I read George R. R. Martin’s and Patrick Rothfuss’ latest books and loved every minute of them. Sure, in the back of my mind I was aware that they both seemed to have lost their plot focus and were drifting/idling, but who cares? They can both tell a story like nobody’s business. They could write about filling out tax forms and I wouldn’t be able to put it down. I’m all about the storytelling.
Stephen King is a master storyteller. People grumble and grouse about his writing – “it’s not good enough”, “he writes horror for goodness sake, how good can he be?” – and to all those people I say Phooey! The man is one of the greatest storytellers of our time. Yeah, he may not be the most poetic or elegant writer, but his writing doesn’t get in the way and that’s good enough for me. Just tell me a story.
11/22/63 is another example of his brilliance. Like most King books, it’s huge, and like most King books, I couldn’t put it down. No one takes an ordinary person and makes them interesting and identifiable like King does. In 11/22/63 we follow the path of Jake Epping as he finds a doorway to a specific point in the past, 1958, and formulates a plan to make the world a better place by preventing Kennedy’s assassination. Along the way he has other adventures, meets a romantic interest, makes friends and creates a life and all of it is riveting. When the story finally gets to the fateful day in 1963, the reader knows Jake intimately and can’t help but care about the repercussions of what he is attempting – not so much the repercussions to the world in general, but to Jake personally.
King handles time travel and all the headaches that typically ensue from writing about it by putting some rather strict rules on how it works. Jake can only go back to one spot in time. If he returns and then goes back again, everything is reset so that whatever he changed previously is erased. By doing this, King avoids all the confusion and explanation that often comes with time travel which leaves him free to focus on the story.
As for the story, it flows along without too many surprises for the first 90%, and then, just as you think you know how it will all come to an end, King twists it, and then twists it again. You’re left with an ending that is surprising and yet still satisfying.
Even though I’m a huge King fan, I admit that some of his works are stronger than others. This is one of the best he’s written.