Stephen King Pick: Revival

Revival
by Stephen King
Scribner
2014
403 pages
ISBN: 9781476770383

Masterful in weaving an epic tale of good versus evil,  Stephen King delivers a fine story like no other writer is able to. Revival is a story of a long ago--long ago though not forgotten time--of small towns and even smaller churches, of prayers and praying, of preachers and church going, of church suppers and sing-alongs, and hymns on Sunday, funerals and baptisms, and a mountain of human suffering. The past is not all rosy and bright Garrison Keiller and Lake Wobegon.

 In small town Harlow,  Jamie Morton grows up in a loving family with older siblings, a doting mother and hard working father. This was a time when boys played with plastic soldiers and set up battlefields all over the dirt yards and fields. A time when the family ate supper at the same table, where children were expected to eat what was put on their plate and be thankful for it. When Jamie is six, a new preacher comes to town. Reverend Jacobs  is young for the job, but the town is happy to have him and soon they are captivated by his youth and charisma. His pretty wife and young son complete the Norman Rockwell family portrait.

When a terrible accident happens, the community shaken. The young pastor's world is rocked and he forced to leave  town after giving a sermon criticizing God. Blasphemy being preached in the church by their very own pastor? In small town New England, this is the worst sin.

Years and years later, miles and miles of honkytonks,  the bottom of too many bottles, and at the end of too many needles, Jamie wakes up in a heroine hell. Outside of Tulsa and nearly broke, he knows he needs to score in order to feel better. He wastes time until dark and goes in search of a fix at the local carnival. It is here he runs into the pastor of his youth.  This second encounter with the man who gave up on God will change both of their lives forever.

After getting clean Jamie takes a job in Colorado with an old "friend" of  Charles Roberts (aka Reverend Jacobs). Befriended  and taken in by Hugh Yates, Jamie begins to investigate the life his savior/nemesis Charles Roberts. While it is true that Roberts has "cured" many a sick person, others he has helped  have exhibited strange behavior and suicidal tendencies. Just what is it that the "pastor" is delivering? What is Roberts gaining from his strange studies?

King delivers an epic tale of religion and sin, of redemption and forgiveness, of pain and suffering, of love and hurt, and of the survival and revival of the human spirit. In The Stand (1978), the end of the world is near and armies are being formed for the good and the evil. In Revival, the same struggle is again visited by King on a much deeper level. In fiction, you may never see a character as charismatic and evil as Reverend Jacobs/Charles Roberts again. Real life, however, is full of examples of enigmatic, maniacal egotists. Just pick up any history book--you'll see them there.

King relates his own love of music and playing live through Jamie. I loved King's asides about age, getting older, and young people looking younger., and I love that King says, "Key of E. All that xxxx starts in E."

Highly, highly recommended grade 9 and up. Recommended for any King fan and any book club.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

YA Pick: The Outside

The Outside
by Laura Bickle
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2013
313 pages
ISBN: 9780544000131

Read an excerpt

From the author's website:


Advance Praise for THE OUTSIDE:
* “Top-notch. . . . A horror story with heart and soul.”
—Kirkus, starred review

“At once horrifying, hopeful, and hauntingly beautiful, this gorgeous read with its rich textures and spine-tingling suspense kept me glued to the pages in utter fascination. Laura Bickle is a master storyteller.”
 -Darynda Jones, NY Times Bestselling author of The Darklight Series

What other YA authors say (from the book's back cover):

"This is a book to make you fear the shadows--a horrifying and gruesome tale of faith, and things that blink red eyes in the night...I could not look away!" --Lauren DeStefano, author the Chemical Garden trilogy

"What an eerily believable, unique story! I can't stop thinking about it--or shivering." --MelissaMarr, New York Times best-selling author of the Wicked Lovely books

No one has ever told a zombie story with so much heart. Bickle balances Katie's firm religious beliefs with the all enveloping  terror unfolding around her. God seems to have no place in this terrible new world.

Katie is on the run with Alex, a boy she saved by taking him inside her Amish community. Now they are both exiled along with Ginger, a lady from the outside who happened to be visiting the community. The three of them are headed toward Canada and away from the danger of zombie attack. They meet a friendly wolf/dog mix who accompanies them on their journey feeding them the prey he is able to catch.  Alex names the dog Fenrir. Fenrir helps keep them safe and alerts them of danger.

The Hexenmeister gave Katie protection in the form of a Himmelsbrief and Alex has tattoos that protect him from zombies, but they still have to fight them to remain alive.  They become a fearsome zombie fighting team when necessary but it's better for them to travel in the daytime and find safety before nightfall. Along the way, they camp in churches and religious buildings in the hope that zombies cannot enter hallowed ground.

As they near Canada, they meet a group of strangers who seem to glow. A scientist near Lake Erie has developed a "vaccine" that causes humans to glow. This glow confuses the zombies and they fear it. Alex takes the vaccine and becomes ill.

If this vaccine is used on everyone, will they defeat the Darkness? Will  the world be saved? Will Katie ever go home to her community? Will her parents ever forgive her? Will people believe that  the vaccine is the answer?

Katie and Alex are the perfect YA couple on the run. There is romance but no time to develop passion, what with running from zombies and saving the world and all. Katie's belief system is put to the test when she is forced to kill or be killed. They have to "steal" from stores and homes along their route and Katie has trouble balancing her religious beliefs against the belief in survival but survival wins out. Her moral compass remains devoutly religious but the more trouble and strife she endures, the more worldly she becomes. Her struggle to believe in a God that would allow true evil in the world is palpable.

Cover art captures the somber tone of much of the book. A shell shocked Katie travels down a littered path followed by a dark, shadowy figure as black birds circle the gray skies overhead. A ramshackle building by the road stands forlorn and abandoned.  A faint golden glow surrounds Katie as she holds her Himmelsbrief to her heart. The artistic cover will beckon readers and  the well crafted plot will hold them captive.

Words cannot explain how much I loved this book. It is truly magnificent and novel. The idea of a young Amish girl as protagonist in a zombie book is genius!

Highly recommended grade 9-up. Book one, The Hallowed Ones, had no nudity or sex. The Outside has a co-ed shower scene, a sleepover, and  nudity although each scene is not explicit I have The Hallowed Ones in our grade 6-8 library, but I'm sending The Outside to the high school.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Guy Pick: Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse

Everything You Need To Survive the Apocalypse
by Lucas Klauss
Simon Pulse
2012
403 pages

What happens when you don't know what you believe? Being raised by an atheist father and trying to heal a hole in his life from missing his dead mother, Phillip has just been abandoned by fellow geeks Mark and Asher. On top of that, he is being brutally bullied by a ruthless, heartless, sadistic track coach who dreams up demonic workouts that nearly kill him. That's when Phillip twists his ankle and meets Rebekah, a girl from his school who just happens to be an "unconventional" beauty.

When Rebekah invites him to her church for youth fellowship, Phillip tells his father he's going to a study group and sneaks off to the church to try to get to know Rebekah better. Wouldn't you know it? Ferret--the evil track coach--is a member of the congregation and helps with youth group. Phillip is feeling out of place not only because of the coach, but he's freaking out that Rebekah might actually like him, and he's not sure what to feel about religion. With all the unanswered questions in his life, Phillip isn't sure what to believe. After all, his mom "got" religion before she moved out into her own apartment. She said she'd be back and that her leaving the house was only temporary but then she died unexpectedly. What kind of God takes your mother from you?

Best friend Mark gets a new BMW for his birthday and that changes everything. What was supposed to be "their" car for the three friends to hang out and go places in is now Mark's car to go places with his two new friends from German class. Asher and Phillip feel betrayed.

Klauss balances just the right amount of teen angst, wit and irony with a large dose of sarcasm and snarky attitude. Readers will identify with Phillip as he struggles to decide what to believe in, and those teens who question their parents' beliefs--I think nearly every teen at one point--will appreciate a clever novel with a huge heart.

The cover art is appealing but doesn't do this book justice and the title and mention of stockpiling food and water doesn't really play into the story. Readers may be confused by the title, thinking this is a dystopian book, but the apocalypse is one of the heart--not one of society or the planet.

I wish the back cover had information about the story instead of quotes from other writers. Teens want to know a little about the book, not what other adult writers think of it, and the page count--403 pages--may be a little daunting for some readers.

Recommended grades 9-up. Language, alcohol, partying, mature situations, questioning of religion and the existence of God.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this novel from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.