“Christ ascended into heaven in his body, we are told, but all too often we poor mortals here on earth are left with ugly heaps of maimed meat and that constant, reverberating question: Why? Why? Why?” (King 81).
When Jamie Morton was six years old, his smalltown of Harlow, Maine got a new minister. Reverend Charles Jacobs, his wife, and young son were believed by the local community and brought life back into the church, but after Reverend Jacobs deals with a tragedy and leaves town after delivering one last harsh sermon to his congregation. For the next five decades, Jamie and Reverend Jacobs will cross paths in unpredictable, life-changing ways that will affect Jamie’s view of the world forever.
I don’t know how I learned about Revival but I’m so happy I did, it is easily a new favourite of King’s for me and I believe a hidden gem in his long and impressive bibliography. It definitely won’t be for everyone. At nearly 500 pages, Revival is a slow story spanning fifty years and concerning itself with the ways that it’s protagonist Jamie and Reverend Charles Jacobs lives intersect in unexpected ways as Jamie slowly learns what Jacobs has been doing all these years since leaving disgraced from his smalltown, and what his obsession has cost him. Most of the action happens at the very end, but I for one loved the slow-build of the novel and think it’s almost interesting to fully grasp the horror of it’s ending.
Jamie was a good protagonist to follow, not all that stand-out from some of King’s other leading men, but I liked his voice and seeing how his life played out. I thought Charles Jacobs was a fascinating man to study and was curious about what he was fully trying to achieve. Without spoiler, the main driving point of the novel is what happens after we die? If there was a way to learn what happens after death, would we do it and further more, would we want to know? It’s a simple concept that many writers have explored, but I think King does a fantastic job of it here but letting these characters explore these things without judgement or complete empathy either. It’s a question many people wonder, but King takes a look at how far some people might be willing to go to find out. I wasn’t expecting the ending, it’s one of the bleaker of King’s works and it gets more horrifying the longer it sits with you, but there are certain aspects of the ending that I know won’t be for all readers. It’s what I think makes Revival a fairly polarizing read, you’re either going to love the slow build-up and reveal or you’re not going to be into it at all, but I urge you to give it a chance because I thought it was well worth it.
With a sprinkling of Pet Semetary and ‘Salem’s Lot, Revival is an underrated work in King’s catalogue that really needs more appreciation. It’s easily made it onto one of my favourites of his works!
Publication: November 11 2014
Publisher: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 466 pages (ARC Paperback)
Source: Library
Genre: Fiction, Horror
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤.5
Summary:
The new minister came to Harlow, Maine, when Jamie Morton was a boy doing battle with his toy army men on the front lawn. The young Reverend Charles Jacobs and his beautiful wife brought new life to the local church and captivated their congregation. But with Jamie, he shares a secret obsession—a draw so powerful, it would have profound consequences five decades after the shattering tragedy that turned the preacher against God, and long after his final, scathing sermon. Now Jamie, a nomadic rock guitarist hooked on heroin, meets Charles Jacobs again. And when their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, Jamie discovers that the word revival has many meanings….
Sarah O'Connor 