Day 1,145, Quasi-Quarantine: "The Revivalists" Is A Frantic, Promising Book With A Slight Identity Crisis

 

"'What did you do?' I asked. 'When everything fell apart?'

"'I don't know, man,' she said. 'Did everything fall apart? How together was it to begin with?'"

Propelled by plausible apocalyptic scenarios and a frantic pace, "The Revivalists" imagines a pandemic that has wiped out 60-70% of the world's population. 

When a couple that struggles to communicate and has a weird, stilted dynamic crosses the country to try to rescue their daughter from an end-of-days cult, they encounter a variety of predictable and emotional obstacles.

"Actually, it was one of my favorite feelings: driving a car while someone I loved fell asleep beside me, in my care. Life was almost never that simple."

Christopher M. Hood has created a book that can't quite decide what it wants to be, resulting in a work that is missing something ineffable. The glue that should hold together a number of very promising pieces does not have the right stickiness in "The Revivalists," though the dynamics involved and the future presented merit witness in this quick read.

"All the mindfulness techniques I'd taught seemed irrelevant -- how could I caution against catastrophizing in the midst of catastrophe?"