Ask not what Stephen King can do for you—ask what you can do for Stephen King. That’s the question JFK put to us during his 1961 inaugural address. Here and now, we have the answer: read 11/22/63. It’s the latest book in my Stephen King backlog, and it sits in a somewhat unique place among the King pantheon.Â
High school English teacher Jake Epping lives a modest life. He grades essays. He forms lesson plans. He teaches night classes for continuing education adults. We experience a small slice of his life before it goes haywire. Al Templeton, the local diner owner, calls Jake and asks to talk. Templeton reveals he has discovered a portal to the past in his diner. Al is sick—nearing the end, that is—and he has something he wants Jake to try. The portal takes travelers back to 1958. With the knowledge of the future and a little bit of luck, Jake could stop the JFK assassination. After some cajoling and a few small trial runs to change small events from the past, Jake agrees and steps into 1958.Â
There’s a trend I’ve come to expect in Stephen King’s books. A big, imposing hook (say, a haunted hotel or a murderous car) draws you in; then King tells a deeply personal story with the premise happening near or around the protagonist(s). In 11/22/63, the looming JFK assassination is that unbearable presence, but the actual tale is far more focused. In other words, you might expect a massive geopolitical story with real and alternative histories alike. In practice, these aspects of the book are minimal. Yes, Jake Epping constantly holds the upcoming assassination and its culprit—Lee Harvey Oswald—in the back of his head. Yes, he works to stop the man over the course of his six years in the past. And yes, the book’s climax answers many of the questions that naturally arise from the premise. But this is Jake Epping’s story, and JFK’s America is only the backdrop behind our real story.Â
Is that a good thing? To me, yes. I think The Shining would be worse off if it was a pulpy horror without the slow degradation of Jack Torrance. Pet Sematary would falter without the family being torn apart at the narrative’s center. 11/22/63 shines because it follows the classic King playbook. An ordinary guy is placed in extreme circumstances. Jake Epping finds odd jobs until settling down in Jodie, Texas, where we learn more about his past (now future, I suppose). He falls in love. He loses friends. He enjoys the simple pleasures of the past and derides the ugly racist and sexist truths that plagued the 50s and 60s. We experience his journey almost entirely in the window from 195 to the fateful November day in 1963. Only later do we understand what his actions did to influence the future. Jake Epping is a nice change-up from many King protagonists. He’s a nice, likable guy. His flaws aren’t likely to send him into a murderous rampage, and he isn’t wooed by a homicidal automobile. You won’t find Epping carrying a corpse to a Native American burial ground to revive it. Jake’s normalcy anchors the book within its complex premise of possible futures and flexible pasts. I was wholeheartedly content to let Jake and, by extension, Stephen King take me wherever the book needed to go.Â
While 11/22/63 comes to a thought-provoking close in terms of the JFK plotline, it’s the more focused Jake Epping story that had me smiling. Smiling is a rarity at the end of a Stephen King work, and that’s part of the book’s unique charm. There’s hope in Jake’s story, standing alongside tragedy, sacrifice, and horror. The story and the ending it led me to was made all the better by its emotional and nice conclusion.Â
Rating: 11/22/63 – 9.5/10
My your journey to the dark tower continue.