Michael reviewed 11/22/63 by Stephen King
Review of '11/22/63' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Very Enjoyable and feels well researched (though I admit, my personal knowledge of the Kenedy assassination and Texas in the early 60's is very limited).
11/22/63 is a novel by Stephen King about a time traveller who attempts to prevent the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, which occurred on November 22, 1963 (the novel's titular date). It is the 60th book published by Stephen King, his 49th novel and the 42nd under his own name. The novel was announced on King's official site on March 2, 2011. A short excerpt was released online on June 1, 2011, and another excerpt was published in the October 28, 2011, issue of Entertainment Weekly. The novel was published on November 8, 2011 and quickly became a number-one bestseller. It stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 16 weeks. 11/22/63 won the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller and the 2012 International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the 2012 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel …
11/22/63 is a novel by Stephen King about a time traveller who attempts to prevent the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, which occurred on November 22, 1963 (the novel's titular date). It is the 60th book published by Stephen King, his 49th novel and the 42nd under his own name. The novel was announced on King's official site on March 2, 2011. A short excerpt was released online on June 1, 2011, and another excerpt was published in the October 28, 2011, issue of Entertainment Weekly. The novel was published on November 8, 2011 and quickly became a number-one bestseller. It stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 16 weeks. 11/22/63 won the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller and the 2012 International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the 2012 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel and the 2012 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.The novel required considerable research to accurately portray the late 1950s and early 1960s. King commented on the amount of research it required, saying "I've never tried to write anything like this before. It was really strange at first, like breaking in a new pair of shoes."The novel was adapted into a Hulu television series in 2016, 11.22.63.
Very Enjoyable and feels well researched (though I admit, my personal knowledge of the Kenedy assassination and Texas in the early 60's is very limited).
Once again, Stephen King leaves me distracted and holding my breath until the wee hours of the morning. “11/22/63” is no exception.
He ties together all of the “strings” the best that he can, and will leave you with a bittersweet ending, but leaves you wanting more. Could Jake Epping use a sequel like Dan Torrance got? Maybe. Maybe not. But I’d read it.
Well, I was about to put a 3.5 because it took me a while to read it but the ending, that lovely ending got a 4.0.
Lovely, brave Jake.
Just alright... Really verbose...But a quality read. I might have gotten sucked up into the hype, but expected more.
I love time travel stories, and this was a great one!
прослухав з великим задоволенням преклад французькою 22/11/63: чудова аудіоверсія фантастичного повернення в минуле. лише необхідний мінімум містики. мабуть, це найкращий твір кінга — принаймні найкраще з того, з чим мені випало познайомитися.
Absolutely marvelous. I have mentioned it before, but I am a Stephen King fan. I love his writing, I enjoy most of his books, and IT and The Last Stand are some of my all-time favorite books. 11/22/63 joins my top 3 of King books now. It's not your usual Stephen King, as it's not really horror at all, but I think he's long moved past the restrictions of the horror genre anyway.
The story is told first person view, by Jake Eppings. A highschool teacher in a small town in Maine, he likes to frequent a place that serves Fatburgers, which ultimately changes his life. The owner of the diner, Al, is about to die from cancer, and shares his secret with Jake: there's a gateway to the past in the pantry, and when you walk through it you end up in the same place in September 1958. Al …
Absolutely marvelous. I have mentioned it before, but I am a Stephen King fan. I love his writing, I enjoy most of his books, and IT and The Last Stand are some of my all-time favorite books. 11/22/63 joins my top 3 of King books now. It's not your usual Stephen King, as it's not really horror at all, but I think he's long moved past the restrictions of the horror genre anyway.
The story is told first person view, by Jake Eppings. A highschool teacher in a small town in Maine, he likes to frequent a place that serves Fatburgers, which ultimately changes his life. The owner of the diner, Al, is about to die from cancer, and shares his secret with Jake: there's a gateway to the past in the pantry, and when you walk through it you end up in the same place in September 1958. Al asks Jake for one favor for a dying man, to make the world a better place: go back to the past and stop the assassination of JFK, in order to prevent the American involvement in Vietnam and to save thousands of lives. Jake does indeed go to the past but he starts with changing time much closer to home, in Derry, Maine. From there, he lives his life from 1958 up to the culmination of his mission, 11/22/63, the day JFK got shot in his time.
My only complaint is maybe that Jake is a bit Mary Sue. He's kinda perfect. But he's also incredibly likeable and well-written, so I didn't mind. Following Jake's life through the early 60s is an absolute page-turner. It's a long book, but it just flies past you, and is full of interesting characters and turns.
The first part was maybe my favorite, because I love going back to Derry. IT was my first King book when I was 16, and experiencing the menacing town just after the kids banished IT in 1958 was very enjoyable to me.
TLDR: best King book I have read in recent years.