diamondrust 's review for:

Revival by Stephen King
3.0

Weird book. Felt in a lot of ways that it was two books, two threads most of the way through, and then eventually joined up in the end.

There's a lot about death, fear of death, the realm that lies beyond it and human's curiosity and obsession with it. And an older man's nostalgia for a life lived, family, beginnings of things - a frank look at getting older. The imagery of the Ants and the actual horror part of the book didn't work for me - horror needs to touch, rip at soft places and it can be very individual. I found Jaime's life more interesting, his reasonings and his observations, his moving from place to place, his family.

It feels a bit like he threw in the horror because he is Stephen King and has to keep up his reputation - there were a few sentence-long stories about the survivors who ended up taking their own lives that was more horrifying than the end itself. Or Claire, his sister, killed by her abusive ex-husband.

And I'm damn sorry about Conrad, his brother, though I wasn't surprised, that was one thread that wasn't left undone.