For science fiction time travel fans, I think there could be a level of frustration. 11/22/63 is definitely a novel with peaks and valleys, yet, luckily for the reader the valleys are nice, and the peaks awesome. So sure, I was a bit skeptical, but I needn’t have been. If I found out there was a portal back to the late 1950’s, my first thought wouldn’t be that I just had to save Kennedy. I understand that the JFK assassination is a pivotal point in history, especially for people in King’s Generation, I never looked on it as the all encompassing game changing historical moment that some do. I love time travel novels of all sorts, but especially the kind where people travel into the past and change things, yet despite 11/22/63 being exactly that type of novel, I had concerns. This either could be one of his rambling tales full of unnecessary side trips or it could again show me why King is the most influential author of my generation. So, when I discovered that Stephen King was putting out a time travel novel, I was cautiously excited. (Pun?) After attempting to listen to Dreamcatcher I wouldn’t try another audiobook for over 10 years. In fact, Dreamcatcher was my very first audiobook, and I found it quite a useful cure for Insomnia. Yet, not all of Stephen King’s novels were a hit with me, sure, I love Alien Invasion novels, but The Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher very well could have set that love back years. The Dark Tower Series became my gateway to epic fantasy, and even what many consider a clunker, Needful Things, fed my love of Dark Comedy. The first novel I remember truly scaring me and actually entering my nightmares was It (they all float down here…). I can trace the point where I moved from mildly interested in Post Apocalyptic tales to utterly obsessed when I turned my first page of The Stand.
But unlike Koontz, King’s writing truly transformed me as a reader.
I had read The Bad Place, then Watchers and loved them, and often heard the two authors compared, so I began to read King as well. Unlike many people my age, my first forays into the horror/suspense genre wasn’t through King, but Dean Koontz. The first Stephen King novel I ever read was Christine, and since then, I have always had a bit of a love/"meh" relationship with his work. 11/22/63 is classic Stephen King full of the subtle horror themes that permeate his best works as well as an amazing cast of fascinating characters, all of whom, for good or ill adds something to the overall story.
Quick Thoughts: People who think they know King from his labels as a horror novelist and pop icon will say that 11/22/63 is a departure from his other work.
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