11/22/63: An Underwhelming Stephen King Novel
11/22/63, a 2011 novel by Stephen King, might be one of the most meh quality books that I’ve ever read. The book contains elements of multiple genres, with science fiction parts, romance, drama, and certainly mystery/thriller aspects. It isn’t the type of horror novel you’d typically associate with the name Stephen King.
The book centers on Jake Epping, a divorced high school English teacher who learns of a secret way to be transported back to the year 1958. After traveling to the past, he can stop the Kennedy assassination and change the course of history for the better. It’s an intriguing setup, though King seems most interested in telling what happens to Jake when he’s living in the past between 1958 and the titular date, particularly concentrating on a romance between Jake and a librarian named Sadie.
My reading style is such that I’ll always give a book at least 100 pages or so before deciding it’s just not for me. I never reached that point with 11/22/63. At the same time, I was never extremely invested in the characters or story. The novel always felt very readable, and I was curious enough with where things were going, but it never came close to leaving this is okay territory and entering either the realm of very good or great books.
If I had to pick out the primary reason I didn’t truly connect with the book, it would be my issues with the story’s protagonist. Jake, who goes by the name George when he’s in the past, is just a super boring, dull guy. He’s not the sort of character who expresses much emotion, and he also doesn’t really act how a person in his mid-30s transported from 2011 to 1958 would act. He calls out ways the past is different, such as how everyone smokes, but never seems too bothered by these differences. He also never really laments the lack of technology in the 1950s.
In a lot of ways, Jake is presented as an old soul who is more at home after traveling back in time. This is something that makes his placement in another time less interesting since he fits right in. Jake even took swing dancing lessons in the present, so he knows how to do all the old-timey dances after he’s in the past. What a common hobby for modern men in their 30s to have.
As a reader, I don’t need to have total relatability with who I’m following in a book, but if that’s the case, then they for sure better be interesting. Jake is simply a bland human being. Sadie, the librarian Jake falls for in Jodie, Texas, is equally not all that interesting of a person.
The back cover of the novel.
King clearly did a lot of research about the Kennedy assassination, and I appreciate that effort. Still, his writing style is such that he often gets super specific about the details of a place in a way that feels like over-explaining and isn’t necessary. I care more about the substance of our characters and story than descriptors about old neighborhoods or whatever.
Overall, the characters here just feel hokey to me. It feels like an older person writing younger characters. And that is, in fact, exactly what’s happening since King was in his mid-60s when he wrote 11/22/63.
I won’t spoil the ending of the book here, but I will say that it left me totally unfulfilled. For a story such as this one, where the major intrigue is what will ultimately happen, how readers feel about the book will largely be dependent on its conclusion. I didn’t find the end of the book to be profound or interesting and was left more with a sense of, “well, that wasn’t really a worthwhile story.”
I know I’m being a bit harsh on 11/22/63. As I said in that first sentence, this is still a book of decent quality. King is a supremely talented writer and there’s a reason he’s so famous and successful. If you connect more with the characters here, I think you’ll enjoy this novel. For me, though, this is more the case of a fast-paced, easy-to-read book that doesn’t deliver on a fairly interesting premise.
Grade: 4.5/10