and son are killed in a horrifying motor accident. Jacobs leaves town after a particularly terrible sermon. Many years later Jamie is a rhythm guitarist in his mid thirties addicted to heroin, he runs into Jacobs at a county fair with a sideshow making “Portraits in Lightning”. Jacobs cures Jamie of his addiction using what he terms his “secret electricity”. Jacobs goes on to become a popular evangelist curing many people with his secret electricity. But the cures can have worrying side effects. Jacobs is continually experimenting; his ultimate goal is to pull back the curtain and get a glimpse of what the afterlife looks like. King’s vision of this afterlife is darkly unsettling.
King is also looking at the fear of aging, he himself is long past the double nickel of dread.
The book’s electrical undercurrent reminds me of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and Stephen King’s earlier novel “The Tommyknockers”. Strangely, I picture in my mind the character of Rev Jacobs as the Doctor Who persona played by Matt Smith.
King is also looking at the fear of aging, he himself is long past the double nickel of dread.
“The three great ages of the Great American Male -youth, middle age and you look fuckin’ terrific.”
“I think for most people, life’s deceptive deliriums begin to fall away after fifty. The days speed up, the aches multiply and your gait slows down…”
The book’s electrical undercurrent reminds me of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and Stephen King’s earlier novel “The Tommyknockers”. Strangely, I picture in my mind the character of Rev Jacobs as the Doctor Who persona played by Matt Smith.
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This could have been an email
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Creative ending and a better novel then I expected. Quick and unique King novel.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes