From the Bookshelf of EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club…

11/22/63

Stephen King

Start date: September 1, 2023

Finish date: February 29, 2024

Discussion: LONG READS

Why we're reading this: September 2023 - READ-A-LONG Selection
[close] September 2023 - READ-A-LONG Selection

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What Members Thought

Nov 01, 2013 Ellie 9218 rated it liked it

3.5 Stars

Jake Epping, High school English/GED teacher, living in 2011, is recruited on a mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination via a portal in the back of a diner owned by his dying friend Al. Al tells Jake about the time portal and that he has been back in time trying to track Lee Harvey Oswald so he can prevent the assassination of JFK. Al tells Jake three important things about the portal: Each time he leaves the present and goes through the portal, it's always that exact day an 3.5 Stars

Jake Epping, High school English/GED teacher, living in 2011, is recruited on a mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination via a portal in the back of a diner owned by his dying friend Al. Al tells Jake about the time portal and that he has been back in time trying to track Lee Harvey Oswald so he can prevent the assassination of JFK. Al tells Jake three important things about the portal: Each time he leaves the present and goes through the portal, it's always that exact day and that exact time in 1958. Secondly, no matter how long you spend in the past, you come back into the present two minutes after you left. And third, should you go back through the portal again, everything resets itself and the changes you have started are erased. Al begs Jake to finish what he has started. Jake has his own reasons for wanting to change some things in the past so he agrees to Al's plan. The problem is that in order to make it to 11/22/63 and save JFK, he has to live through 5 years in the past from 1958 on the day the door opens until the fateful day in 1963. So we follow Jake Epping on his journey to 1958, reliving those years through the eyes of a modern man, as he integrates himself into a life in the late 1950's. While living in the past (The Land of Ago), Jake (who is now George Amberson) divides his time between living a personal life, where he meets and falls in love with Sadie and tracking the whereabouts of Lee Harvey Oswald.

The story was an interesting look at the "butterfly effect", that changing one small thing in the past, no matter how insignificant it may seem, has an effect on the future elsewhere, and throughout the book Jake has to keep on his guard to prevent causing anything that might make things worse than they would otherwise turn out to be.

My main issue with the book is that I thought the Kennedy assassination was just a subplot in this story. It wasn’t the deep look at Oswald/Kennedy that I was expecting from an 800+ page book that was titled 11/22/63. The real story was that of Jake and Sadie and the love and struggles that they faced. What started as Jake's main reason for going back in time (stopping Lee Harvey Oswald) turned into something that, at times, he may have been willing to sacrifice, to remain with Sadie. For very loooong stretches of the book, his mission of stopping Oswald faded away. I would have liked to have seen more about the assassination and possible conspiracy theories and less about the personal life of Jake/George.

The book is a bit of a time investment and I really did like the book. It is full of suspense, nostalgia and historical insight. But it was badly in need of an editor, cutting about 200 pages in the middle. Definitely a 4 star read minus 200 pages. A very good beginning and ending, but the middle of the book labored to long for me. I thought Mr. King took too long to get Jake to the sixth floor of the Texas School Depository on 11/22/63.
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May 13, 2020 Lauren rated it it was amazing

Shelves: owned, favorites

This is the first book I can remember reading where my reading speed could not keep up with my heart rate. I *had* to find out what happened next and could not go on with life without it. It was so so so good!!!

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Aug 08, 2016 Pamela Harju rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I don't understand why I haven't read Stephen King's books before. I loved everything about this.

I will definitely pick up a few more of his books. I've seen lots of films and TV shows based on his writings, and while I have enjoyed them all, there is no better way to indulge in stories than reading the originals. ...more

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Apr 07, 2018 Shayney rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Amazing! I loved this book. I loved how it incorporated Derry into it from IT, so I'm glad I've read that. How from on outsiders look and an adult's point of view on the town. Brilliant. I don't know if any other of his works were mentioned or included in some way sadly because this is only my 5th or 6th read by Stephen King, but definitely not my last.. It was so clever and I was hooked the entire time. I wanted to see how his actions were having an affect on the future, so of course I wanted h ...more

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