When I picked up Stephen King’s Revival at a library book sale (I believe I bought it the year it came out for 25¢–gotta love library book sales!), I admittedly rolled my eyes a bit. While I am a fan of most things King, the description of this book made it sound as if it were just another book about either a huckster using religion to fleece a gullible mob or a raging hypocrite who preaches morality on Sunday and lives out his vices the rest of the week. In other words, it sounded much like the congregation (which we only meet tangentially) in Under the Dome. Still, I bought it because it was cheap, and I do like his writing. And then it sat on my shelf for however many years it’s been since the book came out. Finally I hit a lull in my planned reading–not an absence of things to read, mind you, just a moment between longer, heavier works where I wanted something lite and enjoyable. I was in the mood for some King, and Revival was just sitting on the shelf all sad and unread. So I picked it up and realized how wrong I had been not to trust Stephen King to write a good, solid book that engages interesting ideas without being stereotypical (other than according to the stereotypes he himself invented).
So, spoilers abound from here on–you’ve been warned! Revival is the intertwined stories of Jamie Morton and the Reverend Charles Jacobs. Jacobs comes into Jamie’s life as the young local preacher who quickly befriends the children of the town (including Jamie) using his electrical gadgets an explorations in electricity. Jacobs integrates well into the community–only to be have his own wife and child killed in a tragic accident. Jacobs then disappears, having rejected his faith and turned his back on God. We then fast forward a few decades and once again meet Jamie, now a guitarist and drug addict nearing the end of what will undoubtedly be a short life. He again encounters Jacobs, now as a traveling artist at a circus who takes ‘trick’ photographs of people (once again using his electrical gadgets). Jacobs helps Jamie break his heroin habit and puts him back on the right path. A couple of decades later, Jamie once again meets Jacobs, this time using his electrical knowledge to work apparently miraculous healings. What we find, however, is that everyone Jacobs has touched with his electricity meets a tragic end.
Okay, that’s the rough plot. But as with most Stephen King books there are head themes running underneath the basic plot structure. Just what is Jacobs doing with his electricity? As with so many King books, the answer involves Lovecraftian other dimensions (best left unexplored); super-human and supra-natural powers (best left untapped); terrifying beings from elsewhere (best left undiscovered), and ‘miracles’ that ultimately cost more than they are worth.
A few quick thoughts on the book:
- I’m glad to see someone using an older protagonist. King has been doing a lot of that of late, but beyond his books it’s rare. Not completely unheard of, but rare.
- King himself is no political conservative, but I do appreciate his repeated use of the theme that instant gratification and the fulfillment of all your unrealistic dreams has a cost that just isn’t worth it is one which is satisfying to my traditionalist sympathies. And while I don’t believe that progressives will be consumed by elder gods for their hubris, I’m quite happy to agree that consumption of what is good and worthwhile will be the result.
- The idea that our lives ought to be lived with a view to a higher reality is of course one that any Christian can get on board with–as we can likewise agree that said higher reality will not be overly pleasant to most of mankind when they encounter it. And while my view isn’t quite so grim as that presented here in the book, it is at least a point of common conversation.
All this to say, King continues to be an author worth reading–including his recent(ish) book Revival.
Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO, where he keeps his electrical contact with eldritch powers to a bare minimum (and off campus, as much as possible).
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