I know of this book, but not really anything about it. What’s your opinion of it? I generally like Stephen King, The Stand and Christine are excellent. I can’t stand anything to do with Dark Tower. I also don’t care for It or Doctor Sleep.
It’s available at the free library in my apartment building. If I grabbed it today, I won’t be able to get to it until summer and I’ve have to donate an equivalent book today.
I really liked it- I feel there was a time when his quality lagged (Dreamcatcher, Cell, etc) then he wrote 11/22/63 and the Mr. Mercedes series and I really started enjoying him again even though they weren’t straight horror. I may have not have that publication timing right but 11/22/63 was very good and the tv series did it justice as well.
My only real complaint with 11/22/63 was the extended chase sequence in the latter third of the novel; SK uses too many chase sequences in his novels. Other than that, the usual inventive bits and a cast of sympathetic and fleshed-out characters.
I enjoyed it, read it a couple of times. The ending is undeniably sentimental but I see no problem with that.
At his best he is a very entertaining writer, subject to a lot of sniffy snobbishness and his work varies in quality but what writer of 60+ books could completely escape a similar criticism?
I liked it (certainly much more than some of King’s other late-period books), but to me it really felt like it was written by a baby boomer; the main character didn’t feel like a Gen-Xer to me.
It’s been a while since I read it, but I thought that it was a simple story which went off on too many “filler” tangents. It was one novel that would have benefited by being issued as a Reader’s Digest condensation.
There have been one or two recent SK books that have pissed me off mightily, but 11/22/63 was a very good read.
I liked it, and I’d probably rate it as a very solid “second-tier” SK book. For context, he’s not one of my “I’ve read all his books” favorites, but I do like to dip into his work every now and then.
Agreed on both counts. From what I remember I enjoyed the book a lot, and thought the ending was much better than a lot of his late-period book endings. And the mini series of it, which is on Hulu, was a very well done adaptation.
I read it when it first came out. Due for a reread.
Huh. I had no idea that there was a TV series. Anyone know if it’s still streaming anywhere?
It’s streaming on Hulu; it was a Hulu original series. James Franco was the star, if that matters to you at all.
I’ve been trying to come up with a common factor for the King books you didn’t like, or the ones you did, but I’m stumped.
I quite liked 11/22/63, but then, I also liked the ones you didn’t.
About the only one I agree with you on is distaste for the Dark Tower series. Couldn’t force myself past the second one, and the first two were an effort. I liked the others you mentioned (although I hated the movie version of “Christine”). I thought “Dreamcatcher” and “Cell” were at least not tedious to read. 11/22/63 was IMO interesting, as was the mini-series adaptation.
I enjoyed it. Found it an interesting counterpoint to “The Dead Zone” as both had English teachers as the main character and concerned an assassination.
I enjoyed the novel and the miniseries. My only real complaints are that the book is a little bloated and that King has long had a problem with distances and measurements. No, the city does not stink of petroleum because of oil fields almost 400 miles away.
Yeah, I’ve never gotten into that series. If I outlive King maybe I’ll read it.
I agree with most of the posters here that it was an enjoyable read. BTW, I agree that King has had his ups and downs, and I also agree that I found nothing interesting about the Dark Tower series. 11/22/63 may not have hit the pinnacle of some his best writing (like The Shining, which was also a terrific Stanley Kubrick movie) but it was among the best of his more recent efforts.
They get much better. I disliked the first book so much, it kept me from reading further for a long time, but I eventually got around to trying the next volume. I thought book two was okay, but it took until book three or so for the series to really get good.
And history, and reading maps, sometimes.
Dissenting opinion: I never read the book because I decided not to waste time reading a book that bloated that was surely going to piss me off with such inaccuracies. That, and I just don’t care that much about JFK. Even though I met the man*, JFK’s life, or assassination, isn’t one of those “defining moments” for me.
* I was one. I don’t remember, but my mom said it happened. And I believe her. 