11/22/63 - Stephen King

Date Started: 1/6/13
Date Finished: 1/12/13

I don't know the last time I read a Stephen King book - maybe high school? But I was intrigued by the premise of this one (it wasn't horror). Strangely enough, only a few weeks ago I told my husband that it might be a book he would be interested in. He passed, but as fate would have it, the kindle version went on sale for $3.99 the next week. So here we are.

This was a really quick read, particularly for a book that was 880 pages. But it was engaging and I definitely got to a point where I couldn't put it down pretty quickly. It started of a little slowly but then wham! it gets going.

As usual, don't read any further if you don't want to know most of the bigger spoilers.


The premise is time travel. Jake has the opportunity to go back to 1958 and spin his wheels until 1963 when he can then stop the assassination of JFK. But as with all books about time travel, one has to consider the "butterfly effect" - that every action he takes in the past will have ramifications in the future. And boy, do they.

99% of the book is a detailed account of Jake's trip back in time, when he spends five years in the past. He saves a family from slaughter, saves a child from being paralyzed, finds a community and falls in love, and ultimately DOES save JFK while killing Oswald (and his love, Sadie, is killed as well). But the "present" he returns to is a horrible wasteland, much worse than our current version. Since every trip is a "reset" - he is able to go back to 1958 to clean the slate and wipes out everything his past five years had been spent accomplishing. The family is slaughtered, the child is paralyzed, and JFK is assassinated. But the world, and essentially the existence of our planet, is saved, as is Sadie (though in this version, she of course never falls in love with Jake, being about 40 years his senior). Sad, but necessary.

So what are we left with - Jake re-acclimates to living in the present, finds Sadie and learns that she has had a very fulfilling life, and finally meets her in person, in the city where they had shared another life. A bit melancholy but from the brief glimpse we are given of the changed future, we understand the necessity.

I thought this was a fantastic read and would heartily recommend it. 2013 is off to a good start!