Book Review: 11-22-63 by Stephen King
This time traveling historical fiction is by first King novel..
To be completely honest, I only read this book for two reasons. One my friend Stephanie loves this book and gifted me a copy of it, and two, we decided that we would read this for our March Book Club episode of the Speaking LITerally podcast. Clearly, there was no way that I was getting out of reading this one.
Why is this the first King book I’ve read? Because his books intimidate me. Have you seen how long they are? I’m not the fastest reader on the block, plus so many of his books are adapted, and trust me, I’ve seen all the movies. But, I was willing to give this one a go. I knew I had about three months to get through it before we recorded, so I was confident I would finish it in time. I actually finished it in just over 2 months.
King is clearly known for his horror classics. There is no doubt that he is a master storyteller and knows how to scare his audience; however, 11-22-63 is a completely different genre. It’s not a horror. What we have here is more of a historical fiction with modern day time travel. Actually, I might say it’s more of a love story.
In a nutshell, this book is about Jack Epping who is sent on a mission to the past in order to stop the JFK assassination. He is a divorced English teacher with no children and nothing preventing him from going. The “Rabbit Hole” that takes him to the past drops him in September of 1958, so he literally has to spend five years in the past preparing and planning for how he’s going to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing the president on November 22, 1963.
When all else fails, give up and go to the library.
There was so much that happens in this book. One thing to keep in mind is that Jack is able to go through the “Rabbit Hole” back to present day at any point and only 2 minutes will have passed. Then if he goes back to the past, everything is reset to the original past, and it’s back to September of ‘58.
King clearly spent a significant amount of time researching for this book, there are more details about Oswald’s life in those years leading up to the assassination that I never learned in any of my high school history classes. I enjoyed the aspects of the story that directly related to Jake’s preparations for the end game. The structure and word choice is sophisticated, but has a clear simplicity that makes the pages turn quickly.
Typically when books are this long, I’m left feeling that a good 200 pages could have been cut and it wouldn’t have changed anything. With this one, while I think it was longer than it needed to be, I still don’t think that it needed to be reduced by a significant amount. It just sort of hit a wall at about the halfway point, and it dragged a little bit. Why?
It’s because there is so much time and emphasis placed on some of the subplot elements, primarily Jack’s relationship and love story with Sadie. On one hand, I loved this part of the story. He is living a life in the past, taking on the name of George Amberson. It’s only natural that during the five years he has to be there, he finds himself drawn back to the classroom and finds love along the way. On the other hand, it is a little overpowering at times.
His time in Jodie, Texas in the early 60s was amazing. As an educator, I loved how he fell into the small town and became a powerful force in the community and the lives of the students he taught. But, it’s more than that. The past was a simpler time in many ways, and King just painted this era in history to perfection. At least to me. I didn’t live in this time, but I loved the incorporation of the music references, sports, and generational/acceptable norms. It supported ideals I am familiar with while enhancing it with the slang and trends of the time. Regardless of the time period, it wouldn’t have been Texas without that nod to football.
But I believe in love, you know; love is a uniquely portable magic. I don’t think it’s in the stars, but I do believe that blood calls to blood and mind calls to mind and heart to heart.
While this could have just been like any other time travel book, this was a King time travel book. That means it can’t be easy, basic or without a million things trying to derail the plot. The only thing that got a little annoying was the repetition of the idea that history doesn’t want to be changed. Jake is faced with many obstacles, so many in fact that the past becomes a character unto itself and is in a stage of self-preservation. There are many references to the concepts of watershed moments and the Butterfly Effect. We are reminded of these concepts every time something bad happens to Jake or he hits some type of setback.
What did I love about book (besides the language and storytelling):
Texas Football and High School English/Theater scenes
Debates on Catcher in the Rye
The Lindy Hop
Harry and Al - present day characters
The amazing characters in Jodie that become his found family
Jake’s preparations for and surveillance of Lee Harvey Oswald
The final pages of the book
What I didn’t really care for (in how it was portrayed):
The world upon his return
The betting/gambling and attacks
Certain dragged out scenes that didn’t connect directly to the main plot
Where does this land on my bookshelf?
I would put this on my middle shelf. Will I watch the adaptation that is on Hulu? Probably, I have to watch a few other things first, but I am interested to see how it is portrayed on the screen. Am I glad I read this? Absolutely. I found so much of it thought provoking and powerful. The idea of this man going from 2011 to 1963 with all the knowledge of the 21st century is so engaging, especially since it is written by such a talented story-teller. The characters’ development is so perfectly executed that we get to experience Jack’s development in a way that I don’t think other authors can achieve.
The past is obdurate
How the final conclusion came to be was exceptional, added to by the series of well constructed and executed events that lead directly to it. I would highly recommend this book. And, yes, there is a reason that I didn’t mention anything about the political aspects of the book. I simply feel that it isn’t important to go there. However, if you enjoy King’s books, movies and stories in general, I do highly recommend you give this one a chance. It definitely makes me wish that we lived in a simpler world.
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