11/22/63
Stephen King
narrated by Craig Wasson
2011
849 pages, or 30 hours and 44 minutes in audio form
********************
This is my favorite King novel!
And okay, so I’ve only read three, but this one pretty much blew The Stand and IT out of the water (and I liked those books).
Quick synopsis: High school teacher Jake Epping is sent back to the past through a rabbit hole. His mission, should he choose to accept it? Stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing President Kennedy. The rationale behind this is that if Kennedy had lived, there would be no Vietnam War and the future would be an even better place. The potential of Camelot, and all that shit (not that I’m bashing Camelot, ’cause I so would’ve voted for Kennedy had I been there, I just have issues with the idea of altering the past to get a magically better present).
11/22/63 is basically a time travel novel. But it’s also so much more. It’s a story about the repercussions of messing with the past, and love and friendship and community, and the repercussions of messing with the past (and hey, I’m repeating myself just like King!).
I have to admit, I spent a good portion of the story wondering if there were even going to be repercussions. In typical King fashion, this puppy is long. Jake spends YEARS in the past, waiting for the one big moment that he is there for (because the rabbit hole only takes you back to a certain day in 1958). So there are YEARS to kill. Also, he goes back a few times and relives the first few months. God, that was almost agonizing.
Anyhoosie. It’s not until the very end of the book (again, in typical King fashion) that we see what happens when you play god and mess with the past (both big and small events). While I was a bit surprised as to what actually happened, I was exceptionally pleased (if not a little heart-broken) that Jake came to his senses.
Some random thoughts:
Once again King has pet phrases that he overuses. If I ever hear the phrase “the past is obdurate” again, I might just scream.
As I mentioned in my final IT post, the town of Derry makes an appearance, and it is awesome. This was one of my favorite parts of the book, even if most of the Derry characters were total asshats.
I loved the entire Sadie storyline, and the town of Jodie.
Al. Oh, Al. You are so, so misguided to think that changing the past always works out for the best. Just because someone is in a wheelchair doesn’t mean that her life will automatically be better if you make it so that the life-changing event never happened. I would’ve liked this to have been explored more fully (although yes, I know, the book is already too long). It seemed that after they changed the course of the woman’s life she faded into the woodwork, whereas in the timeline where she is in the wheelchair she lived a very full and successful life.
The yellow/orange/green/black card man was driving me batty. I’m really, really glad that there was finally an explanation!
Raise your hand if you read the book and then had google Marina Oswald to find out what happened to her. (raises hand)
I loved the characters in this book. I happen to think King is genius at characterization, and his genius shines in this one. Yes, there are a lot of people, but unlike IT and The Stand, I wasn’t ready to edit any of them out.
I listened to this, and the audio was fucking brilliant. Seriously. Fucking. Brilliant. King must have awesome karma, because it seems like he gets all the good narrators. I actually wanted to go to the gym, just to get more listening time in. If you’re ever looking for a 30 hour audio book, this is the one.
Other than the horror of changing the past, I wouldn’t classify this as horror. If you’re afraid of reading King because you think he’s scary, start here. Just be warned, this sucker is LONG. Although not as long as The Stand!
I loved Sadie too! Cried all night over Sadie!
rhapsodyinbooks´s last [type] ..Review of “The Memory of All That” by Katharine Weber
I heard King hand picked the narrator for this and I agree with you – he was brilliant. I hung on every word of this novel! And, yes, I did google Marina Oswald.
bermudaonion(Kathy)´s last [type] ..Review: Born This Way
Me, too! (google Marina) I read it – and it flew faster than I thought it would so yes, it is long but quite readable.
Care´s last [type] ..Paul is Undead
Okay. I guess I can read this one. I don’t do horror but I do like time travel.
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OK, tho. I was not satisfied with the The yellow/orange/green/black card man explanation. I mean, WHO put these dudes there?! or have I already forgotten? I might have to put this on a reread list and do the listen. But I still have to listen to Lolita as my next reread… TOO MANY BOOKS.
Glad you enjoyed this. I think I liked IT more but I do credit the audio experience.
Care´s last [type] ..Paul is Undead
Glad you enjoyed this so much! I’m saving it for a vacation… the biggest question is whether to read or listen!
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I absolutely loved this book, and it is the only SK book that I’ve read all the way through. I’ve considered reading others of his, but I really don’t do horror.
And you know that when you say things like, “If I ever hear the phrase ‘the past is obdurate’ again, I might just scream,” it makes me wonder how I can work that into various comments on your site over the next few weeks. Hmmmm… that seems like a worthy challenge. I will have to think on it.
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Loved it more than The Stand? Wow. Glad I have the audiobook waiting on me then!
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I love that he had years to kill … if felt real to me (you know, as real as time travel ever gets). And I love the consequences of what happens when you mess with the past. However, I am with you — “The past is obdurate” — was so overused. But at least I got a new vocabulary word out of it.
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I’ve heard so many good things about this book-I will definitely have to read it one of these days. I’m not a real history buff, JFK-related or otherwise, but the April 2, 2012 edition of The New Yorker had a great article by Robert A. Caro about JFK’s assassination and LBJ’s transition to President called, appropriately enough, The Transition. (I believe it’s an excerpt from Caro’s book, The Passage of Power.) It might make for good follow-up reading to 11/22/63.
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I have been really looking forward to getting my hands on this novel, and now you have me coveting the audiobook.
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I’ve read lots of King’s books, and this is one of my favorites, too. (The Stand and all the Dark Tower books are in close competition with it.) You’re right that his characterization is brilliant, and especially in this book.
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This is the one Stephen King I really want to read. It has the one element I love in literature – time travel!
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This is my favorite King book, too. And I love when Al goes to Derry…
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This is the Stephen King I enjoy – I thought this was wonderful.
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Ok had to look up obdurate…that would work my nerves too. But you seem to have found a new favorite author, so it’s all good
Hard to believe it, but I am almost 30 and have yet to read anything by Stephen King! I was eyeing The Stand for a while but I had a hard time even lifting that sucker, so he remains on the list of authors everyone in the universe has read except for me!
Steph´s last [type] ..Remember when I used to write book reviews?
I agree with everything you said. The audio is absolutely fantastic, and that says something given how amazing the audio of IT was. I love the fact that it was scary without being overly disgusting or horrifying. And yes, even though the cast of characters was just as large as other books, I loved each character.
I’m usually not a fan of time travel…but I’ve read too many good things about 11/22/63 to dismiss it
I love It, and the Shining, so I’m curious if I will like this one more than them! Probably not as I love King’s horror (at least in those two books), and I’m very curious what he’s going to do with time travel. I own a copy, I just have to be in the mood – because it is so long. Glad you enjoyed it as much as you did!
I agree – he’s one of the best ever at characterizations and dialogue. Perfect at that.
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I googled Marina. I’m obdurate that way.
bybee´s last [type] ..Readathon: Final Update
Interesting concept that in changing the past and saving Kennedy the Vietnam War would have been avoided…considering that Kennedy was already involving the U.S. in Vietnam. I haven’t read any King in about 20 years; think it’s time get back to this master story teller.
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I liked this one, but I thought there was too much focus on Jake’s relationship in the story. I liked the storyline, but sometimes when I was reading it I wanted to get back to the action with stopping the assassination. It knocked the book down a few pegs for me. The Derry sections seemed overly long, but I hadn’t read IT yet. I’m guessing now they would be much more interesting to me. I may have to check it out from the library just to read the Derry part again.
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This was my very FIRST King book ever! I don’t know about you, but I got SUCKED. IN. Especially during Jake’s first encounter into the past. It was an eerie feeling when I stopped reading, because I was so into the story and a reality where time travel was possible.
I only read this two months ago and I already forgot what the green card man means. DAMN, I AM TERRIBLE AT RETAINING THINGS!
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I am clearly so not an audio person.. I have tried listening to this but after several months I’m only halfway through, LOL. And I did try to pick back up a couple times but I have no idea what’s happening where I’m at. I considered getting the book from the library to just READ the rest on my own, but clearly that’s not going well lately either. I did want to say that my husband (who also read this) and I had a conversation about that phrase” the past is obdurate” too!! LOL. My husband was saying how he kept hearing it over and over and now whenever he hears the word obdurate he makes a reference to this, haha.
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