Stephen King has written over 50 books, all of them bestsellers, and most of them horror. But before you click off to the next review, let me try to persuade you that 11/22/63 is not typical Stephen King. King has a tendency to include too many characters, too much fluff in the middle, too much blood and gore. And while there may be a little of each of those in 11/22/63, there’s also parallel worlds, love, friendship and a main character with a good heart, who does bad things for good reasons. But mostly there’s an amazing story told.
Jake Epping is a high school English teacher – unassuming, a little boring, no family to speak of. He frequents Al’s Diner, a hole-in-the-wall that serves delicious but very inexpensive burgers, causing rumors that Al uses cats for the meat. One day Jake gets a call from Al and discovers his friend, who the day before was healthy and fit, is close to death from lung cancer. Al shows Jake a portal that exists in the diner’s pantry – a portal that takes those who enter to a beautiful September day in 1958, every single time. And each visit is a total reset of the current timeline – anything that is changed during a trip down the “rabbit-hole” is reset during the next trip. Oh and no matter how much time has passed for the person who uses the portal, only 2 minutes has passed in the real world.
When Al calls Jake he’s just returned from one of his trips down the rabbit-hole, where he has been following Lee Harvey Oswald in an attempt to stop him from killing JFK. While there he was diagnosed with cancer and after realizing he wasn’t going to live long enough to stop the assassination, he returned to the present and decided Jake is the perfect person to pick up the task. Jake agrees to go down the rabbit-hole, taking on the persona of George Amberson, and ends up in Jodie, a small Texas town outside of Dallas. He uses Al’s notes to track down Oswald, while also teaching high school English in Jodie, where he becomes involved in the townspeople and a certain librarian.
Time travel has its own inherent issues and these are addressed in the novel. Al insists that each trip is a reset, but Jake wonders if this is really true. Repeated throughout the book is the idea that the past is obdurate – it doesn’t want to be changed, and any attempt Jake makes to do so is not easily done. Jake also experiences small coincidences that he chalks up to the past harmonizing, but may be more than they seem.
While this isn’t a horror book, there are bad people and they do bad things, so 11/22/63 is not for the faint of heart. There’s also an undercurrent of creepiness that accompanies Jake’s foray into the past. If you don’t mind a few bad things and like time travel and what-if stories, then I highly recommend this novel, which I’ve added to our Five Star Reads.
Notes on the audiobook: I received both the hardcover and MP3 versions of 11/22/63, which greatly increased my reading speed. With a running time of 31 hours this is a great audiobook for a long commute or while doing housework – I listened while wrapping Christmas presents. Narrator Craig Wasson did a great job with both Maine and Texas accents and really brought the character of Jake to life.
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Nancy enjoys the comforts and technologies we have today, but wonders if life really was simpler in the 50s. She writes about her 2 boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.
OK, I have not read Stephen King since I was a teenager. I love the movie Misery- and this book sounds very interesting and fast-paced! Thanks for the review. One of my favorite books of all time was written by Anne Rice: “The Witching Hour”- I read it before I became a Christian but her vivid portrayals of New Orleans and excellent gift for writing left and impression on me. Sometimes I am afraid to admit how much I loved this book (Christian dogma) but really, I could see how the gift of writing was evident in the movement of the book. How much more when one is surrendered to the Lord. However that being said…He is the one who created everyone. Forgive the ramble. Great review. And permission to ramble…
I’ve been curious about this book. I read a bit of SK when I was younger, but I haven’t read much of his recent stuff. I did get the impression that this one was less blood and gore, so maybe it’s worth a try for me!
Definitely less blood and gore, but I can’t say there’s none. But really, there’s only one scene I can think of that some may cringe at, I guess King just can’t resist!
Stephen King’s books are always the right reading for the cold and dark season. Thanks for the review.
They really are, aren’t they?
I’ve not read a Stephen King for some while, and I love audio books so I think I’ll nip off to audible and use some credits.
Definitely a good use of Audible credits – it’s long so you’ll get your money’s worth for sure.
I too “used to” read Stephen King. I revisited him again several years ago when he realized Lisey’s Story and still found it a bit too crude for me, but I have a feeling I might end up reading this one sometime. I actually think that audio is probably the way to go for me as well, since I don’t have real deadlines and can just let the story unfold.
Steve Jobs that I’m listening to now is very long (20 CDs — at least 16 or 17 hours), and I’ve listened to a couple that were over that, but I think that this would be the longest yet!
This is by far my longest – it’s 3 MP3 CDs! I was just happy I didn’t have to rip that many CDs so I could listen on my phone. 🙂
I do like time-travel/history-altering/what-if kinds of speculations. But I have no stomach for gore. And I’ve put down more than one Stephen King unfinished because I reached my gore threshold. I wonder if I should give this one a try?
Amy, I would give it a try. There’s maybe one scene that’s gruesome but it’s not very long and the rest of the book is worth it. I’d love to hear if you read it and what you think!
I am a fan of time travel…..I will definitely be reading this one….if not for you, I would have thought it was typical King fare…
Thanks,
Mama Bear
I’d love to hear what you think of it!