“I have never been what you’d call a crying man.” (1)
11/22/63 by
What would happen if you could go back in time and change something? Would you go? What if you wanted to change more than just your own personal history but something more profound, something that may change the course of world history? That is the task that presents itself to Jake Epping, an English teacher of adult learners. Though not a crying man, a student's essay about a family tragedy profoundly touches Jake. Still lingering on this essay, Jake gets a mysterious call from his old friend Al, a local diner owner. When they meet at Al's diner, Jake is shocked over how much Al has seemingly aged overnight and is now dying of cancer. Al reveals something shocking to Jake; the diner storeroom is a portal to September, 1958. Al has kept on going back to determine if he can do one thing, prevent Lee Harvey Oswald from killing John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Since Al cannot physically do this any longer, he enlists Jake. After a few test runs, including one which he tries to avert the family tragedy that profoundly changed his former student's life, Jake embarks on his primary mission, to avert Oswald. This means making his way to Dallas, Texas, and settling for a long five-year stay in the past, tracking Oswald to make sure the future assassin was the sole conspirator. Finding Dallas to be too bleak, Jake takes himself a comfortable distance away, to small-town Jodie, where he finds work as a substitute teacher. Jake, going under the name of George Amberson, meets the school librarian named Sadie. The friendship grows to something more and Jake begins to question whether or not he wants to continue on the mission of stopping Oswald. Will he go through with the mission? What will happen to the future if he does?
This book was truly stunning. If it weren’t for the fact that this was a borrowed book, and thus under a time constraint about how long I could keep it, I wouldn’t have wanted to let this book go. Most authors would take us directly to the mission and dramatically shorten the stay in the past; King doesn't do this. This introduces a few excellent questions and conversations. How does one avoid going native? Is the past a foreign country? Has progress helped or hindered humanity in the twenty-first century? We luxuriate in these questions because King allows us to have time to explore the difficult issues. We love seeing Jake's life in Jodie and how he grows close to so many people there (a change from his modern, loner life). Sadie is also a wonderful character and you really root for her and “George” to end up together, regardless of the roadblocks. Though there are moments at the very beginning where you sort of wonder where King is going with this, by the end, every step, every move, every thing makes sense. King, who is an author known for his generally weak endings, writes a wonderful one that makes total sense. It lands perfectly.
Because of some of the material, there are a couple of trigger warnings.
This book is so well worth it, even though it is really long. You will want to settle in anyway because you’ll want to go native with Jake as well.
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