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Revival

Stephen King (Goodreads Author)

3.78 · Rating details · 102,262 ratings · 10,878 reviews

In a small New England town, in the early 60s, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs Jacobs; the women and girls – including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister ...more

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Hardcover, 405 pages

Published November 11th 2014 by Scribner Book Company

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Nov 11, 2014 Edward Lorn rated it it was amazing

I'm lost. Destroyed. Utterly exhausted. I don't think a work of fiction has ever affected me so entirely. I was there. And I wish I hadn't been, yet I do not regret reading it.

Forget Cujo and Pet Sematary, or any of his other dark and dreary novels. Revival is Stephen King's bleakest work to date. Mainly because it gives you hope. So much hope. And then it rips that hope, still beating, from your chest.

The title of this novel is literal in several ways. It's a revival of old school King, the I'm lost. Destroyed. Utterly exhausted. I don't think a work of fiction has ever affected me so entirely. I was there. And I wish I hadn't been, yet I do not regret reading it.

Forget Cujo and Pet Sematary, or any of his other dark and dreary novels. Revival is Stephen King's bleakest work to date. Mainly because it gives you hope. So much hope. And then it rips that hope, still beating, from your chest.

The title of this novel is literal in several ways. It's a revival of old school King, the King many of us miss. It's about numerous revivals, but naming those would be spoilers, and I refuse to spoil anything about this book. And, last but not least, It has a tent revival within its pages. But I cannot feel as if something inside me has died. Like a fire has been extinguished. I'm sure this feeling will pass. At least I hope it will.

The mastery of language showcased in Revival is simply breathtaking. There are hundreds of quotable lines herein, but one of my personal favorites is quite simple. "Home is where they want you to stay longer." And it's funny, folks, because, for the first time in my life, I wanted a Stephen King book to be longer, so that quote is damn apt. I wanted more time with Jaime before the final descent into darkness. I wanted him to have more time period. Because I knew something terrible awaited this poor man. I wish Jaime Morton could unsee, could unfeel, everything he goes through. But the damage is irrevocable.

If you have any humanity, the ending of Revival will bother you deeply. It's not the final scene, it's not any one event, it's the concept. The idea. The unflinching finality. It's not an exclamation point or a question mark, but a precise period. Where many authors will leave the afterlife to the reader's imagination, Stephen King delivers on his promise. There is no what-if. He draws the conclusion in black detail, and you can only sit back, mouth agape, and swallow what he feeds you.

In summation: Revival is a creature born of despair. It nests inside you and breeds. It's insidious. I'm glad to be done with it, but wouldn't have missed the journey.
...more

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Jan 09, 2015 Lyn rated it really liked it

I’ve been married for over 25 years with a 30 year mortgage and raised three boys, I’ve been to Iraq, taken and passed the bar exam and am in private practice.

I don’t scare easy.

This book was scary.

This was old school, spooky / creepy STEPHEN FREAKING KING wake you up in the middle of the night ‘cause Barlow is sneaking down the hallway scary.

Carrie walking Cujo down Shining Lane as Christine drives by.

Scary.

First of all, any book that begins with a quote from H.P. Lovecraft gets a quick and dec ...more

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Nov 26, 2014 Emily May rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014, horror

It's time for that approximately biannual event once again - Stephen King has released a new novel. And it's a good one.

I never know how to approach a review for a Stephen King book. I use a different tone when writing about different kind of novels - classics and literary fiction usually get one style of review, fantasy/paranormal and YA (genre fiction, basically) get another. But where does Mr King fit?

The "problem" with Stephen King is that he writes such engrossing, imaginative pageturners t It's time for that approximately biannual event once again - Stephen King has released a new novel. And it's a good one.

I never know how to approach a review for a Stephen King book. I use a different tone when writing about different kind of novels - classics and literary fiction usually get one style of review, fantasy/paranormal and YA (genre fiction, basically) get another. But where does Mr King fit?

The "problem" with Stephen King is that he writes such engrossing, imaginative pageturners that manage to hook you, creep you out and make you think. Every book release jumps to the top of the pop fiction charts. Which, in theory, is great; except that Mr King often gets overlooked as a truly great writer, which he is.

With this latest book, King takes one of the oldest of the old ideas and breathes new life into it. The underlying theme of this book is that timeless question: what lies after death? Is there anything beyond this world? Is there a way for the living to ever find out before their time comes?

Using his familiar talent for creating characters that feel entirely real, King at first introduces us to a small town and religious community in New England. Into this unremarkable place comes a new minister, Charles Jacobs; his arrival sparks a series of events that will change the lives of both our narrator (Jamie Morton) and numerous other unfortunate people for decades to come.

The story spans many years of Jamie's life; from his childhood in New England, to his teenage and young adult years as a musician, and his subsequent heroin addiction. Charles Jacobs will come back into his life many times and propel Jamie towards a ever more disturbing truth.

This book starts 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. It took me a while to understand why so many people thought this book was so scary and disturbing... but it was worth waiting for.

Unsettling. That is how I would describe this story. It's not a tale of traditional monsters that hunt you down in the dark; in fact, it plays on the very real fears of everyone. It takes questions everyone has asked themselves and creates something horrifying out of it.

I know this is a heavy claim to make, but I think this might be one of my favourite Stephen King novels. ...more

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Nov 11, 2014 Shelby *trains flying monkeys* rated it it was amazing

Shelves: the-king, scary-stuff, favorites, read-2014

Something happened.

Mother fuck..I'm gonna have nightmares from this shit.

The story begins with young Jamie outside playing war with some army soldiers his sister had gotten him for his birthday. A man's shadow falls across him and so begins what Jamie calls his "fifth business."

This book is somewhat of a coming of age story. The reader gets to grow up with Jamie and we are all involved with Reverend Charles Jacobs too..whether we want to be or not.
Jamie's story takes you through five decades ...more

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Nov 19, 2014 Will Byrnes rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror, stephen-king, fiction

this is how we bring about our own damnation, you know—by ignoring the voice that begs us to stop. To stop while there’s still time.

There is a somewhat leisurely feel to Stephen King’s latest, Revival. Dramatic events are sprinkled throughout the narrative, but the story moves along at what seems a deliberate pace. I am reminded of Ted Williams’s advice for batters, “wait, wait, wait, then quick, quick, quick.” The final, high voltage scenes of Revival pay for the whole.

Our narrator, Jami ...more

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Nov 11, 2014 Alisi ☆ wants to read too many books ☆ rated it did not like it

Shelves: horror, arigato-mr-roboto, audiobook, no-words-can-describe-how-bad, enormous-letdown, horribly-ending, ebil-villain-bwa-ha-cough, arg-the-prose-hurth-me-eyes

Let me say something up front: King is my favorite author. I'm not a 'hater' by any stretch of the imagination. I've read all his books multiple times. This novel is just that bad. I realize I'm going to get a whole lot of hate for this review but I refuse to hold my tongue on this. This isn't 'classic King'. There is no 'slow burn'. This is just lazy, shitty writing with an overly hyped and dramatic ending that was stupid and cliche.

One of the things I loved about King (yes, past tense there) w Let me say something up front: King is my favorite author. I'm not a 'hater' by any stretch of the imagination. I've read all his books multiple times. This novel is just that bad. I realize I'm going to get a whole lot of hate for this review but I refuse to hold my tongue on this. This isn't 'classic King'. There is no 'slow burn'. This is just lazy, shitty writing with an overly hyped and dramatic ending that was stupid and cliche.

One of the things I loved about King (yes, past tense there) was the fact that he didn't publish shitty books just because he could but this book proves that last ideal wrong. If I didn't love his writing as much as I do, I'd've been happy never to read another one of his books.

I wanted to write that the first 40% of the book is skippable and that it picks up but that was false on my part because the pick up is quickly let go again.

Basically, King gives us the entire life story of the MC from about 5-ish to post 50's. We hear everything and it's all boring. As I said above, the first 40% is completely skippable. It holds only one relevant detail: the fact that the pastor lost his family.

Despite what it says in the blurb, the pastor only plays a small part in the book. It's mainly this guy's life with one or two side quests into what the pastor is doing. We hear of the same list of those people he saved over and over again. Nothing new. He occasionally sees the pastor or talks with him but he quickly leaves and goes about his boring life again.

And then the ending was as cliche as all hell and done to death already before this book was published (and he does a particularly bad job of it as it were.) The parting shot at the 'victims' seemed rather desperate too. I honestly couldn't care less about the side effects of the treatment for those he healed (note the word healed -- I'm not being callus with that. My nephew had cancer when he turned 2.5 yrs old. He could've easily died from the treatment but he'd've also died without the treatment. Life and death matters of that sort are completely up to the individual) and it seemed like a part of the author agree that that lacked any real horror so he had to manufacturer that whole mess to make the story 'dark'.

There was the potential of a really scary story here but it's lost in the entire life story of this boring man. I'd've loved to hear more about the pastor and his 'victims' and much, much less about the young black chick he's banging and how young that makes him feel, his family reunions, or how he lost his virginity. ...more

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Nov 16, 2014 Kemper rated it really liked it

Shelves: blinded-me-with-science, 2014, sky-cake, signed-by-author, uncle-stevie, horror, turn-that-music-down

From the synopsis on Stephen King’s website:

"This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written."

That’s a bold statement that sets the bar very high for Revival. So does it clear it?

Almost. I think. If it doesn’t then it comes damn close which still makes this a pretty impressive achievement for Uncle Steve at this point in his long career.

Jamie Morton first meets Reverend Charles Jacobs when he’s a 6 year old kid in Maine ...more

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Dec 24, 2015 Justin Tate rated it really liked it

I was about ready to give Stephen King a Pulitzer for this one. The character development was beyond outstanding and the impending doom so delicious I couldn't stop turning the pages. Unfortunately the ending sucked. There's really no other way to put it. Totally random, off the wall, lame excuse to pay homage to Frankenstein and Lovecraft. I like H.P. Lovecraft and Mary Shelley too, but you can't write a glorious novel as emotionally rich as Shawshank and then toss in beasties and call it good. ...more

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May 01, 2014 Dan Schwent rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014

When Jamie Morton first encounters the Reverend Charles Daniel Jacobs, he is six years old. Jacobs cures his brother's muteness, only to leave town a broken man when his wife and son are killed. Jamie and the Rev will cross paths again and again as the Rev seeks to master what he calls the secret electricity, the energy that powers the universe...

I found this book to be an extremely mixed bag, which you'll read in a moment.

Revival follows the life of Jamie Morton, a rhythm guitarist, whose life When Jamie Morton first encounters the Reverend Charles Daniel Jacobs, he is six years old. Jacobs cures his brother's muteness, only to leave town a broken man when his wife and son are killed. Jamie and the Rev will cross paths again and again as the Rev seeks to master what he calls the secret electricity, the energy that powers the universe...

I found this book to be an extremely mixed bag, which you'll read in a moment.

Revival follows the life of Jamie Morton, a rhythm guitarist, whose life intersects with Charles Jacobs, a priest/huckster/mad scientist who things electricity is the key to most of life's mysteries. I'm going to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.

Since Stephen King produces best sellers more often than I wash my car, I tend to forget what a great writer he is. I think if he didn't love scaring the piss out of people, he probably would have been a literary writer of some renown. The characters he creates in this seem very real, with an exception I'll cover in a minute. The picture he paints of Jamie Morton's life is very well written, warts and all.

While I enjoyed reading the book due to the Kingliness of the writing, it wasn't all that exciting. I was interested in Jamie's journey from rock and roller to drug addict to studio musician but the meat of the story was whenever he crossed paths with Charles Jacobs, or whatever he was calling himself at the time. Structurally, it reminded me of The Shining. There was a long buildup with just enough teasing to keep me interested. If it wasn't for the ending, I probably would have given this a two.

The other thing that didn't quite sit right is that Jacobs evolved from being one cartoonish stereotype to another, from devout priest to carny to evangelist to scene-chewing villain. He's the one character I never really believed in. Also, what's with Stephen King's recent obsession with carnies? Doctor Sleep and Joyland both featured them and now this one.

All that being said, I was entertained by Revival but not enthralled by it. I LOVED the glimpse of the afterlife at the end. "That is not dead which can eternal lie" indeed. Also, the King Easter eggs were also cool.

I didn't love it but it's definitely better than Joyland, Doctor Sleep, and Mr. Mercedes. We'll call it 3.5 out of 5. ...more

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Jan 31, 2014 Trudi rated it really liked it

Shelves: stephen-king, grief-and-loss, horror, all-in-the-family, fantastical-speculative, epic-creep, music-is-the-answer, 2014, favorites

What the hell do you read next after you finish a book like this!?

While not a full on frontal assault horror novel in the tradition of The Shining or Pet Sematary, Revival definitely ranks as one of the darkest, most unsettling books King has written in a long time. It's a slow burn that touches on a lot of themes we've come to expect from King in his golden years -- family, nostalgia, grief and loss. King turned 67 this year and he seems to have reached a point in his life where the "big quest ...more

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Nov 27, 2014 Nataliya rated it really liked it

Shelves: stephen-king, 2014-reads

"People say that where there’s life, there’s hope, and I have no quarrel with that, but I also believe the reverse.
There is hope, therefore I live."

I am a true Stephen King collector, a terminal case of his Constant Reader. Year after year I get my hands on his stories, and almost with no exceptions my admiration for the man continues to grow. I love his disturbingly vivid imagination, the rare quality of his storytelling voice, his ability to suck you into a tale he weaves, and an uncanny talent for making his characters feel very real.

The Revival is definitely a "newer" King story, in line with those over the last 15 years or so - a bit slower, a tad more introspective, with fewer overt scares and more of a tense buildup to the story, with the awareness and the weight of years lived and wisdom gained and a bit of nostalgia for the years past.

And, as a true King story, it's unsettling and full of bleak uneasiness lurking behind every page.

"Something happened."

The story is not 'horror'. As is common with King's books, especially the later ones, it's not a tale of things that jump out at you and startle you or gross you out - King, especially of the later years, is a different brand of writer that that. The aim is to make you uneasy, unsettled, to sense something wrong under the fabric of everyday existence, to remember your real everyday fears and make them creepily disturbing, to overlay a jarring note onto the harmony of life.

"She was just a year old, but she had wanted me to stay longer. That’s how you know you’re home, I think, no matter how far you’ve gone from it or how long you’ve been in some other place. Home is where they want you to stay longer."

The first half of this book would satisfy even the most literary of critics looking for a great American novel. Through Jamie Morton's recollection of the five decades of his life we get a nuanced portrait of a small-town community a few decades past, with the beauty and the ugliness and all the smallmindedness that permeates such a place. It touches upon the magic of childhood with all the nostalgia for that time of life, has the frequent feel of a Bildungsroman with a boy becoming a man, revisiting clearly ever-important to King themes of addiction and self-destruction, and through the first half of it only has the thin strands of magical realism lurking right below the surface, stirring the feelings of uneasiness and impending doom. This part is where King truly shines in his writing skill, proving once again that's it's not only wine and cheese that age beautifully - it's also great writers, the cohort to which he undoubtedly belongs.

"Well, you know what they say, Jamie: The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

The plots thickens in the second half of the book, when an aging guitarist and former addict Jamie Morton reconnects with Charles Daniel Jacobs, a pastor from his childhood who denounced religion after the senseless deaths of his wife and child and, fueled with lifelong obsession with electricity, took a road that took him from being a carny to a televangelist to a man trying to break open the greatest secret of the human life.

"This is how we bring about our own damnation, you know—by ignoring the voice that begs us to stop. To stop while there’s still time."

Death is what awaits all of us, and the older we get and the more of the world we see, the more the inevitability of the final journey becomes real. As King observed way back in the haunting conclusion to The Green Mile, "We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long."

What lies beyond death? What happens when our loved ones are senselessly yanked out away from us, and we are left to pick up the pieces? Will finally knowing the answer bring closure, peace, satisfaction? Or will it crush even the most beautiful ray of hope? Is it better to just hope for the reassuring idea of nothing, blackness, emptiness? Because we tell all kinds of cheerfully uplifting things to our children to teach them to come to peace with the inevitable, but how many of us eventually come to see the point in Charlie Jacobs' angry, disillusioned thoughts?

“Religion is the theological equivalent of a quick-buck insurance scam, where you pay in your premium year after year, and then, when you need the benefits you paid for so – pardon the pun – so religiously, you discover the company that took your money does not, in fact, exist.”

Yes, this book is unsettling. King does not shy away from the uncomfortable and knows exactly which buttons to push to get the hollow feeling deep down in your gut. He knows that sometimes less is more, and that sinister undertones can do more for you than the overt show of terror. Which, by the way, is exactly why the uneasy hints of the reality other than that Jamie Morton and the rest of us are accustomed to worked so much better for me than the final climactic confrontation (as, I must confess, frequently happens with King's books - he's the master of tense buildup, but the resolutions are sometimes just a tad weaker). Because it's the psychological terror that gnaws at your brain, not the atavistic startles that the less skilled writers may go for.

All together, this book works beautifully. At half the length of some of King's doorstoppers, it still has an expansive feeling that turns a fictional memoir into almost a chronicle while managing nevertheless to remain tight and focused. It's everything that we Constant Readers have learned to expect from King - and he does not fail to deliver.

4.5 stars.

"People say that where there’s life, there’s hope, and I have no quarrel with that, but I also believe the reverse.
There is hope, therefore I live."

...more

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Oct 20, 2014 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2014

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

4.5 Stars

While I was reading this happened . . .

And now that I’m done and ready to write a review, I’m thinking “why the f*&^ do I do this to myself?!?!?!?” There’s no way I’ll be able to give this book the review it deserves – flagging the crap out of it is just like a salt-in-the-wound type of reminder of that fact. That leaves me with the question of “where to begin?” The most obvious place would be the beginning . . .

Jamie Mor ...more

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Aug 26, 2014 Mohammed Arabey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

God, The cover is so attractive, yet deceiving..

It's not Horror, not fast thriller and not That creepy..

Mostly it's about coming of age, Nostalgia..It's about Life..

Life; Movies & "Paperbacks", Sex & Drugs..And TOO MUCH Rock & Roll..

It's about a Shadow with no light..getting darker & darker..till you lose faith that there's any light..

And the only light you'll see here..is the Thunderous Lightnings.

Yeah,it's also about losing faith. Not just about life, but also about what's coming up next..what

"That is Not Dead which can Eternal Lie, and with Strange Aeons Even Death may die"

H.P. Lovecraft

*************************************

That's it...I can't spoil it to you, It was really great "living" with Jamie Morton for over 50 years..."it's been 9 days for me but really seemed like years"

I really liked it..It's my first read for Mr. King and I know it's late but late better than never..

*************************************
The Story and the Characters
-----------------------------

A wonderful drawing of family life in the 60s...the early life of Jamie Morton, the tragedy of it too was very touching.
The coming of age..the sweet Nostalgia..and family reunions..
And I loved Reverend Charlie's character development, and basically all of them...
Mr. King really gave all his characters real life and real soul..
Even the setting, was so real, I told you I was "living" the novel..

I didn't like the Rock and Roll parts -which was a bit too much- since I'm not a big fan,but clearly Mr. King is..
but was okay to fast read these parts, also the sex and affairs which wasn't bad, just over talked about at some moments specially by the late chapters -with the parts when Jamie and his partner tracking the revival's healed patients, I loved that parts was so creepy and thriller but slowed by his and her affair-.

It's also was hard to follow at some parts where was 'Too Much Capital Letter In The Beginning Of Each Word' that's refers always to names of musicians , local towns, roads , songs or whatever that requires you'd be so American and so into Rock and Roll.

On the other hand, I loved the many movies references and techniques specially at the beginning when the narrator showing how our lives similar to movies..I always believe that myself..

“But who is screenwriting our lives? Fate or coincidence?
I want to believe it’s the latter. I want that with all my heart and soul.
When I think of Charles Jacobs —my fifth business, my change agent, my nemesis— I can’t bear to believe his presence in my life had anything to do with fate. It would mean that all these terrible things—these horrors—were meant to happen.
If that is so, then there is no such thing as light, and our belief in it is a foolish illusion. If that is so, we live in darkness like animals in a burrow, or ants deep in their hill. And not alone.”

And one more thing...Atheism...

May be it wasn't about Horror Carnivals as I've presumed before..

It wasn't "Joyful" as it may seem..It gets darker and darker..till you might lose faith in any joy..even light..as if it's the notorious "God Delusion" disguised into a novel..

The Terrible Sermon in the beginning of the Novel was "shocking" actually ...yet I can't deny It have some even little reason in it..

“people always want a reason for the bad things in life. Sometimes there ain’t one.”

And the irony here that I witness some terrible things too ,one very recent , just the day before I complete this review "16th Dec.2014 " A terrible accident to a dear friend's mother and granny Sunday morning while they were heading to Church ,to attend a funeral , lead to a death , and a serious injuries to the mother !!!
It's really dark novel , it was really a bit like some lives, that turn darker and darker as it moves on..

The Revival part was haunting, The Cures...The Aftereffects, the seceret electricity...The Something that Happened...

“Then they all began to sing. The tune was “Happy Birthday,” but the lyrics had changed.
“Something happened . . . TO YOU! Something happened . . . TO YOU! Something happened, dear Jamie, something happened TO YOU!”
That was when I began to scream.”

It was slow as I told you more like life and drama story until the second half..When That Thing that Happened...and getting more dark..you'll never know may be till the last few lines why at the first page Jamie told us he hates Rev. Charlie.. was that because of the "Terrible Sermon"?
Well, I will let you discover yourself..

“God isn’t as important to people now,” my mother said one day after a particularly disappointing turnout. “A day will come when they’ll be sorry for that.”

I don't know why I felt it's really dark and for some reason,that there's no "Clear" point for me by the end which "team" Mr. King is -I'm sure he's not that dark- but I guess I will think about the ending for long..
I will read more H.P Lovecraft..and the other 10 authors this book dedicated for...

“This is how we bring about our own damnation, you know-by ignoring the voice that begs us to stop. To stop while there's still time.”

May be I didn't even know for sure what's That Thing that Happened ..
And I almost rate it 3...And still loved it, and if I go back in time would read it again...But since that recent accident I mention yesterday..I rate it 4..and appreciate it a bit more..And Sure I'll read more for The King of Horror.. Stephen King.

“Life is a wheel, and it always comes back around to where it started.”

Mohammed Arabey
From 6 Dec.2014
To 14 Dec. 2014

So....The First "Presume" is here "The Old Pre-review(view spoiler) ...more

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Feb 14, 2020 Annemarie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-german

You shouldn't go into this book thinking is going to be super scary. It's more of a coming-of-age story. These are my favourite kind of books, I love reading about characters getting older and finding out what things and situations shape them and influence their life.
So for me, this book was a wonderful little treat for in-between! It wasn't the most exciting or special book, and I definitely wouldn't recommend it to someone who hasn't read King before, but for an already established fan - this ...more

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Nov 12, 2014 Maciek rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, horror, 2014-releases, read-in-2014

The dust jacket of Revival promised a a contemporary Gothic novel in the "great American tradition of Frank Norris, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe, which would span five decades and contain the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. Stephen King himself said that the book is too scary", and that he doesn't want to think about it anymore, calling it "a nasty, dark piece of work.". This is his second book to be released this year, after the disappointing Mr. Mercedes. ...more

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Jun 06, 2014 Ruth Turner rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: stephen-king

If someone had sat me down, told me they were going to read to me, and asked me to guess the author, the only reason I would have guessed correctly were the mentions of Castle Rock, Jerusalem’s Lot and Joyland. Otherwise I wouldn’t have had a clue.

There’s something missing in this dark story, and it’s a connection to the characters. It’s one thing I love about King, his ability to breathe life into the wonderful characters that people his books. But this one left me flat.

It’s not unusual for me ...more

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Oct 03, 2020 megs_bookrack rated it it was amazing

Shelves: stephen-king-read, favorites

In 1962, while out playing in his yard, 6-year old, Jamie Morton, has a shadow fall upon him. He looks up and sees a statuesque man in church garb hovering over him.

The man introduces himself as Charles Jacobs, he's the new reverend, just arrived to town.

Jacobs, the Rev, is young, vibrant and successful at filling pews; breathing life back into the somewhat stale local church.

He also develops strong relationships with a lot of the young people, Jamie included, who actually is a favorite of sorts ...more

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Aug 24, 2016 Reading Corner rated it it was ok · review of another edition

2.5 stars

This book is so underwhelming and over hyped.I've only read two other King books but after reading this,my opinion of the other two has completely gone up.I found most of Revival incredibly boring and tedious to get through.There's no real build up in this book like King has in his other books,the atmosphere never felt tense and there was no real suspense,until maybe the end.

I thought the story was really boring,until the end when everything adds up but even that ending couldn't save th ...more

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Nov 19, 2014 Will M. rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, paranormal, 2015

"People always want a reason for the bad things in life. Sometimes there ain't one."

Almost everyone assured me that this is King's scariest, darkest, and creepiest novel to date. I don't completely disagree with the numerous acclaims, but I am considering this novel as heavily flawed. The plot was immersing, but only to a certain extent. I now understand why some people warned me that this novel was a bit dragging in the middle. A lot of uninteresting things did happen in the middle, and it "People always want a reason for the bad things in life. Sometimes there ain't one."

Almost everyone assured me that this is King's scariest, darkest, and creepiest novel to date. I don't completely disagree with the numerous acclaims, but I am considering this novel as heavily flawed. The plot was immersing, but only to a certain extent. I now understand why some people warned me that this novel was a bit dragging in the middle. A lot of uninteresting things did happen in the middle, and it made the novel a bit dull.

King never steps back from the line between sanity and insanity. This novel leaped beyond insanity, and I'm glad that it did. This is King's specialty, horror. I wanted to be scared to the point of being unable to sleep, but honestly I was only a bit creeped out of the last few chapters, and that was it. The plot was not completely forgettable, but it's not something new, for me. There is one novel that popped up in my mind while reading this, and that would be King's older novel, Pet Sematary. They both had a similar theme, plot, and ending. The difference would be that Pet Sematary was executed way better, in terms of plot and characters. I hate to compare, but the resemblance can't be overlooked. Pet Sematary will forever be one of my favorite novels, but sadly I can't say the same for Revival.

This novel was not all bad though, and there are a lot of good things to say about it. The most prominent one would be the writing. You can never go wrong with King's writing. It will always be enthralling and would keep you reading till the end. It's not just the plot alone that does that, but the writing can have a huge effect on the reader's reading experience. King just knows what words to use, and how to properly construct an interesting sentence and paragraph. This is why I consider him to be a master story teller. He knows how to keep your attention.

The characters were a mix of good and bad. Jamie was interesting and didn't seem to annoy me in any way. I mostly like King's main characters, and Jamie is not an exception. The rest of his family were also interesting, and that's why I enjoyed most of the first chapters. The antagonist on the other hand, Charles Jacobs, was annoying as hell. He wasn't consistent from beginning to end. It felt like I was reading a different character in the latter parts. I know it might be necessary for the plot development, but I didn't like the sudden change in attitude. It didn't result into development, but rather confusion. He also had a certain vibe that I didn't like. He was obviously fake from the beginning, so all throughout the novel he was just annoying me.

The plot, like I said, was great. It had an interesting premise, and the conclusion was near satisfactory. If I haven't read Pet Sematary, I believe I wouldn't have predicted the ending. Less than halfway through the novel I already had a huge guess what the ending was going to be, and I'm disappointed that I was right. I like a good plot twist, something that would knock me out of my seat, but sadly this novel didn't do that to me. I know a lot of people who were caught off guard though, so maybe it's just me.

There are a lot of quotable lines in the novel, but I would be robbing you from the experience if I added all of them in here.

3.5/5 stars. Most of my friends loved this, but I've read better from King. I am considering this a really good horror/paranormal book, but not his best. If you're new to King then I'm quite positive that you'd be mesmerised by this novel. Highly recommended to horror aficionados and King fans. I know a lot of diehard King fans who still enjoyed this, so once again, it might just be me. ...more

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Nov 11, 2014 Andrea ❤Ninja Bunneh❤ rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Old school bitches.

Shelves: smell-the-pages, its-raining-ninja-bunnehs, all-hail-the-king, kept-me-up-reading-nom-nom, fantasy-island, creeptastic, hack-slash-boom, hell-yeh-to-read-books, holy-cliffie-batman, boy-lovin

Anyone, and I mean anyone, who thinks Uncle Stevie has lost some of his edge over the last few years shall now eat his/her words. Me being one of them. Now I know you're saying to yourself - what the fuck, Andrea? You love Stephen King! You've been reading him for three decades practically! How dare you say such things! Have you lost your damn mind?

And I do. I adore King. He's the only author that I have followed religiously since pre-teendom. The only author that although some books don't ...more

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Mar 11, 2014 Magdalena aka A Bookaholic Swede rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2014

For a while, I actually thought that this would be the first book I would give five stars to in ages. But in the end, it just got four stars. Why? Because of the ending. I just didn't like it very much. It was very depressing and for some reason, it felt like a letdown. All I could think was: "Is that all, have I been reading all day for that kind of ending?" I would rather have had a more ambiguous ending to the story. Instead of just the bleak ending. (I need to read something cheerful after t ...more

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Aug 04, 2014 Stepheny rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scare-the-pants-off-ya, all-hail-the-crimson-king, coming-of-age

I’m not sure that I have ever felt as conflicted about my feelings on a book by Stephen King as I do about Revival. I loved it. I hated it. It was ok. It was brilliant. It was a letdown. It was weird. It was something.

I was hooked right from the start. If there is one thing King is top-notch at- it’s creating a rich atmosphere about youth growing up in the good ole days. I think that is why IT will remain my all-time favorite book. There is nothing better than King writing about the 1950’s. I al I’m not sure that I have ever felt as conflicted about my feelings on a book by Stephen King as I do about Revival. I loved it. I hated it. It was ok. It was brilliant. It was a letdown. It was weird. It was something.

I was hooked right from the start. If there is one thing King is top-notch at- it’s creating a rich atmosphere about youth growing up in the good ole days. I think that is why IT will remain my all-time favorite book. There is nothing better than King writing about the 1950’s. I already have an unnatural obsession with that particular decade so anytime there’s a book set in that time period it automatically tops my list. I realize we meet Jamie Morton in 1962 but once again, King manages to transport his readers back to that exact moment in time and it’s so believable you forget the world you live in. The events that take place in that first quarter or so of the book are just incredible. I loved every word.

It’s when we flash forward to older, drug-addicted Jamie that King kind of lost me. I’m ok with character growth and I am definitely ok with characters spiraling down into a pit of addiction and self-destructive behavior. Here’s what I don’t like- getting a brief rundown of “Here’s how it was….here’s how it is now.” with nothing in the middle to get me there. I especially don’t like this when there’s repeated mention of what happened to Claire and then no further elaboration. I felt that was really a misused piece of information that was crucial to Jamie’s regression and damnit I wanted to read more about that!

The same can be said for Mr. Charlie Jacobs. We understand that what happens to him, or rather to his family, is going to affect him greatly. I honestly would have loved to see more of his breakdown. I loved where King took Charlie as far as him turning into this crazed psychopath whose obsession completely takes over his life. That was brilliant! But once again, we touch on it, we hear whispers about it and then we jump ahead. Overall I found all of the time hopping to be rather choppy and poorly executed. King is so much better at crossing decades of time than he showed in Revival. It felt disconnected and somehow unrelated. The events merely spots on a timeline.

Being the avid King reader that I am I did love finding the Easter eggs. I loved that Charles Daniel Jacobs is 19 letters long. I really enjoyed the electricity obsession that Charlie was so keen on proving. I loved what he wanted to do. I could see the madness in his eyes. (Aside: I totally picture Gus from Breaking Bad as Charles Jacobs in this. End of Aside). I found myself gripping my kindle waiting to see what was on the other side, what would happen when that bolt of lightning struck that pole. I was just as excited as Charlie, if not more so.

I see a lot of people upset with what was on that other side. I, for one, wanted to damn the King to an eternity in Todash. It’s true. But not for the same reasons as other people. I know a lot of people are upset over the (view spoiler) but that didn’t bother me. After reading the Dark Tower I think I was prepared for something like this. The first line that came to mind was the one about our whole universe existing in a single blade of grass. The concept that size defeats all and that our minds are not capable of processing it. I wanted to damn Stephen King because the thought of death creates this paralyzing fear in me (a fear I don’t talk about often) and the picture he painted was not a promising one. All jokes aside, I texted my friend Jason and told him “I never even thought of that as an afterlife possibility”. And what I mean is that I am already terrified and King just sent me over the edge.

Overall this book left me wanting more and wanting to see a shrink. There were aspects of it that I loved so deeply that I could almost literally feel my heart making room for them. Then there were parts that made me think “Is this really Stephen King writing this?!” So, I have rated this book 3 stars with a confused heart. I think I will revisit this one sooner than usual and reevaluate. I just can’t feel firm in my decision on rating this book at all.
...more

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Oct 26, 2015 K. Elizabeth rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, reviewed, owned, 3-stars, horror, average, thriller

My review for this was somehow deleted -- so, yay for me! Regardless, this book wasn't amazing -- I still remember having to force myself to read it. So, I am tempted to lower the rating, because 3 stars seems pretty high. But, I won't.

I swear, the only reason I gave this 3 stars was because the guy I liked (years ago) had enjoyed this and I was determined to like it, too -- so we could have something to talk about. It's funny how a crush can make you like a book more than you actually would've. ...more

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May 09, 2018 Peter rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror

Absolutely great novel about ageing, pain, addiction, religion, quacks and death. King really manages to get you directly into the plot and you're getting older with his main character. Charlie Jacobs is extremely well drawn by the author. The end culminates into a Lovecractian ending. What a pageturning read. King on top on his abilities. Top recommendation! ...more

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Dec 22, 2017 Jonathan Janz rated it it was amazing

In his best short fiction, Edgar Allan Poe achieved a "unity of effect." In tales like "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "Masque of the Red Death," the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Each word, each turn of phrase flows toward a swirling vortex, a glowing, pulsing spire that pierces the steely thunderheads and rivets your gaze even as it threatens to lay waste to everything around it.

More on that later.

This unity of effect is difficult enough to create in a short piece of fiction. Thomas ...more

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Oct 21, 2016 Manuel Antão rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

Cthulhu is back: "Revival" by Stephen King

King’s 66th book (published 11/11/2014).

“That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die.” (H.P. Lovecraft)

I’ve never been a Stephen King die-hard fan. There were a few of his novels that I elevated to Nirvana status (eg, “The Stand” being one of them).

When I think about King I always have two things in my mind:

- He once said, I don’t remember where, and I ...more

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Nov 25, 2014 Perry rated it really liked it

ReVolting Revival

"My mind raced
And I thought what could I do (Thunder)
And I knew
There was no help, no help from you (Thunder)"
AC/DC, "Thunderstruck," 1990

King's wizardry charges through Jamie Morton's ominous odyssey into the darkest forces of evil. The novel methodically intensifies a menace like the bass drum in the "2001 Space Odyssey" theme (from Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra) as the Dickensian Jamie travels deeper and deeper into a supernatural storm with a defrocked Methodist minister ...more

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May 28, 2019 ¸¸.•*¨*•♫ Mrs. Buttercup •*¨*•♫♪ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks

That’s how you know you’re home, I think, no matter how far you’ve gone from it or how long you’ve been in some other place. Home is where they want you to stay longer.

I don't know how this Stephen King book escaped my radar back in 2014: I am the biggest King fan and I usually read everything he publishes. Unfortunately, I haven't been very lucky with the most recent books. This one, however, made me feel those good ol' King vibes all over again and oh am I glad I read it!

For starters, the boo ...more

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Apr 20, 2014 Jeanette (Again) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Now I'm convinced. They've cloned him.

2.4 stars ...more

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Nov 14, 2014 Adam Light rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-personal-favorites, hardcovers, the-king, horror, own-it

I'm just going to say this is the best King novel I have read in a long time.
I wrote two different reviews (long and thoughtful, both) and lost internet signal before saving either one.
Not happening again, folks.
Buy this and dive in to a genuine treat. King is at his best. It starts out as a coming of age tale told in first person. The narrator, Jaime first meets Charles Jacobs as a six-year old and then their lives intersect over the next fifty plus years. Their fates are seemingly interlocked. ...more

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About Stephen King

Stephen King

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Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, M Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels. ...more

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The horror maestro's new novel, Revival, is a Frankenstein-inspired story of fate, rock and roll, religion, and addiction, with a conclusion as...

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Quotes from Revival

“Home is where they want you to stay longer.” — 166 likes

“People say that where there’s life, there’s hope, and I have no quarrel with that, but I also believe the reverse.
There is hope, therefore I live.” — 96 likes

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