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A review by leventmolla
11.22.63 by Stephen King
4.0
The Kennedy Assassination is one of the fixations of a few generations of Americans and the conspiracy theories that go with it have motivated people to write numerous books and shoot numerous movies with that subject.
Stephen King is taking on this task now. His protagonist Jake Epping is a teacher who has been recently separated from his wife. He is friends with Al, the owner and cook of Al's Diner. One day Al confides in him. He is diagnosed with cancer and is in the terminal stage. He wants to share a secret with Jake. He has discovered a time-space anomaly (a "rabbit-hole") in his diner. Sending Jake through the anomaly so that he can experience the past, he explains what he has in mind. For some reason the anomaly is opening back in time in the year 1958, 5 years before President Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, or someone else, if you believe the conspiracy theorists.
Al explains that the rabbit-hole resets itself every time someone goes through it and he has done hundreds of trips, acquiring information that could be useful to prevent the Kennedy Assassination. Now that he's dying and his diner will soon be seized by the bank, he wants Jake to go back and stop the Kennedy Assassination.
Jake first tests the ground by going back and changing the past (thinking about the 'Butterfly Effect' all the time) by trying to change the destiny of the janitor who had lost his whole family to an abusive father. When that works - sort of - he decides to take on the big task and goes back. With his knowledge of the future and detailed notes he has with him, he can get a lot of money from bets.
What he does not know at the time is that the past is quite resistant to change and literally will do anything to prevent being changed. Maybe the trips do not completely reset the effect of earlier trips...
Worst of all is his new hindrance : He has fallen in love with Sadie, a young teacher who is now the love of his life. Can he risk losing her in his noble task? What would happen if he succeeds to prevent the assassination? What would the "Butterfly Effect" result in? As he is following the complicated itinerary of Lee Harvey Oswald as the calendar gets closer to 22 November 1963, he is trying to make sure he does minimal change to the past until he gets the opportunity to cancel the big event.
King is not really interested in a science-fiction background in his time travel story. He is interested in telling about a great love story and maybe - a little bit - all the values we have lost from the 60's. It is a moving book and very enjoyable. I can easily see a movie deal out of this book, which would work quite well.
Stephen King is taking on this task now. His protagonist Jake Epping is a teacher who has been recently separated from his wife. He is friends with Al, the owner and cook of Al's Diner. One day Al confides in him. He is diagnosed with cancer and is in the terminal stage. He wants to share a secret with Jake. He has discovered a time-space anomaly (a "rabbit-hole") in his diner. Sending Jake through the anomaly so that he can experience the past, he explains what he has in mind. For some reason the anomaly is opening back in time in the year 1958, 5 years before President Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, or someone else, if you believe the conspiracy theorists.
Al explains that the rabbit-hole resets itself every time someone goes through it and he has done hundreds of trips, acquiring information that could be useful to prevent the Kennedy Assassination. Now that he's dying and his diner will soon be seized by the bank, he wants Jake to go back and stop the Kennedy Assassination.
Jake first tests the ground by going back and changing the past (thinking about the 'Butterfly Effect' all the time) by trying to change the destiny of the janitor who had lost his whole family to an abusive father. When that works - sort of - he decides to take on the big task and goes back. With his knowledge of the future and detailed notes he has with him, he can get a lot of money from bets.
What he does not know at the time is that the past is quite resistant to change and literally will do anything to prevent being changed. Maybe the trips do not completely reset the effect of earlier trips...
Worst of all is his new hindrance : He has fallen in love with Sadie, a young teacher who is now the love of his life. Can he risk losing her in his noble task? What would happen if he succeeds to prevent the assassination? What would the "Butterfly Effect" result in? As he is following the complicated itinerary of Lee Harvey Oswald as the calendar gets closer to 22 November 1963, he is trying to make sure he does minimal change to the past until he gets the opportunity to cancel the big event.
King is not really interested in a science-fiction background in his time travel story. He is interested in telling about a great love story and maybe - a little bit - all the values we have lost from the 60's. It is a moving book and very enjoyable. I can easily see a movie deal out of this book, which would work quite well.