11-22-63

I Owe Stephen King An Apology

Stephen King On Writing is one of my favorite books, and I read it every couple of years. Half memoir, half writing “how to,” it is absorbing and delightful. I recommend it to my students and suggest that they read it every year.

However, that is the only one of King’s books that I’ve been able to read. I’ve tried many times, but kept getting bogged down after 20 or 30 pages. The stories were okay, but couldn’t hold my interest because the writing seemed too heavy handed, brutish, like he was typing with his fists.

So, after days of consideration, it was with great reluctance that I downloaded 11/22/63. The reviews were good, glowing, in fact, and I’ve learned to trust the opinions of Audible listeners. Plus, the book is more than 30 hours long, which the bargain hunter in me always finds attractive.

I just finished it tonight. It is a wonderful and fascinating story, based loosely on an English teacher’s obsession with Lee Harvey Oswald and the possibility of going back in time to prevent the Kennedy killing. I also enjoyed the love story, which the author handles with charm, humor and honesty.

The writing is wonderful, masterful, vivid, compelling. The characters are rich and deep, genuine, involved, and I find myself thinking about them and their lives often throughout the day. Life in small-town and big-town 1958 up to 1963 is mesmerizing, much as I remember it, with the constant but subtle hint of mysterious dangers to come.

You’ll get no more details from me, only a hearty endorsement. Well worth every minute, made doubly valuable by the excellent and interesting reading by Craig Wasson. Totally believable, wonderfully surprising, and, well, I was going to say something about the ending, but you'll want to find that out for yourself.

648 of 742 people found this review helpful

This book faded like a bad racehorse…

When I first got into this book, I was very interested and tearing through it. However, as I plodded along it got slower and worse—then it was capped off with a terrible ending. The book is largely about a “rabbit hole” that leads to the past, however King’s rambling writing also leads the reader down countless rabbit holes that add nothing to the overall story and just make the book longer and more tedious. I was also frustrated throughout the book by the many pot shots that King takes at republicans and conservatives in general. I get that he is a proud liberal, but it comes across as juvenile and petty. The narration was excellent with a few exceptions. I have not heard this style of narration before where many of the characters take on imitated voices of actual actors. Most were good (very good in fact), however the FBI agent towards the end with the Jimmy Stewart voice was terrible. I had trouble listening to those parts which were critical to the entire story. This is my first reading of a King novel, I was hoping for “Shawshank”, but it turned out more like “Maximum Overdrive”.

33 of 37 people found this review helpful

I have never been more bored

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

People with lots of time on their hands. I recommend buying it in paper back so you can skip through the book quicker.

What was most disappointing about Stephen King’s story?

The book desperately needs editing. The plot slogs along and, despite that, the characters still don't seem to be fleshed out; I don't understand their motivations or their feelings. With that, the overall premise is interesting. I wish I could have enjoyed it.

What about Craig Wasson’s performance did you like?

He's a good reader with an overly long book.

46 of 52 people found this review helpful

Major disappointment

Would you try another book from Stephen King and/or Craig Wasson?

I was intrigued by the plot and completely bought into it throughout the book, so that's not the reason for my criticism. The story was good, very good in spots. It was the writing that disappointed - about halfway through it turned amateurish in far too many places (if I notice such a thing, then it's BAD).

One has to wonder what happened to the editor, especially during the 2nd half of the book. At least an hour, maybe two, of repetition could have been excised, and the story would have been better for it. Also, has anyone counted how many times King used "the past is obdurate" or "harmonic" ? It was so many that they became groan worthy towards the end.

With the exception of his Stella Voice, Narrator Wasson was excellent (however, the fact that he based some of his characters' voices on the likes of Burt Lancaster, Jimmy Stewart, John Houseman & Nixon, while amusing, was slightly distracting).

66 of 75 people found this review helpful

So very boring, and doesn’t ring true

King has written some great stories. This is not one of them.
This is a bazillion pages of “the imagined fairytale life of a 70s-era guy living in the good ol’ days of the late 50s” Someone should have taken a dozen red pens to the endless rambling about how cute the sock hops were and how neatly George cut his grass and all the little ways he transformed every young life he touched. Also excessively belabored are Jake’s internal musings about what he’ll maybe eventually do in four years— or not.
And Jake is supposed to be a guy raised in the 80s/90s, yet all the “modern” slang and pop culture references and such that are supposed to highlight his anachronism are from the 70s. It’s bizarrely old fashioned, and it’s jarringly out of place with the context. No one who was 35 in 2011 goes around saying “kick out the jams” or obsessively telling people their name is “Puddintane.”
I wish I had skipped whole chunks of this one, if not the whole book. I haven’t watched the miniseries, but I imagine they must have stripped it bare and cut out the whole middle to make it work.

39 of 44 people found this review helpful

This was over 20 hours of my life wasted.

What disappointed you about 11-22-63?

Too long and boring. When the speaker pretends to be a southern woman I kept thinking of Monty Python. The characters were false and unbelievable. It's trying to be a love story, after 14 hours I still wasn't convinced. I kept listening hoping it would get better but it only got worse.

Would you ever listen to anything by Stephen King again?

I used to be a fan. Not sure anymore.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Craig Wasson?

Different voices for different characters would make more sense.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No

Any additional comments?

Don't waste your time and money.

32 of 36 people found this review helpful

I don't Know Why I Listened to this Book

Would you try another book from Stephen King and/or Craig Wasson?

No

Has 11-22-63 turned you off from other books in this genre?

Yes

What does Craig Wasson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Tears of emotional description

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I guess if you want to read, something truly fictional, about someone trying to prevent the Kennedy assassination and the consequences of that action, it is an interesting thought.

Any additional comments?

This book could have told the story in half the length. If you like a lot of detail of the day to day living of the characters, plus a description of their clothing, what they ate, read and felt every moment, then this is the book for you.

32 of 36 people found this review helpful

What happened?

Not sure if it was the writing or the narrator that made this such an unremarkable read. Very boring and couldn't stand the narration. Very expensive waste of time. Can't believe this was a Stephen King novel....

32 of 36 people found this review helpful

Starts off strong and fades

Would you try another book from Stephen King and/or Craig Wasson?

Yeah, but I don't like a lot of King's endings.

What was most disappointing about Stephen King’s story?

The love story aspect, not focusing enough on the new future he created and why it all happened. Could have focused more on the yellow/green/orange whatever card man. A lot of disappointments in the end.

What three words best describe Craig Wasson’s performance?

I thought he was a little annoying with the accents.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Yes it was a really interesting premise, I just think the execution fell off a cliff. It would have been better if he had to take down a conspiracy instead of just Oswald. That turned it into a love story.

45 of 51 people found this review helpful

Bad Effort

Would you try another book from Stephen King and/or Craig Wasson?

I am a Steven King fan, but I would never buy another audio book narrated by Craig Wasson.

Has 11-22-63 turned you off from other books in this genre?

Yes

How could the performance have been better?

Different narrator.

Any additional comments?

Growing up in Dallas in the 50's and 60's, I am used to people's negative view of the city due to the JFK assassination. But at this late date, King's constant deriding of Dallas and the his stereotypical portrayal of the city is unwarranted and also way off the mark.
He claims to have been to Dallas and researched the subject, but I find it hard to believe.
For example, in this book, his main character claims that weeks of apartment searching failed to yield even one

58 of 66 people found this review helpful