There’s a great moment in 11.22.63 when Jake Epping (James Franco) sings a verse of a Beatles song to his girlfriend. But as a time traveller, he’s in 1962 and she has no idea what the ‘catchy tune’ is. This is just one of the “what if …?” moments in this enjoyable series. I’m not a big fan of Stephen King, but this is a non-horror outing, based on the tantalising question of whether you would try prevent the assassination of JFK if you were given the chance. I won’t give anything away, but much of this 8-part series is about a guy from 2016 trying to adjust back to early 1960s life and mores. I think it does the period very well (though I was born in ’63 so what would I know?) It’s interesting to see how much the early 60s were like a continuation of the 50s until the Beatles arrived on the scene – quite conservative and still bound by conventions such as wearing a suit and hat. There are some great cars and diners and songs from that era. If you can suspend your disbelief over the absurdities of his time travel capability, it’s a great watch. I also learned a lot about Lee Harvey Oswald. Put it this way – Stephen King is no believer in the conspiracy theories.
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Martin S says
I enjoyed the book. I didn’t know there was a TV series. They kept that well hidden!
jockblue says
There’s been a few attempts at the time travelling hero, but none better than Replay by Ken Grimwood. If you can track that down from your local tax evaders, it’s well worth reading. The hero in the book finds his life replaying where he revisits the same period of his life over and over again, changing the way he does things every time. It throws up some interesting “what would you do” questions, and has always been one of my favourite reads.
dai says
I thought it was pretty good. Don’t quite agree with your statement about conspiracy theories, given some of the company he kept in the show. Without giving anything away the last episode seemed slightly ludicrous, but I suppose the whole thing was.
niscum says
I thought the book was very padded out with the stuff down in Texas and the girlfriend etc, but loved the premise. I think all the best stuff goes into the first 200 pages.
ivan says
I’ve realised that with Stephen King books, he’s largely a teller of shaggy dog stories. I loved this book, the slow burning of it, the laid back descriptions, all the while aware that I knew I was going to be let down by the ending.
That’s nothing to do with the historical accuracy of the story, but rather that in almost all of his stories, his endings are an awful let down.
The best analogy I can come up with? It’s like really enjoying baking, even if the f*ckin’ cake tastes horrible at the end.
Iain McKinney says
I liked the book also, but as with The Talisman, I was glad when it was over. The endings of both were average. That said, King knows how to grip you, and The Stand and Needful Things remain among my fave reads.
niscum says
Yes, I think his endings aren’t great but the journey there is usually so good you don’t worry too much about the destination let down. However, I think the journey in this one could have been cut down to half.
Re Iain, agree Needful Things is just fantastic. I love that book.
count jim moriarty says
Not a Doctor Who thread then…
Junglejim says
I too was drawn to read my first SK book by the premise & enjoyed the initial efforts of the protagonist to acclimatise to the territory & the times.
It did sag quite a bit further on though, with what felt like a lot of repetition.
Although I enjoyed his company, I wanted to yell at the central character to ‘ just get on with it & go to Dallas!’
Inevitably I suppose the pay off felt pretty anticlimactic& as I’ve never bought into the lone shooter theory rather simplistic.
I’m glad I read it, but was also pleased when I’d finished it, if that makes sense.
A series sounds like a great prospect.
ianess says
Thought I’d posted, but must have been lost in transmission. May have been suppressed by CIA.
No surprise to hear I thought it was crap.
Vulpes Vulpes says
ian, you fell down a time loop a la Ben Elton’s ridiculous last book (I refuse to use the word “novel” in this respect).