11.22.63 by Stephen King

Posted on the 20 March 2021 by Booksocial

What if Kennedy had never been shot? We find out when we read 11.22.63.

11.22.63 – the blurb

WHAT IF you could go back in time and change the course of history? WHAT IF the watershed moment you could change was the JFK assassination? 11.22.63, the date that Kennedy was shot – unless . . .

King takes his protagonist Jake Epping, a high school English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, 2011, on a fascinating journey back to 1958 – from a world of mobile phones and iPods to a new world of Elvis and JFK, of Plymouth Fury cars and Lindy Hopping, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life – a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.

With extraordinary imaginative power, King weaves the social, political and popular culture of his baby-boom American generation into a devastating exercise in escalating suspense.

One moment in time

It’s certainly ballsy of King to take on one of the most well known moments in time – the shooting of JFK. But really the book is about so much more than that. It’s nearly 500 pages in before we even get to the part entitled ‘11.22.63’ (incidentally a date I CANNOT remember). As always with King it’s the characters, the pre-amble if you like, that makes for the read. Oswald is present but from a distance and for pages and pages him and Kennedy are not even mentioned.

If you know, you know

11.22.63 is classic King. White male for a lead – writer, teacher, check. But it was the Easter Eggs that appealed to me the most. No not the chocolate ones but the little nods to previous works, there was even a pet killed by a delivery truck for heavens sake. Oh and I now HAVE to go and read IT. So Bravo King, you have snagged yourself another sale there.

It is a long read (750 pages) but then that’s another of King’s hallmarks. It did read pretty easy, mostly because I was absorbed by Jake’s life. You knew Kennedy was coming, he’d get there eventually but for the moment you were just enjoying the ride. That being said there was tension, the boxing match for one had me on the edge of my seat. I almost put the book down at one point and googled the result as I couldn’t bear the wait. But I didn’t (as Jake couldn’t) and I found out at the same time he did.

In another time, another place

Endings are always King’s weakness and this one felt a little rushed. Although I loved the last scene and found it perfectly bittersweet. The sci-fi element was easy to get over – little explanation was offered into the how, it happened so you just went with it. It does make you think though how much things would turn out differently if you changed just one thing.

I enjoyed 11.22.63 despite it’s length. It amazes me how someone can knock a book out like that in little over a month but then that’s why King is one of our most prolific writers. I’m not sure where this sits on the King scale of greatness but it’s a goodun and well worth a read.