Title: 11/22/63             

Author: Stephen King                   

Genre: Historical Fiction, Time Travel          

Publisher: Scribner       

Format: Hardcover 

Pages: 849

Rating: 5/5 stars 

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Life can turn on a dime—or stumble into the extraordinary, as it does for Jake Epping, a high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine. While grading essays by his GED students, Jake reads a gruesome, enthralling piece penned by janitor Harry Dunning: fifty years ago, Harry somehow survived his father’s sledgehammer slaughter of his entire family. Jake is blown away…but an even more bizarre secret comes to light when Jake’s friend Al, owner of the local diner, enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination. How? By stepping through a portal in the diner’s storeroom, and into the era of Ike and Elvis, of big American cars, sock hops, and cigarette smoke… Finding himself in warmhearted Jodie, Texas, Jake begins a new life. But all turns in the road lead to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. The course of history is about to be rewritten…and become heart-stoppingly suspenseful. 

Review:

I’m so happy I finally read this book! I knew that this would be the Stephen King book that would be in my wheelhouse due to the historical element to it, so I can’t believe it took me this long to read it!

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The book follows Jake Epping, who’s tasked with going back in time and stopping the assassination of JFK! The reason behind stopping this moment in history is explained as the death of JFK allowed a number of terrible things to happen afterwards, and that having JFK as president would have made the world better! Jake goes back in time, but to 1958, so he has five years to wait and establish himself in the past. He also needs to ensure it was Oswald who shot the president! What follows is a complex journey for Jake, and he experiences so many weird things! I really liked the concept of going back in time and trying to change things! It was interesting to see how he reacted to the past, and I thought King did a really good job of setting up the story! He explained what was going on in a way that kept me hooked to the story, and not bored feeling like the story needs to move along! It was also cool to see the people Jake met along the way, and the relationships he established in the past! I could totally picture myself in the past due to King’s amazing writing! I encourage you not to be intimidated by the size of this book, and if you’ve been thinking of reading it, just do it! 

Happy reading!