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clarice_mj 's review for:
Revival
by Stephen King
“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.