Thursday, April 2, 2015

Revival by Stephen King

If you are a regular reader of Tif Talks Books, you know I am a long-time fan of Stephen King.  When I heard that Revival was going to be released and that it was King going back to his horror roots, I knew I had to get my hands on the book.

In Revival, we meet a young Jamie and his reverend, Charles Jacobs.  An unlikely friendship forms between the two, but due to a horrible tragedy the two are separated.  Years later, we meet back up with Jamie, but he is not the same.  He has grown into a man that struggles with addictions, unable to hold a job.  After losing yet another gig, he stumbles upon his old friend Charles, discovering that he was not the only one experiencing some rocky years.

Revival was not what I was expecting.  I think that King very likely found this one scary to write because of his battles with addiction, but I did not find this one horrific like some of his past stories.  What that said, I also must note that I didn't NOT like the book.  I enjoyed the story.  I still believe that King is one of the best in the business, particularly when it comes to character development.  I just believe that my expectations and my reality were not on the same playing field with this one.  More simply, I went in wanting to taste the sweetness of an apple, but got the acidity of an orange.  And, for the record, I like both apples and oranges.

Have you read Revival yet?  What did you think?  Have you ever began reading a book with a set of expectations and discovered that your expectations were off?

6 comments:

  1. I felt the same way about it. King said in interview after interview that it was his most horrific book to date. I think he was referring to returning to the subject of drug addiction, which I'm sure was scary given his own personal experiences with addiction. But yeah, I thought it was pretty tame. I liked the bits with the kid, when he was a kid. Not so much when he grew up.

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    1. Ti ... Yes! The parts as a kid were definitely more interesting to me as well.

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  2. Haven't read this one as King is sort of hit or miss for me. Think I'll skip it as I tend to prefer the supernatural when it comes to horror. Thanks for sharing your honest opinion!

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    1. Alexia561 ... You're welcome! There's a bit of paranormal to this one, but overall, I would not consider it that.

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  3. I debated buying this one for my older son for Christmas - I generally get him the latest King if one's been published right around then - but reading the synopsis, I wasn't so sure. I do like King, but I know what you mean about expecting apples and getting oranges, even though you like both!

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    1. Belle Wong ... Yea, this one is definitely not one of my faves by King.

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