Revival by Stephen King - Book Review
Revival by Stephen King
Revival tells the story of a heroine addict cured of addiction by an old friend’s use of a magical electrical device only to find sinister strings attached to his miraculous recovery.
Stephen King’s Revival is a damn decent book. It’s the story of Jamie Morton, journeyman guitarist, heroin addict, and fairly lonesome loser. At age six, Jamie was befriended by the young Reverend Charles Jacobs, whose faith was soon destroyed when his wife and son were killed. Jamie lost his own belief watching Jacobs come undone. Many years later, beaten up by life, Jamie turns to heroin. Meanwhile, Jacobs has been trying to unlock the mysteries of sickness and death with a secret form of electricity. When the two meet up again, Jacobs is a carnie huckster wowing hillbillies with his magic lightning camera. All proceeds go directly to Jacobs’ mostly insane research. Which seems to be going pretty well, actually. He cures Jamie’s heroin blues as well as an old injury with his special cosmic voltage. Considering this is basically back alley shock therapy (and a Stephen King book), there are some after effects. As Jacobs begins to mass market his treatment, Jamie finds himself yanked unwillingly into the bizarre endgame just as his life has normalized.
I felt like this story was teasing me along. There was plenty there to keep me flipping pages but it never seemed to be getting to the point. Part of that was the narrative style. King doesn’t do a lot of novels told from the first person. His books tend to be intricate yet sprawling things that cover a lot of ground. Revival is solely from Jamie’s POV and, while I understand the approach, I felt it limited the scope. We’re inside Jamie’s head the entire time, experiencing his personal encounters with tragedy and evil, discovering how his relationship with Jacobs affects him. This is not a tale of all-encompassing darkness, it’s a personal journey but I didn’t find it overly compelling. Jamie is easy to identify with but his plight just never seems that dire.
King doesn’t jerk up the tension in this one. The story isn’t boring at all but it’s mundane. It creeps along and I was often lulled by its prosaic plot, wondering when something big was going to happen, when shit was going to get truly sinister.
After all the reluctant buildup, I expected the ending to rock my face off. I mean, if it took that long to get going, surely the momentum would send it smashing into the finale, right?
Eh, pretty close. The ending was definitely the best part; vintage King, sparking with imagination and freaky goodness. However, I didn’t feel driven toward the climax. More like I ended up there almost accidentally after a long detour.
Jamie is a well-drawn character. His life is very ordinary, which is part of what makes this novel feel a little humdrum. But Jacobs has broken the spine of his existence and Jamie’s search for healing and redemption is ingratiating.
Jacobs, on the other hand, is a cartoon. First, he’s the faithless preacher shaking his fist at God. Then he’s the stereotypical carnival shyster bilking the slack-jawed crowd. He moves on to even goofier roles and his whole mad scientist thing is just a caricature. I got no feeling of real menace from him and I couldn’t take him seriously as a villain.
King’s prose remains tight and fun, all folklorey and comfortable. He recycles a lot of familiar phrases from his heyday rather than coming up with new ones, which strikes me as a bit lazy, but it mostly works.
I recommend Revival, even though it isn’t King’s best work. Despite its slow build and narrow focus, it’s the work of a master just grooving right along.
Reviewed by Brent R. Oliver
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