11.22.63: Stephen King

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Since 'a picture is worth a thousand words', the above is a three-thousand-words summary of this book. Impressive, no? And also - “dancing is life”.) This one should've been five stars for me. I think what happened was that I loved the concept when I read about the book and had envisioned something more. The story King wanted to write was all there and I truly enjoyed it. As always with King this is a great study in character and the evolution of the character. In this case using time as an added conflict that applies pressure on the character. King doesn't mess around with elaborate explanations on how or why the time travel works. It's just a simple closet in the diner that the character steps into and we're off and running. I think this works mostly because we trust King so implicitly and that if he says it true it's true. Oh yes, that old film with Michael Keaton. That was quite good. Yes, well, I suppose this once. But look – you have to give 11.22.63 three stars. Remember Japan and acne." Don’t cry. I’m sorry. It’s just…. This doesn’t seem like it was thought through very well, Jake. I mean, you seem like a nice guy. I’ll admit that it sounds like you have good intentions, but you know what the road to hell is paved with.”

The amount of research King did is evident. He paints an intricate portrait of this time - simultaneously portraying an exciting, dreamy era full of different fashions, music, and the best root beer ever for 10 cents... and showing the darker side: segregation and the two doors and three signs - "Men" on one door, "Women" on the other door, and "Colored" leading to a plank of wood over a small stream. He makes this era seem like a bright, amazing, creepy nightmare. King has this strange way of turning the most fantastical plots into stories about people who feel very real. He writes detailed and honest character portraits, so that these characters become so vivid and realistic, likable and flawed, that we so easily believe in everything that happens to them. But, since it isn’t really horror, more historical fiction and alternative reality, I think that some people who have been shying away from King might greatly enjoy this. After that, you could try more King, or move on and at least be able to tell your friends, “yeah, I read a Stephen King book *accomplished grin on face*”.Come in and see, that something seemed to whisper in my head. Never mind all the rest of it, Jake—come in and see. Come in and visit. Time doesn’t matter in here; in here, time just floats away. You know you want to, you know you’re curious. Maybe it’s even another rabbit-hole. Another portal.

No, because every time you go through the portal, history resets itself like you were never there the first time.” Best Books of 2011". The New York Times. November 30, 2011. Archived from the original on January 5, 2012. Ya think? I really wish you would have thought this through more than just doing a couple of test runs. You should have done that like twenty times. It would have taken you just forty minutes, right?” Pero King plantea la novela de manera brillante. El viaje en el tiempo es importante, pero lo verdaderamente brillante es la construcción de la trama. Seguramente hay algún pequeño error porque con tanto viajar al pasado siempre hay paradojas que no cuadran, pero yo no me he dado cuenta.

Kellogg, Carolyn. "Stephen King follows Delillo, Stone into JFK myth", Los Angeles Times, March 3, 2011 The theme of this book is 'the past harmonizes' and Stephen drives this point home to good effect. It becomes it's own harmonic in the book and it helps to bring all the stories going on together. I'm telling you, this is a layered masterpiece from one of the most gifted writers of our time. He weaves historical fact with fiction with historical fiction with time travel with a love story for the ages.