Book Review - "Revival" by Stephen King

 

A good book is like a song. A great book is like a concept album. This is a great book. 

In "Revival", King really shows how it's done with aplomb. I found every aspect of this book masterfully written and plotted. The leitmotif derived from the title appears in various forms, interwoven throughout the text.

From the start, he draws you in with themes of family and nostalgia. Then he begins to build upon that framework. The finale is the equivalent of the cannons in Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Writers take note. This is not the sort of thing you can likely pull off with your first novel. But your 80th, or whatever? I suspect he doesn't even have to work very hard to achieve this level of finesse.

The title, at various times, refers to a person's new lease on life, religious movements, and a literal attempt at human revival.

Without giving too much away, the protagonist isn't a writer, for a change. He's a guitarist... A bit like Danny Torrance in Dr. Sleep, he goes through some shit, both as a youth, and consequently, throughout the first half of his life. And then he REALLY goes through some shit.

The secondary character is a minister who works with electricity as a hobby. Secret electricity... Shades of Nikola Tesla appear here. References are made to the novel "Joyland", which I imagine involves this same secondary character. I enjoyed this one so much, I have to fall back and read that one, now.

King is a funny dude in regard to religion and spirituality. He's clearly not religious in any traditional sense. At the same time, like many of us, he was raised around it, and it's a part of him, regardless. So he knows a lot about the Bible and religion, and seems to be a decent person, mostly, while at the same time, his morality is independent of religion.

This becomes vitally important in this particular novel. It gets dark. In fact, it turns into a scathing indictment of the very concept of God itself. Wow. I did not see that coming.

The story culminates in the final act by venturing deep into H.P. Lovecraft territory, openly acknowledging and integrating Lovecraft into the work. 

The best part, I think, is that he really keeps you guessing with this one. Although you might see where it's going, you're never really sure. And when you get there, it's not what you expected at all. 

Another bit of writing mastery present in this one is that although Frankenstein is the obvious comparison here, King never directly references it. He instead lets the reader make the connection independent of the writer. At best, he somewhat subtly sneaks in 'Victor' and 'Shelly' as character names near the end. Just to drive the point home. By that time, you've already solidly established the connection on your own.

As to the conclusion, it is a bleak view of our future after death. True horror.

He's such a good writer, it's almost pleasing to see Steve get something wrong. His drug knowledge revolves around cocaine abuse. Heroin is clearly not his forte, and he gets the amounts wildly wrong, for some reason. A few grams of heroin is far different than a few grams of coke. Ha!

A minor point, to be sure, and nothing that detracts from the story in any major way. All in all, a great read. Stephen King essentially taught me how to write, and continues to show me what writers should strive for.  Whether you read it for pleasure alone, or as an exercise in advancement of the craft, you really can't go wrong with this one.

Revival on Amazon