Feb 11 - Feb 19, 2012
11/22/63
Stephen King
Fantasy/Horror
Published Nov 2011
849 pages
10/10
Jacob Epping is a regular dude dealing with his regular problems in his regular life; that is, until he is shown the "Rabbit Hole" - a time portal that leads to a sunny afternoon in 1958. Then he becomes Jacob Epping AKA George Amberson, the man charged with saving JFK from being assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, and thus, the man charged with changing the course of history.
I love Stephen King. I do. And his evolution as an author hasn't throw me off his bandwagon - not by a long shot. Hell, I'll ride Stephen King's bandwagon like a drunk college student on a mechanical bull trying to win free beer.
11/22/63
Stephen King
Fantasy/Horror
Published Nov 2011
849 pages
10/10
Jacob Epping is a regular dude dealing with his regular problems in his regular life; that is, until he is shown the "Rabbit Hole" - a time portal that leads to a sunny afternoon in 1958. Then he becomes Jacob Epping AKA George Amberson, the man charged with saving JFK from being assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, and thus, the man charged with changing the course of history.
I love Stephen King. I do. And his evolution as an author hasn't throw me off his bandwagon - not by a long shot. Hell, I'll ride Stephen King's bandwagon like a drunk college student on a mechanical bull trying to win free beer.
Except I'd never fall off the bandwagon. Just sayin'.
Although Stephen King no longer seems to write 'straight horror' (or even bisexual horror, for that matter) he still had me at, "Hello, is that a presidential assassination plan in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" The thing is, King is an incredible writer; he holds you absolutely spellbound from page one, all the way though to the bitter (but beautiful) end, when you're crying like a bitch at 2AM on a work night, wiping your tears on the stuffed Rabbit you still sleep with.
Ahem.
King is at the top of his game with 11/22/63, and I couldn't help but notice that while it wasn't a horror novel per se, it contained all the cringe-worthy, nail biting, anxiety in your belly feelings that a regular horror novel produces. You see, while our protagonist isn't exactly dealing with boogeymen (though Pennywise the Dancing Clown makes a behind the scenes cameo) he does have to deal with some all too human monsters and some utterly horrific situations that bring tears to your eyes and make the flesh crawl all up and down your hackles. Ugh. But the all encompassing, far reaching, genre bending nature of this book has to be its greatest appeal - it's horror, fantasy, romance, sci-fi, historical, political... and it even has pictures.
As always, King has peopled his story with some mighty entertaining characters. Jake AKA George is my definite favorite. You can empathize with him one minute, and hate him the next; understand his actions but wholeheartedly wish he's reconsider. He's a man who's one of us. On the other hand, I found Sadie to be a little too perfect - so loving, so understanding, so heroic; she's almost unbelievable in my understanding of your average, everyday woman. I also understand, though, that she's NOT an everyday woman... at least not from my day. Hell, maybe chicks were different back then, and I can excuse some of her naivety and almost blind devotion to a dude who comes across as a little cray-cray. But really, I actually chalk it up to the fact that we see Sadie through our protagonist's adoring eyes, and because of that, she comes out as a little too good to be true. Jacob AKA George is the human mess I prefer to get behind. And I must say, I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of the assholes and the sweethearts of the late 50's/early 60's - the ruthless bookies, the sweet Russian immigrants, the dried up old judgmental cows in position of power, and the earnest students trying to be the best that they can be.
When it comes to the plot, I was hooked from the word go. Time travel alone is such a neat ass concept, and when you throw in the butterfly effect and actually being capable of seeing the changes the character is enabling... holy fuck. There's a scene early on where Jake says to his friend (and I'm paraphrasing here because I lost that particular bookmark) "What if you went back and killed your own grandfather?" and the friend replies, "Why the fuck would you want to do that?" Honestly, that's the best solution to the grandfather paradox I've heard yet. And that's just one of the reasons I liked the story so much. I mean, there's so little that I can tell you about the plot without giving anything really important away... that, and my clumsy fingers would do a shit ass job in comparison to actually reading the words of the master writer himself in the actual book.
But what it all really comes down to is the writing. King IS a master of the written word (at least, in my opinion). I made note of a few of my favorite bits:
"I felt an absurd urge to ask, Can you sell me a nice summer hat, or should I just go fuck myself?"
"On the gray street, with the smell of industrial smokes in the airand the afternoon bleeding away to evening, downtown Derry looked only marginally more charming than a dead hooker in a church pew."
"I pointed out more Denholm educators (many already leaving Sobriety City on the Alcohol Express)."
"[It would] almost certainly [matter] to the tens of thousands of young Americans who were now in high school and who would, if nothing changed the course of history, be invited to put on uniforms, fly to the other side of the world, spread their nether cheeks, and sit on the big green dildo that was Vietnam."
And just in case you think I'm only in it for the swears and sex talk, I also wanted to share this, because it's so poignant, simple, and above all, true:
"That's the curse of the reading class. We can be seduced by a good story even at the least opportune moments."
Amen, brother. Amen.
Honestly, if you're looking for a good long read, pick this up. It doesn't matter what you're preferred genre is, if you studied Canadian history instead of American (King actually gives a shout out to us Canucks) or the fact that you don't have a stuffed rabbit to wipe your tears on when you lose your shit at one of the most devastatingly legit endings I've read all year.
You can wipe those tears on just about anything.
And for all you Stephen King/sci-fi nerds out there, here's a LINK to King's interview with WIRED magazine regarding his Rules For Time Travel. Just read the article AFTER you read the book, because some pretty key plot points are given away here. That's just like a magazine, ruining books for us so we'll turn to their embrace of bite sized bits of information and advertisements for nice cologne.
Although Stephen King no longer seems to write 'straight horror' (or even bisexual horror, for that matter) he still had me at, "Hello, is that a presidential assassination plan in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" The thing is, King is an incredible writer; he holds you absolutely spellbound from page one, all the way though to the bitter (but beautiful) end, when you're crying like a bitch at 2AM on a work night, wiping your tears on the stuffed Rabbit you still sleep with.
Ahem.
King is at the top of his game with 11/22/63, and I couldn't help but notice that while it wasn't a horror novel per se, it contained all the cringe-worthy, nail biting, anxiety in your belly feelings that a regular horror novel produces. You see, while our protagonist isn't exactly dealing with boogeymen (though Pennywise the Dancing Clown makes a behind the scenes cameo) he does have to deal with some all too human monsters and some utterly horrific situations that bring tears to your eyes and make the flesh crawl all up and down your hackles. Ugh. But the all encompassing, far reaching, genre bending nature of this book has to be its greatest appeal - it's horror, fantasy, romance, sci-fi, historical, political... and it even has pictures.
As always, King has peopled his story with some mighty entertaining characters. Jake AKA George is my definite favorite. You can empathize with him one minute, and hate him the next; understand his actions but wholeheartedly wish he's reconsider. He's a man who's one of us. On the other hand, I found Sadie to be a little too perfect - so loving, so understanding, so heroic; she's almost unbelievable in my understanding of your average, everyday woman. I also understand, though, that she's NOT an everyday woman... at least not from my day. Hell, maybe chicks were different back then, and I can excuse some of her naivety and almost blind devotion to a dude who comes across as a little cray-cray. But really, I actually chalk it up to the fact that we see Sadie through our protagonist's adoring eyes, and because of that, she comes out as a little too good to be true. Jacob AKA George is the human mess I prefer to get behind. And I must say, I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of the assholes and the sweethearts of the late 50's/early 60's - the ruthless bookies, the sweet Russian immigrants, the dried up old judgmental cows in position of power, and the earnest students trying to be the best that they can be.
When it comes to the plot, I was hooked from the word go. Time travel alone is such a neat ass concept, and when you throw in the butterfly effect and actually being capable of seeing the changes the character is enabling... holy fuck. There's a scene early on where Jake says to his friend (and I'm paraphrasing here because I lost that particular bookmark) "What if you went back and killed your own grandfather?" and the friend replies, "Why the fuck would you want to do that?" Honestly, that's the best solution to the grandfather paradox I've heard yet. And that's just one of the reasons I liked the story so much. I mean, there's so little that I can tell you about the plot without giving anything really important away... that, and my clumsy fingers would do a shit ass job in comparison to actually reading the words of the master writer himself in the actual book.
But what it all really comes down to is the writing. King IS a master of the written word (at least, in my opinion). I made note of a few of my favorite bits:
"I felt an absurd urge to ask, Can you sell me a nice summer hat, or should I just go fuck myself?"
"On the gray street, with the smell of industrial smokes in the airand the afternoon bleeding away to evening, downtown Derry looked only marginally more charming than a dead hooker in a church pew."
"I pointed out more Denholm educators (many already leaving Sobriety City on the Alcohol Express)."
"[It would] almost certainly [matter] to the tens of thousands of young Americans who were now in high school and who would, if nothing changed the course of history, be invited to put on uniforms, fly to the other side of the world, spread their nether cheeks, and sit on the big green dildo that was Vietnam."
And just in case you think I'm only in it for the swears and sex talk, I also wanted to share this, because it's so poignant, simple, and above all, true:
"That's the curse of the reading class. We can be seduced by a good story even at the least opportune moments."
Amen, brother. Amen.
Honestly, if you're looking for a good long read, pick this up. It doesn't matter what you're preferred genre is, if you studied Canadian history instead of American (King actually gives a shout out to us Canucks) or the fact that you don't have a stuffed rabbit to wipe your tears on when you lose your shit at one of the most devastatingly legit endings I've read all year.
You can wipe those tears on just about anything.
And for all you Stephen King/sci-fi nerds out there, here's a LINK to King's interview with WIRED magazine regarding his Rules For Time Travel. Just read the article AFTER you read the book, because some pretty key plot points are given away here. That's just like a magazine, ruining books for us so we'll turn to their embrace of bite sized bits of information and advertisements for nice cologne.
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