22/11/63 in Radio Patio

Apr 29, 2014 Jycel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

No soy fan de Stephen King, y normalmente sus paranoias de miedo psicológico me superan. Pero eh, que llegué aquí por recomendación, y es que con la premisa de "viajes en el tiempo" ya me tienen ganada.

No sabía que King podía escribir así, ni que entendía tan bien las emociones humanas, ¡qué maravilla!

Es largo, pero dura un suspiro, porque engancha muchísimo.

Y que no os eche para atrás todo el rollo de Kennedy, porque aunque pueda parecer que va a ser un libro más de patriotismo exacerbado yanq ...more

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Apr 25, 2017 Erika rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, historical-fiction

It took me several years to finally get my hands on this book and it was actually a bit of a lucky strike that I got it when I did. Anyway, I started reading 11/22/63 after a very tiring, pretentious novel so it felt like a breath of fresh air after being locked up inside a moldy crypt for months. The writing was so good; simple and straightforward but freaking good. Meaningful, I could say. I felt for the characters. I wanted to know more about them. Even after some romance started taking place ...more

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Apr 30, 2017 M rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bookclub, library, read-in-2017

11/22/63 seemed to be one of those time travel stories that I love: exploration of alternate history lines and character growth. But it fell a bit flat.

The main story is supposed to be about Jake Epping, high school literature teacher, going to the past to avoid JFK assassination since that would completely change the course of history for the better. That is quite a naive statement. I mean, I agree that it would change the course of history but... radically? And for the better? I don't think it 11/22/63 seemed to be one of those time travel stories that I love: exploration of alternate history lines and character growth. But it fell a bit flat.

The main story is supposed to be about Jake Epping, high school literature teacher, going to the past to avoid JFK assassination since that would completely change the course of history for the better. That is quite a naive statement. I mean, I agree that it would change the course of history but... radically? And for the better? I don't think it would be a magical panacea to erase all racism, xenophobia and savior complex that are ingrained in western societies. But if you can sell that in your story, I'm on board. The problem is that Stephen King tries to do this by showing how wonderful the late 50s and early 60s were. Sure, he throws a couple of things in the story to show that not everyone is that great: race-segregated restrooms and scarce women's rights. Those are big issues, yet they felt as an afterthought to avoid complaints about presenting the past as a golden ideal. As they are in the book, those issues don't stack about how much better food tasted and how friendly and community-minded everyone was.

But what if I suspend disbelief enough to accept King's vision of the past as a fantasy land? Is the story good enough?

Well, it depends. The book is long because the story is a bit all over the place. We get this big historical drama and we get something like three or four personal dramas that aren't really tied together. They are vignettes. The vignettes themselves are good and thrilling. I was really interested in the story about Harry Dunning, and I understand it is included as a test, but I don't think the link between the different arcs is strong enough. The book just felt disjointed to me.

And that is a shame, because I really liked King's version of time travel. See, there were some things that had been bothering me from the start. How come Al and then Jake get to keep the money from the past? Or the meat for the burgers? If everything resets, how is it possible that tangible things stay in the present after everything has been erased? To be honest I thought that it was simply plot convenience, so I was not at all expecting such a cool explanation by the end. I don't want to say too much, but I really liked how each of those details were actually hints to what was really happening. On the other hand, (view spoiler).

Ultimately I liked the book but didn't love it. King has great ideas and his pacing is fantastic, so I'm willing to give his other novels a try, but 11/22/63 could use a more ruthless editor. ...more

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Jan 24, 2014 Mejix rated it liked it · review of another edition

So you travel to 1958 with time and money and all you do is hangout in dreary little towns in Maine and Texas?

I wanted to be amazed but the moments of wonder were few and far apart.

For a story about time travel there was very little cultural commentary and very little adventure. "our hero joins the cigarette-hazed full-flavored world of Elvis rock'n'roll, Negro discrimination, and freeway gas-guzzlers without seat belts." You can hardly tell.

The story was overstretched. I can't understand why ...more

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Apr 28, 2025 C.E.C. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: estados-unidos, ficcion-historica, ciencia-ficcion, stephen-king, espacio-tiempo

Este es el segundo libro de King que me hace llorar en la vida, así que ahí se lleva plantadas las cinco estrellas a pesar de cualquier queja (bastante mínima, además) que se hubiera ganado de lo contrario.

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Jan 19, 2012 Victoria rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mine-on-paper

Even though it takes it's time to build up the main storyline you don't have the feeling that it goes two slowly and I've always found fastinating both, time paradoxes and JFK. ...more

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