11/22/63 by Stephen King
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Five Stars
July 2024
Five Stars
July 2024
I am a fan of Stephen King’s writing. I shy away from his horror books, but have loved his mysteries and science fiction. This was one of my most enjoyable reads of the year!! I appreciate King’s kind of storytelling, slow and deliberate. He won’t be rushed, providing the kind of detail with settings, characters and action that provided this reader with a motion picture kind of experience. Pass the popcorn please! It made no difference to me the length of the book, the story was riveting from cover to cover. The protagonist Jake has an opportunity to change the world by going back in time to prevent the assassination of JFK. When diner owner Al reveals a secret portal to the past, Jake makes the decision to right the wrong that occurred on that fateful day. Jake spends four years in the early 60’s planning how he will stop Lee Harvey Oswald and it’s during this time he lives the four best years of his life in a small Texas town. Jake plans to change history, but he does not yet understand how his very existence in the “Land of Ago” (as King calls it) impacts the future.
In the same story we see Friday night Texas football alongside heart-pounding espionage. Connections between common folk juxtaposed to world leaders during the Cold War. Like the spokes of a wheel everything leads to the center and in this case a dramatic crescendo. King left me wide-eyed till the end as high school teacher Jake becomes an unlikely hero and weaves the butterfly effect in a masterful entertaining way. No matter where we live or who we are, every choice has a ripple effect upon our history and our lives. -Kim Luke
Book Blurb-
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. Unless...
In 2011, Jake Epping, an English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, sets out on an insane — and insanely possible — mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
Leaving behind a world of computers and mobile phones, he goes back to a time of big American cars and diners, of Lindy Hopping, the sound of Elvis, and the taste of root beer.
In this haunting world, Jake falls in love with Sadie, a beautiful high school librarian. And, as the ominous date of 11/22/63 approaches, he encounters a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald...
