My Review and Thoughts:
To me this was a tight story of wickedness and a brilliant
narrative of good, evil, life and beyond. I grew up reading King and I have
read and listened to everything he has ever done. I am a diehard fan that reads
everything about him, no I am not Annie Wilkes. I just see something so unique
and personal about his stories. They can be so dramatic or truly nightmarish. I
think the last book I absolutely fell in love was The Girl Who Loved Tom
Gordon. I have to say Revival is a true treat to the reader of written wonder.
I loved this story and ultimately the characters are pure brilliance and come
to life off the page and into the readers mind. The story is unique and reminds
me of old school King at his finest. I really felt that this book does grab and
hold and lets the reader experience what Stephen King is all about and that's
creating a story that leaves a lasting impression and digs itself deep into the
mind of the reader and never lets them go.
I possibly have to say this is one his best. This is one of
his best in a long time and goes up there with IT and Needful Things and Misery
as creating thought provoking characters and mapping them out on page after
page of imagination and forming these people into life. Revival does what great
writing is about, creating memorable characters and a memorable story that you
can become a part of.
I think what makes this story so strong is the character of
the one telling the story. Jamie Morton lays out is life, ordeals and
everything that he remembers. I enjoyed the flow of how his life is written in
that it jumps around to finish telling the story and lays out everything about
this young man and how meeting one man, Charles Jacob, forever remained with
him. Jamie is a character that truly grows on you and you feel as if you’re his
brother or at times the story is so personal you become Jamie. That is what is
so strong about this book; is the writing format that king uses for this story.
It seems real. It flows as if it’s happening or as if you’re remembering it
happen. I enjoyed this book because it's like you would sit in an audience and
a story teller was telling you the story. It seems as if you’re there listening
as one is displaying the drama, humor and the aspects of this young man's life,
all the while growing before you in written form.
King has such written prose that shines.
King is an ultimate storyteller. A man with many lives that
display his imagination on page and I feel this one, this story comes off as a
true testament to his mastery in crafting a memorable tale.
I have not liked a character like Jamie in a while. I always
become a part of the stories I read and always tend to personalize the
characters in my mind when I read, and King lovingly does that with Jamie. I
feel this character is one of Kings Greats. Jamie and Charles Jacobs go up
there with Carrie White, Leland Gaunt, George Stark, Trisha McFarland in
becoming someone very memorable because of the narration of the lives and
events that took place. Equally is the character Charles Jacobs who is the back
drop of Jamie's young life and his thinking pattern.
One of the ultimate pluses to this story is the character
development. You see, Jamie and his family and friends. You get to know them.
King has always had away with creating characters that come to life and most of
all seem so real and vivid that you can't help but feel for them in many
emotions. From love, hate, to being fascinated with them. Jamie Morton and
Charles Jacob's are two characters I will never forget. King brought them to
life and gave them the formation of being and the breath to live off page into
the mind. I think another ultimate plus to this story is that it's written as
if you or I would tell a story. Piecing together moments of our life which all
lead to one reality, the things we remember most are the things that affect and
alter our lives. For Jamie Morton its Charles Jacobs.
The whole book is brilliant but the last 30 pages when
everything comes together and is finally revealed, and the secrets are out, it
becomes truly a nightmarish and disturbing reality as Jamie experiences the
darkness that has slowly been eating away at his young and old mind. Vivid
depiction of pure imaginative darkness that bleeds the beauty and stains with
the nightmares that is resemblance of old school H.P. Lovecraft but is all
Stephen King in his nightmarish form of causing pure evil on page.
A storyteller’s mastery.
A book I absolutely love. Deep, imaginative darkness and an
exploration of life and death and the ultimate unanswered question of what
awaits us as we depart from this mortal coil of existence.
My Rating: 5 out of 5