11/22/63
1925
- assassination
- time travel
- fiction
- reading level-grade 7
- reading level-grade 9
- reading level-grade 8
- reading level-grade 11
- reading level-grade 10
- reading level-grade 12
- fiction, alternative history
The story
11/22/63 is a novel by Stephen King about a time traveller who attempts to prevent the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, which occurred on November 22, 1963 (the novel's titular date). It is the 60th book published by Stephen King, his 49th novel and the 42nd under his own name. The novel was announced on King's official site on March 2, 2011. A short excerpt was released online on June 1, 2011, and another excerpt was published in the October 28, 2011, issue of Entertainment Weekly. The novel was published on November 8, 2011 and quickly became a number-one bestseller. It stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 16 weeks. 11/22/63 won the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller and the 2012 International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the 2012 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel[8] and the 2012 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
What it’s like
Warm, unhurried Americana rendered in plain, conversational prose: diner coffee, drive-in lots, sock hops, and Dallas heat, all with a faint nostalgic ache that deepens as the story goes on. King's voice is chatty and digressive, with dry humor and small-town detail that makes 1958 to 1963 feel lived-in rather than staged. The pacing is patient for long stretches, spent on ordinary days, then tightens into suspense as the central mission closes in. Its emotional register is wistful and earnest, and its people's arcs follow a restless man slowly putting down roots in a past he never expected to love. Violence is present and sometimes sudden and ugly, including a brutal domestic killing and a few harsh fights, but it is not gratuitous and gore is limited. Sexual content is brief and mostly offstage, and the language is coarse at moments. It suits a long weekend read, a slow evening with a mug of something hot, or a long flight, and it will appeal most to readers who want a big, absorbing historical novel with a strong sense of place and a bittersweet undertow.
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