It. was. LONG.
Good gracious.
Several years ago, my father-in-law recommended that I read 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I've never been much of a King fan, but I've read a few of his pieces, and I thought I would give it a try, I downloaded it on my kindle, started reading and....
Yup. I abandoned it. It's not that it was a bad book, but it was slow to start, and the novel is really, really, really long, so I left it behind.
However, in the intervening years, I've developed a historical fascination with the Kennedy family and JKF's assassination, and so coming back to this book was a little more engaging this time around.
I was not disappointed.
Even though I checked out the Large Print Edition from the local library (it was the only copy they had), so it was actually over 1000 pages, I really enjoyed the book (Have no fear; the regular copy is only 880 pages long ;-)
What I Love About This Book
King is a masterful story teller, and his characters in this book are believable and likable. Not only that, but it's clear from the content that King's research regarding the late 1950s and early 1960s was impeccable.
I love the premise of this book, because it's such a tantalizing idea: what if we could change the past? And King could have hardly picked a more controversial or titillating topic: the assassination of JFK. The book carries such great self-awareness of the ideas of time travel, and the ways in which a person bending the rules of time might upset the fabric of the universe.
I also love the JFK assassination factor of this book because King is aware of the numerous conspiracy theories around the President's death. The novel considers these theories and the ways in which they might or might not have been in play.
King's characters became lovable to me as well--I was rooting for Jake Epping (and English Teacher!) and his potentially ill-fated mission. I wanted him to be succeed, to be okay, to make it through. I felt his conflict, his difficulties, his pain, and (on occasion) his stupidity. I also felt for the emotional entanglements that inevitably come from living anywhere for any period of time.
I love the premise of this book, because it's such a tantalizing idea: what if we could change the past? And King could have hardly picked a more controversial or titillating topic: the assassination of JFK. The book carries such great self-awareness of the ideas of time travel, and the ways in which a person bending the rules of time might upset the fabric of the universe.
I also love the JFK assassination factor of this book because King is aware of the numerous conspiracy theories around the President's death. The novel considers these theories and the ways in which they might or might not have been in play.
King's characters became lovable to me as well--I was rooting for Jake Epping (and English Teacher!) and his potentially ill-fated mission. I wanted him to be succeed, to be okay, to make it through. I felt his conflict, his difficulties, his pain, and (on occasion) his stupidity. I also felt for the emotional entanglements that inevitably come from living anywhere for any period of time.
What I Don't Love About This Book
I hate the state the obvious, but....
This book is a TOME.
Seriously. It's so long!
I hate to mark that against this novel, but sometimes I think length can be a detriment to keeping a reader interested and moving quickly through the story. I have to give King props, though, because when you are as prolific and well-known as he is, you can do things like write a novel that's 880 pages long and no one bats an eye at it. In fact, the publisher publishes it and the readers devour it.
The next thing I don't love about this book is the pacing, which is directly tied to the length.
Even after completing it now, I can look back and see why I put it down the first time. It's slow to get started. And you can't blame the book for getting started a little slow, because it is 880 pages long.
If writing a novel is like juggling chainsaws, then you have to get a lot of chainsaws in the air to sustain 880 pages.
Why I Recommend Reading This Book
Despite the length of the novel, I do recommend reading this book if you are a history buff. It's just so fascinating, the way that King weaves things together and then manages to resolve the whole time travel thing in the end.
Jake Epping is a character that you can root for, and whatever theory of assassination you ascribe to, you won't be disappointed with the way this book turns out. As Epping so often says in the book, the past harmonizes, and I think you'll find that the ending of this novel harmonizes as well.
PS--Hulu has just released the first of an 8 part mini-series based on the book, starring James Franco, Chris Cooper, and Josh Duhamel. Hubster and I watched the first episode--The Rabbit Hole--last night, and it's pretty awesome! New episodes released on Mondays, starting February 15th.
PS--Hulu has just released the first of an 8 part mini-series based on the book, starring James Franco, Chris Cooper, and Josh Duhamel. Hubster and I watched the first episode--The Rabbit Hole--last night, and it's pretty awesome! New episodes released on Mondays, starting February 15th.
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