Submitted by CutTheRoll t3_y1oe63 in books
I bought Stephen Kings '11.22.63' on a whim when I was out purchasing 'No Country For Old Men'. Originally I had planned my next King book (after IT) to be Misery, however there was something that gravitated me to 11.22.63 instead, and I'm glad it did because oh man was that a journey.
Sounding a bit far fetched, and in a way sort of obvious (in that it's a plot line that's like "yeah of course that would be a novel, hasn't it already been one?"), I did not expect King to use time travel and history revision the way that he did. He transformed such a cliche and obvious plot line into an emotional roller-coaster where I seriously could not predict where things would go next. The way time is played with and how the themes incorporate into every sub-plot and incident within the book is so commendable. It is the perfect example of pulling the rug out from under the reader. The entire time he tells us, from the very very beginning that "the past is obdurate" and yet it still comes as a surprise when the major emotional beats come around and don't go the way as intended, even though the main plot itself (killing JFK) goes exactly how it could be predicted. It's a narrative where the ending is so simple, and yet the journey there is what counts. I love how King twisted the 'the past has consequences' to not just mean 'everything in the future sucks' but included and focused on the effect it has on the protagonist. I love how Jake/George is the one who suffers the consequences, not the world around him. There is an oddly authentic feeling to the beats of the story, especially when thinking about that "the past is obdurate", every event is a warning, and yet the protagonist is so oblivious to these warnings because he's filled with so much hope that things can be perfect when everything around him is telling him they can't and never will be. It gave him and the world around him so so so much life.
The Sadie plot line was one of the few romance plots I've been able to emotionally connect with, period. I was struggling to figure out early on how King would carry such a premise for as long as it looked, and yet I got my answer soon enough. Sadie became such a central focus and a driving force that I threw my hands in the air and yelled into the pages "just give up on Oswald and stay with the girl!". But again, the past doesn't want to be changed and as said earlier, it is an amazing example of pulling the rug from under the reader when she's inevitably shot by the villain and arguably the man the book is about. It is a plot twist that just waited to happen. We knew Oswald was there the whole time, and yet King did such a good job at diverting our attention. Sadie becomes such a main focus that Oswald seems like a distant threat, like someone who doesn't matter. But I liked that. Because eventually King knocked me off the high of perfection and made me realise what we were really doing here.
The ending was just perfect. Jake essentially having the closure 'full circle' moment with Sadie and realising he is not a main character, but a person merely living in the world. Beautiful. A good message to drive home that easily could have been fucked up and made the entire book pointless.
Okay to stop gushing about the plot, the milieu is perfectly built. I loved travelling to Derry especially after just reading 'IT' and talking briefly to Bev and Richie. I loved the looming threat of It for a second there. It was like I was reading an extension journey or extract from IT because it just felt like we were right back there. The only part I was sort of falling out with is the few pages he's in Florida for, but luckily he journeys to Texas pretty soon and the novel just makes Jodie seem like heaven on earth. I loved every second of the time in Texas, everything in Jodie especially felt real, and all the characters were likeable but individual. I loved the comparisons between the early 60s and 2011 as well.
I might have rambled a bit much, I just needed to gush about this book. I thought it was damn near perfection and definitely was so much fun to read. I read it in about 6 days, averaging about 100 pages a day, waking up especially early this morning to grind out the remaining ~150.