11/22/63
Page turning
Ambitious
Vibrant

11/22/63

Stephen King2011
Receiving a horrific essay from a GED student with a traumatic past, high-school English teacher Jake Epping is enlisted by a friend to travel back in time to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a mission for which he must reacclimate to 1960s culture and befriend troubled loner Lee Harvey Oswald. By the best-selling author of Full Dark, No Stars.
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Reviews

Photo of Alicia Evans
Alicia Evans@aliciasahr
4.5 stars
Nov 28, 2024

I avoided this book for so long because of how daunting the length was. So glad I committed to it finally because wow! Now I understand why Stephen king is such a revered author. Beautiful and detailed writing but still interesting and exciting!

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Jacqui Spears@jcspears
2 stars
Nov 27, 2024

An interesting premise - what would happen if you could go back in time and change one of history’s most defining moments?

I wouldn’t dare critique America’s most prolific writer, but this book just didn’t do it for me. I found myself getting bored in the hundreds of pages of tangential side stories from the protagonists journey into the land of ago. Perhaps my next King novel will hit the mark.

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Bowie @unbowieable
4.5 stars
Nov 7, 2024

The end…I…?!?

+5
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baku@swallowthemoons
5 stars
Sep 7, 2024

another slay from mr. king, i fear

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Patrick Book@patrickb
5 stars
Jul 5, 2024

Surprisingly beautiful, romantic, and human. Maybe it's been too long since I read any of King's new work but this feels sort of like a revelation -- despite the fact that it's a time travel story that hinges in alternate histories it feels uncharacteristically grounded in the real world. And it's achingly romantic -- I don't remember ever being brought so close to tears by Stephen King. There are problems and issues with this, undoubtedly, but I got caught up enough in the story that I haven't dwelled on them for a moment. I loved this.

Photo of Mat Connor
Mat Connor@mconnor
5 stars
Jun 25, 2024

My favorite Stephen King Novel. I'm extremely nostalgic for this book. I recommend the audiobook version because the narrator Craig Wasson is just perfect. I tried watching the James Franco TV miniseries a little while back and I couldn't even finish it. Wasson's version is that important to me. I own a hardcover copy of this book, but if I ever reread this novel I'll be listening to the audiobook. One of the smartest decisions King makes is that he gives us a time travel story where time seems to slow down during the novel. The protagonist Jake is sent back in time to save JFK from assassination, but the portal sends him to 1958 and not 1963. So Jake has to live life for 5 years preparing to save the day. Those 5 years in between where Jake is just living life--teaching, correcting injustices of the past, making money by betting on sports, and falling in love with a librarian named Sadie--are the best parts of the novel. King tells the story in a deliberate (not slow) way so that you really feel the investment Jake is making with his time. It's a cliche to say that you didn't want a book to end but that's how I felt here. Stephen King gets a lot of criticism for his endings. This is considered one of his best endings. The last scene is flawless, but I do think the ending could be improved a little. You should only read this spoiler if you've read the book: (view spoiler)[Jake saves JFK but in doing so Sadie is shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. Jake is treated as a hero but heartbroken at losing Sadie. Jake returns to present day (2011) and finds out that saving JFK caused a terrible chain of events: nuclear war, environmental collapse, and race relations are even worse than now because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is never passed. In a nutshell, saving JFK did serious harm to the world. Jake goes through the portal again and returns to 1958. He needs to decide whether to immediately go back to 2011 and reset the timeline (letting JFK die) or to stay back in 1958 where he led a happy life with Sadie and risk making more alterations to the historical timeline. He ultimately decides to go back to 2011. The world is back to normal. He looks up Sadie who is now in her 80s and asks her for a dance at an event celebrating her life. That last scene is beautifully done in the book. My only issue is that Jake isn't given much of a reason to not reset the timeline. He's lost the woman he loved and the world went to shit. It would have been a more poignant decision if he was making a harder choice. For example, it would have been better if he returned to the present day after saving JFK and found that things were either not that different or even a little better. Maybe he would then decide to go back to see if he can do it better but this time save JFK and Sadie only to decide that he's risking too much by playing with time. I just think the decision should have been harder to make. It would have made it more poignant. (hide spoiler)] Stephen King is a genius though so maybe I'm wrong and need to re-read this at some point to see if the ending works better for me.

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Erik Craigo@craigoej
4 stars
Jun 5, 2024

Pound Cake

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Bria@ladspter
4 stars
May 31, 2024

There was so much going on here but it all had a place and there weren't any loose ends, especially with the alternate ending. I really enjoyed this.

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logan chung@lchungr
4 stars
Nov 17, 2023

I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did – or as quickly.

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Dominik@ner3y
5 stars
Sep 1, 2023

A fantastic book about time travel and the famous butterfly effect associated with it. But that alone would not be King. His characters literally live. The resulting tension is almost unbearable. And the fact that Jake Epping travels back there precisely to save JFK raises this time travel thriller to unimagined heights. My favorite book.

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zibelao@zibelao
2 stars
Aug 31, 2023

The premise of the book is mediocre and it's boring to read it. I started to read it because of the author and because of the topic of the book: time travel. But, I found the whole idea of the book (go back in time to save JFK) quite mediocre. Maybe, because I started to read with this in mind, I didn't like it, so I stopped reading. Maybe I will try to read it in the future.

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Melissa M.@mbminard
5 stars
Aug 13, 2023

One of my favorite King books. The characters are incredibly well crafted, as they usually are in King's books. The storyline is compelling and a page turner to the very end. I was captivated the entire book, waiting to see how Stephen King plans to change the course of history in this story.

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Peggy Walker@lectrice93
4 stars
Aug 2, 2023

I am from the generation that can easily answer the question "Where were you when JFK was shot?" (my college library). That made this book especially interesting to me...and I'm sure many others. This was one of the first National tragedies to play out on television, and the whole nation was glued to their TVs for many days. I enjoyed many of Steven King's earlier novels, but felt he had lost something with most of his later works. However, I was willing to give this one a chance because of the historical context and intriguing premise. I thought that the author handled all of the details of the time-travel and the peculiarities that went with it very well. The effects on the time-traveler himself reminded me a bit of stories about space travel...how much time would have passed for the traveler versus how much time would have passed "on earth". Very well done. It was obvious that a LOT of research went into this book. I certainly learned more about Lee Harvey Oswald than I had ever known before, and I found it very interesting. I liked the ways that he conveyed how hard "history" fights not to be changed, and how we can never predict how "if only" scenarios might play out. I have always found Mr. King's "sentinel" characters to be annoying, but in this case I thought he resolved the "yellow-card men" fairly well. FINALLY, there was one who explained his role, somewhat. Overall, I found 11/22/63 to be a very absorbing and interesting read, and the best Steven King novel in quite some time.

Photo of Jonathan Tysick
Jonathan Tysick@jtsick6
5 stars
Jun 18, 2023

I can't remember a novel I've read more obsessively. Despite it's length it keeps good pace and balances immersion in the late 50's/early 60's (meticulously researched!), romance, and thriller. Had my heart racing, face grimacing and eyes leaking. The ending is the bees knees. Probably a 4.5 because of the graphic (language, violence, sex), but this book is pretty amazing.

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Petar Toushkov@cellfourteen
5 stars
Jun 14, 2023

Роман поразителна каша, която би се разминала на малко, дори талантливи, писатели и на нито един епигон. Всеки един цитат от книга на Кинг е подходящ, но този има две допълнителни характерни страни, които го описват още по-добре и във връзка с книгата - обем и сантиментална струна (ако се чудите кои са другите, сред тях е способността да изпълни и най-нелепия нотен текст по омагьосващ начин): For a moment everything was clear, and when that happens you see that the world is barely there at all. Don’t we all secretly know this? It’s a perfectly balanced mechanism of shouts and echoes pretending to be wheels and cogs, a dreamclock chiming beneath a mystery-glass we call life. Behind it? Below it and around it? Chaos, storms. Men with hammers, men with knives, men with guns. Women who twist what they cannot dominate and belittle what they cannot understand. A universe of horror and loss surrounding a single lighted stage where mortals dance in defiance of the dark.

Photo of Ivan Giorgi
Ivan Giorgi@ivangio
5 stars
May 14, 2023

Another King masterpiece.

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Danny White@danny
4.5 stars
May 2, 2023

Yet another Stephen King page-turner.

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Kelly@kap32
5 stars
Feb 15, 2023

This was one of the best books I've read in a long time - even though it took me 5 months to finish. The characters are complex and well-rounded, the plot is captivating, and the ending was surprising but not rushed.

Photo of Keernan Lanismore
Keernan Lanismore@keernan
3 stars
Dec 29, 2022

Fun. Thought provoking. Too long.

Photo of Ashlyn
Ashlyn@demonxore
2.5 stars
Dec 14, 2022

This could've been 350 pages shorter for a more solid ending.


I might post a slightly better review later, but I might also decide not to waste any more time on King. >.<

+2
Photo of Jacob Lamb
Jacob Lamb@jacobthelamb
5 stars
Nov 8, 2022

Super interesting and so sad at the end.

This review contains a spoiler
+4
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Norma gruden@normag
5 stars
Nov 1, 2022

“But I believe in love, you know; love is a uniquely portable magic. I don’t think it’s in the stars, but I do believe that blood calls to blood and mind calls to mind and heart to heart.”

Photo of Mary Garza
Mary Garza@maryherondale
5 stars
Sep 20, 2022

Por segunda vez que leo Stephen King y no me decepciona, un libro que entretiene bastante, personajes que adoras y otros no tanto. El asesinato de Kennedy es un acontesimiento en la historia que al menos a mi me es irrelevante pero sin embargo me mantuvo enganchada de principio a fin, Y no era tanto por JFK sino por la historia que relataba Jake y todo lo demás, temía por el final algo me decía que no iba a terminar bien pero fue un final muy acertado y quede complacida con el. Y ya por el ultimo es lamentable y triste que me di cuenta que algunos pensamientos de los 60´s aun siguen presentes en pleno siglo XXI (racismo, desigualdad en la mujer y un gran etc.)

Photo of Dee B.
Dee B. @deeisreading
5 stars
Aug 19, 2022

Give me... A minute

Highlights

Photo of Evelyn Morales
Evelyn Morales@evelynreads

Derry

Mentions of Derry, Bevvy Marsh, Richie T, and murderous clowns. A nod to IT.

Photo of Danny White
Danny White@danny

In America, where surface has always passed for substance

Photo of Danny White
Danny White@danny

I stroked a big red A on top of his paper. Looked at it for a moment or two, then added a big red +. Because it was good, and because his pain had evoked an emotional reaction in me, his reader. And isn’t that what A+ writing is supposed to do? Evoke a response?

Photo of Mari-Claire Parrin
Mari-Claire Parrin@mariclaire

There are women out there in front of the hotel that . . . Well, let's just say Jack Kennedy himself would be envious, and he's a legendary cocksman.

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Photo of Mari-Claire Parrin
Mari-Claire Parrin@mariclaire

'Sirs, I'm sorry to interrupt, but Mr Amberson has a phone call.' The flush returned to Hosty's jowls full force. 'Son, we're doing an interrogation here. I don't care if it's the President of the United States calling.' The cop swallowed. His Adam's apple went up and down like a monkey on a stick. 'Uh, sirs... it is the President of the United States.' It seemed they cared, after all.

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