11/22/63 by Stephen King - Discussion Thread

[nookkatz]

Originally Posted by TonyR

Finished it yesterday afternoon, and I recommend it without reservation. It's a terrific read -- long, yes, but this reader had no feeling of bloat. And I don't regret a penny of the 16.99.

Ditto here, too!

This was a very good read, well worth the time and the cost of the ebook.

[ficbot]

I am about 10% in, and I must be the lone dissenter here that just isn't grabbed I think I am too young for this book and just don't know enough about the time period. It seemed weird to me that out of all the thoughts he could have after learning about the time portal, the very first one was 'I could go back and prevent the JFK assassination.' I think it's an interesting concept, but I think I don't know enough about that time to really appreciate this book.

[Quake1028]

Originally Posted by 6charlong

I was toying with the idea of getting it but spent my money on a Kindle Touch. Now that they dropped the price to 14.99 I might as well give it a try anyway. Until I saw how this thread stopped abruptly a week ago. Now I'm wondering if that means the book turned out to be a big letdown halfway through. Does anyone still recommend it?

I only let the thread die to wait for some people to finish. I fnished it around two weeks ago. It's my favorite book of the year, and I would rank it up with The Drawing of the Three as my favorite King read, so far. Highest recommendation!

[Quake1028]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I am about 10% in, and I must be the lone dissenter here that just isn't grabbed I think I am too young for this book and just don't know enough about the time period. It seemed weird to me that out of all the thoughts he could have after learning about the time portal, the very first one was 'I could go back and prevent the JFK assassination.' I think it's an interesting concept, but I think I don't know enough about that time to really appreciate this book.

I'm only 32 and I didn't feel that way. Where are you in the book?

[mrsquash]

I finished it, and I thought it was great; best he's done since It, in my opinion. And I've been pretty critical of a lot of his recent work. He even nailed the ending, as far as I was concerned.

Originally Posted by ficbot

It seemed weird to me that out of all the thoughts he could have after learning about the time portal, the very first one was 'I could go back and prevent the JFK assassination.'

Possibly spoilerish, but from the 1st 10% of the book:

Spoiler:

As I remember, the first thought that the guy (Al) who discovered the portal had was "Gee, I can get really cheap hamburger meat here to sell in my restaurant"! The concept of the assassination as a historical "watershed moment" (the title of the fist section of the novel) didn't occur to him until later. He believed that stopping the assassination would also prevent the Vietnam war, saving a lot of lives. Then he passed these ideas on to the novel's protagonist, who was very skeptical at first.

But, hey, if the book doesn't grab you, move on to something that does. Different strokes for different folks.

[seajewel]

Originally Posted by TonyR

Finished it yesterday afternoon, and I recommend it without reservation. It's a terrific read -- long, yes, but this reader had no feeling of bloat. And I don't regret a penny of the 16.99.

Agree, I really enjoyed 11/22/63. and I thought Under the Dome and Duma Key were just okay. 11/22/63 is

[6charlong]

The pretext of this book fascinated me from the start. The assassination of President Kennedy changed my life. It arguably led directly to the disastrous war in Vietnam since Kennedy was dubious about expanding US involvement beyond sending military assistance and advisors.

My problem is I only have enough money to buy one book right now so it looks like this will be it. Thanks everyone for your insights.

[Joy736]

I can't remember when I read my last King, but it's been ages.
When I heard about this book, I thought it was a good time to try another King and I have no regrets so far.
I'm only a 100 pages in, but love it so far.
It makes me wanna read other Kings I haven't read yet.
I recommed it!!!

[Pickering]

Finished yesterday. I'm a sucker for time travel stories, and this was a pretty good one. I liked

Spoiler:

the "reset" factor and I'm fine with the vague explanation of the time travel mechanism, but I would have really liked to learn more about the yellow/black/green card men.

Would definitely recommend.

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by Pickering

Finished yesterday. I'm a sucker for time travel stories, and this was a pretty good one. I liked

Spoiler:

the "reset" factor and I'm fine with the vague explanation of the time travel mechanism, but I would have really liked to learn more about the yellow/black/green card men.

Would definitely recommend.

I, too, am a sucker for time travel. I would so love to be able to do it, after all. I am a fan of The Stand, It, and the "Dark Tower" books I have read thus far (have the last three to go). I also loved "Full Dark" (King is at his best with the novella). That being said, I was dissapointed with Under the Dome and couldn't finish it. Also, this is a long book, saving Kennedy is almost as much a time travel cliche as killing Hitler, and the price is high, so I was a little hesitant but the good reviews have swayed me and tomorrow is payday.

[DiapDealer]

I liked it a lot, but didn't love it. He seemed to not want it all to come to an end. I mean, he didn't exactly Clear the Shire and shuffle everyone off to the Grey Havens, but he came close. Still... I'd recommend it. To anyone who knows exactly what Monkey Ward is—without a second's hesitation. I enjoyed it a lot more than Under the Dome (and I actually really loved the first half of that book).

I enjoyed all the blasts from the past, though. Especially the bit about kids selling Grit for cash and prizes. I'd almost forgotten about that. I think my parents let me fall for that scam when I was younger.

There's authors I like better and there's authors I think are much better writers, but there's nobody that can write 800+ page novels that read faster than King seems to. That never ceases to amaze me.
(and of course I enjoy spotting the tie-ins to his other works)

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I liked it a lot, but didn't love it. He seemed to not want it all to come to an end. I mean, he didn't exactly Clear the Shire and shuffle everyone off to the Grey Havens, but he came close. Still... I'd recommend it. To anyone who knows exactly what Monkey Ward is—without a second's hesitation. I enjoyed it a lot more than Under the Dome (and I actually really loved the first half of that book).

I enjoyed all the blasts from the past, though. Especially the bit about kids selling Grit for cash and prizes. I'd almost forgotten about that. I think my parents let me fall for that scam when I was younger.

There's authors I like better and there's authors I think are much better writers, but there's nobody that can write 800+ page novels that read faster than King seems to. That never ceases to amaze me.
(and of course I enjoy spotting the tie-ins to his other works)

You're right, Diap. When he is on, the pages fly by. He knows how people "work." That is what makes him so readable. I forget which writer (it may have been King, I don't know) said that speculative fiction is about ordinary people in extraordinary situations and literary fiction is about extraordinary people in ordinary situations and the former is more interesting (I'm heavily paraphrasing what I can barely remember here). Anyway, I'm more a fan of the former to be sure.

[Harlock415]

I'm on Chapter 6 now and am enjoying what I'm reading so far.

[covingtoncat73]

I only have about 100 pages left. Wow. Definitely one of King's best, IMHO. Right up there with The Stand and It, though a different kind of book from those, really. I'm finishing it in 8 days which is good for me with a long book these days.

The pages have flown by and I find myself anxious to get back to the book! Yay for eReaders because they do make it easier to read on the fly and I will feel no guilt at all for finishing this read at work today. It is a slow Friday, after all.


*****************EDIT*******************

I just finished. Wow! I probably shouldn't spoil so just let me say that the ending is a corker. This book was definitely the most readable, engrossing thing I've read in awhile. I even enjoyed reading the afterword/author's notes very much.

[HappyMartin]

I checked yesterday on Amazon and Kings books are now available to me.

At last. Will be spending some money it seems.