I’m not a big Stephen King fan. At least, I wasn’t — until I read Stephen King’s 11/22/63
What if John F. Kennedy had never been shot? What if — YOU got the chance to go back in time and prevent the tragic event from happening? In fact, what if you could go back in time and prevent any tragic event from happening? This is exactly the premise that King’s 11-22-63 is built upon.
The story opens and introduces us to Jacob (Jake) Epping– a divorced high school teacher who has lost meaning to his life. One of his GED students — the school janitor named Harry Dunning — writes a story entitled “The Day That Changed My Life”. The story is about Harry’s alcoholic father who murders his mother and siblings and leaves him permanently brain-damaged. The story was so good that Jake gave Harry an A+.
Eventually Harry earns his GED. To celebrate, Jake takes him out to dinner at Al Templeton’s diner. Al’s diner is a place where Jake visits often. Although he is certain that Al has to be using rat meat for his famous hamburgers because the cost is so low.
A couple of years later, Al asks Jake to meet him at the diner. He then tells Jake that a few years ago, he found a time portal in the pantry. He used the portal to transport himself back in time to September 9, 1958 and that no matter how long he stays in the past, when he comes back to 2011 — he finds that he has only stayed for 2 minutes. Also, past events can be changed.
Jake decides to use the time portal to prevent the tragedy that befell Harry Dunning and his family.
King takes his readers on a wild ride with this story. You won’t believe some of the situations Jake ends up in.
Just because you can change the past, doesn’t mean you should.
My Rating For Steven King’s 11-22-63:
This is one of my favorite books of the last decade. Here’s the thing. I’ve read just about everything I can get my hands on regarding the Kennedy assassination (non-fiction). This is obviously a fiction novel, and I completely disagree with some of King’s writing and conclusions in regards to what Jake Epping discovers with Oswald & the assassination. That being said, I love the book because I love Jake Epping’s character, and I love the picture that is painted back in past during our country’s age of innocence. I’ve reread this book half a dozen times and simply love it. I hope King writes another Epping novel.
I also found myself disagreeing with King’s conclusions of Oswald and the assassination. Actually, that was one part of the story where I wasn’t 100% a fan. I think I expected a little more. Then again, as you said — it’s completely fiction. So I suppose King probably wrote the assassination plot to fit the characters rather than try to fit the characters into the history.
I love stories that tap into the nostalgia of our country’s history! King did an amazing job here.
I also loved the build on the relationship between Jake and Sadie. It felt realistic to me. There was no contrived “love at first site” and no shark-jumping “we’re just friends and now suddenly madly in love”.
I too am hoping that Jake Epping is more than a one-off character! 🙂
I have heard some *great* things about this book, but still haven’t decided if I want to read it or not. It’s just such a huge reading commitment, and I can’t figure out if it’s worth the time it’ll take. Your review isn’t helping matters. 🙂
Sheila,
I can only say that I have never been a Stephen King fan. I have tried to get into his stories but found myself getting bogged down with unimportant details and too many characters. {Just my opinion. I know he has many devoted fans}
This story is really different and was a fantastic read! Probably one of my favorite books of all time. It is well-worth the time invested! 🙂
~Kellie