11-22-63

A Novel

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Craig Wasson

Length: 30 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back?

In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King - who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer - takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.

It begins with Jake Epping, a 35-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching GED classes. He asks his students to write about an event that changed their lives, and one essay blows him away: a gruesome, harrowing story about the night more than 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a sledgehammer. Reading the essay is a watershed moment for Jake, his life - like Harry’s, like America’s in 1963 - turning on a dime.

Not much later his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession - to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in a different world - of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere. From the dank little city of Derry, Maine (where there’s Dunning business to conduct), to the warmhearted small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love, every turn is leading, eventually of course, to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful - and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.

©2011 Stephen King. All Rights Reserved. (P)2011 Simon & Schuster, Inc

Very good!

The story was well-written and fascinating. I would listen every day on my way to and from work and actually looked forward to my commute. I didn't even mind getting stuck in traffic.

Great Book, Best Narrator Ever

Any additional comments?

I have never written a review before, but I after listening to this I had to. Craig Wasson did an amazing job narrating this book. It helps that it was a great story I'm sure, but he really made the characters come alive. Great Audio Book.

First time Stephen king listener

I had no issues with the story I thought it was well written and well constructed I like the narrators acting and I I thought overall that it was a well-thought-out story . I chose this rating because this book deserved it in my opinion

Of hundreds, this is the only book I’ve read twice

I’m not a crier, but I cried at the end. I wasn’t alive when JFK was killed and don’t care deeply about that, but it makes no difference. It’s written in a way that I can feel the emotions of the characters. It is written with such excellent characters and character building that the story stands in its own rite. King skillfully built up the relationship between the two main characters throughout the book, so it was believable, what they did toward the end.

Some parts in the middle get a little dull when the main character is waiting for things to happen, but I think that serves an intentional purpose too.

I absolutely loved the excellent and accurate accents the reader used for the various regions this took place in. It was fun to listen to and made it easy to imagine I was there.

new favorite Stephen King!

I've read or listened to most of Kings books, and this one blew me away! Like Hearts in Atlantis, I wasn't expecting too much and, just like Hearts in Atlantis, I was EXTREMELY impressed and touched by this book. Def not a horror story, but you still get those signature king "on the edge of you seat" moments throughout the story. I'm sure I'll listen to this again in the next few months!

Excellent

I loved everything about this book. The narration was top notch. So engaging and dynamic. The narrator made me feel I was there seeing this story unfold. The story itself was very well done.

Best book I've ever read!

This book is so wonderful that I have listened to it twice... and will listen again some day! The narrator was fantastic and the story is amazing. Even though it was over 30 hours, I wanted more! Stephen King's mind is incredible.

Wonderful

The book was fantastic and so was the narrator. Loved the tone of his voice.

If you return to 1958, what would you change?

In the early chapters of this book, I had to overcome a mental and emotional negative reaction to the concept of someone trying to go back in time to change an event so monumental as the assassination of JFK. Sure, I wish it had not happened, but anybody knows that if that event had not happened, many, many, many lives would have gone differently, and as a result, people would have married differently and many of those under the age of 48 may well have never been born.

But this book did not go there, and once a friend reminded me that it was "just a story", I was able to overcome my negative reaction, and push on through the book. And I was rewarded by an engaging, though at times a bit too fanciful, story.

I think that one of Stephen King's motives in writing this book was to meet some kind of benchmark standard for the use of the term "obdurate." I do not remember using that word myself on any occasion, but I suspect that he has succeeded in injecting into my consciousness to such an extent that it will be used the next time I encounter a stubborn boss or colleague. In the book, the past is what is considered "obdurate", and I found this theme unifying to the book, but somewhat annoying as well.

In summary, this book takes the public fascination with Kennedy and his assassination, and blends a fictionalized story about that with time travel and romance into a very enjoyable read. Although little of King's other work has interested me, this book shares the same magical quality that I found in The Green Mile, where he takes familiar concepts and things from our culture, and injects a bit of the supernatural, and writes a hell of a story. 11-22-63 is a good read, if you can overcome whatever mental or emotional reactions you might have to the premises of the book.

The Best of the Best

The combination of Stephen King and Craig Wasson is amazing. I've listed to veteran narrators like Scott Brick, Dick Hill and others, but none of them could have matched Wasson's performance. Bravo!