Reading science fiction… reading Stephen King… who am I?! King is absolutely not my usual reading fare, but then again, 11/22/63 is not typical King (i.e. there’s no horror element).
In the novel, high-school English teacher, Jake Epping, travels back in time (through a time portal in a local cafe), to foil Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassination of John F. Kennedy. At over 800 pages, there was a lot more to the story than simply taking out Oswald – Jake had to test the impact of disrupting history a couple of times to understand the limits of his power before the ‘big day’ (November 22, 1963). There’s a little romance, the development of some important friendships, and various pop culture events that King skillfully weaves into the story.
The premise of the book is that the history of the world would be different if Kennedy had not been assassinated. Perhaps that’s a stretch (honestly, if there was one person you might take out in modern history, it would be Hitler, right?), but it is fair to say that Kennedy’s assassination significantly changed the course of American history. In this novel, King speculates on how events in Vietnam, the Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement might have been different if Kennedy had survived. Of course, we’ll never know, but there are plenty of people (from academics to conspiracy theorists) who have speculated about this very thing.
Time travel and changing the course of history is always a compelling concept – King explores it on the macro level, describing the butterfly effect in the context of Oswald, but also on a micro level (the Sliding Doors moment), when the character of Jake tinkers with seemingly inconsequential things like haggling over a used car. He discovers that changing history is not as easy as he initially expected –
…what I think now is that the resistance to change is proportional to how much the future might be altered by any given act.
The reader understands the impact of these changes as Jake moves between the past and the present, and as he makes an increasing number of alterations to history, Jake reflects –
Did the obdurate past work against the things changed as well as against the change-agent?
Overall, I admired the complexity – and yet the ‘readability’ – of this novel. Despite the intricately developed plot lines, I had no trouble keeping track of what was happening; what was predicted to happen next; and what year I was in. Half a star off for its heft – could King have achieved the same in 600 pages? Probably.
As I was reading 11/22/63, my mind drifted to Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, which has a similar theme. I adored that novel, for its humour, the fact that it made me cry, but also for the beautifully developed characters. I wasn’t charmed by the characters in 11/22/63, nor did I laugh or cry but if time-travel stories are your thing, then I reckon this is a solid pick.
3.5/5
Jake buys a root beer on his first visit to 1963 –
I sipped through the foam on top, and was amazed. It was… full. Tasty all the way through. I don’t know how to express it any better than that. This fifty-years-gone world smelled worse than I ever would have expected, but it tasted a whole hell of a lot better.
I was surprised to see that you had read this, and I enjoyed your review very much. It was very helpful to me. I have considered reading this book because I do love time travel, but the length is a deterrent. Although I did read one of King’s novels that was over 1000 pages (Under the Dome).
TracyK at Bitter Tea and Mystery
I only read it because a good friend (a big fan of King) said it was the best choice of all of his books for me – she knows I’m not going to read horror. The size is a bit overwhelming but I tackled it knowing that Novella November is coming up, and I’ll be flying through books in a matter of days!
LOL The Outlander TV series is about a couple trying to change the course of history. I’d had enough by the end of Series 3, so I don’t know if they ever achieved it.
I’ve read three Alternative History Novels (which is what it’s called at Wikipedia): one was the forgettable Liberation Square by Gareth Rubin (bought in a moment of folly while in NZ) and the other is a terrific book called “N” by John Alan Scott, fearsomely difficult to find in a search not just because the single letter “N” sends Google and Goodreads into a tailspin, but also because Scott publishes as John Scott, JA Scott, John A Scott. (John Alan Scott finds it on my blog). Also The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth, which was very good too. One of many books which appear to have a different outcome for WW2.
I’m sure I’ve read a few Alternative History Novels over the years (I hadn’t heard of that sub-genre name!) but as I said, not my go-to.
Had to laugh about the difficulty of finding N – I have a similar book in my TBR stack – S by J.J.Abrams.
Why do they do it? I mean, even pre internet searches, it much have driven librarians and booksellers mad!
Not sure this is for me, but if I’m going to read King this will be the one – I can’t handle horror!
I have zero interest in reading horror. The only other King I have on my shelf is On Writing, which I have heard many other authors refer to over the years.
I’ve been intrigued to read this… but the heft puts me off. King is an excellent storyteller but he’s quite wordy. He must be a nightmare to edit!
There were quite a few subplots in this one – I reckon a couple could have been done away with because it really was a very, very long book!
I’ve never been particularly drawn to this book, at least partially because I’m not overly interested in American history, but I’m intrigued by your comparison to Life After Life, which is one of my favourite novels. One I read recently that also reminded me of Life After Life was The Husbands by Holly Gramazio, though that one leans much more to the funny end of things.
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