11/22/63 is a novel by
Stephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
about a
time travelTime travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
er who attempts to prevent the
John F. Kennedy assassinationJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
which occurred on November 22, 1963 (the date of the novel's title). The novel was officially announced on the author's official site on March 2, 2011. A short excerpt was released online on June 1, 2011. The novel was published on November 8, 2011, and quickly became a number-one bestseller.
Although the novel contains
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and alternate history elements, the majority of it is
historical fictionHistorical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional...
dealing with real-life events and people between 1958 and 1963. The novel is a departure for King since it required deep research to accurately portray the late 1950s and early 1960s. King commented on the amount of research it required, saying "I've never tried to write anything like this before. It was really strange at first, like breaking in a new pair of shoes."
Background information
According to King, the idea for the novel came to him in 1971, eight years after the Kennedy assassination and just before the release of his first novel
CarrieCarrie is American author Stephen King's first published novel, released in 1974. It revolves around the eponymous Carrie, a shy high-school girl, who uses her newly discovered telekinetic powers to exact revenge on those who tease her...
. He was going to title it Split Track. However at the time he felt a historical novel required too much research, and greater literary talent than he possessed. Like his 2009 novel,
Under the DomeUnder the Dome is a novel by Stephen King, published in November 2009. It is a partial rewrite of a novel King attempted writing twice in the late 1970s and early 1980s, under the titles The Cannibals and Under the Dome...
, he abandoned the project, returning to the story later in life.
King first talked publicly about the idea in
Marvel Spotlight: The Dark TowerThe Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born is a seven-issue comic book limited series, published in 2007 by Marvel Comics. It is the first story arc of five based on The Dark Tower series of novels by Stephen King. It is plotted by Robin Furth, scripted by Peter David, and illustrated by Jae Lee and...
, an issue of
Marvel SpotlightMarvel Spotlight is the name of several comic book series published by Marvel Comics as a try-out book for new characters. The first series ran for 33 issues from November 1971 to April 1977...
published on January 27, 2007, prior to the beginning of the ongoing comic book adaptation of King's
Dark Tower seriesThe Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. It describes a "Gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. King...
. In the magazine, in a piece entitled "An Open Letter From Stephen King", he writes about possible original ideas for comics:
"I'd like to tell a time-travel story where this guy finds a diner that connects to 1958... you always go back to the same day. So one day he goes back and just stays. Leaves his 2007 life behind. His goal? To get up to November 22, 1963, and stop Lee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
. He does, and he's convinced he's just FIXED THE WORLD. But when he goes back to '07, the world's a nuclear slag-heap. Not good to fool with Father Time. So then he has to go back again and stop himself... only he's taken on a fatal dose of radiation, so it's a race against time."
Commenting on the book as a historical fiction King said "This might be a book where we really have a chance to get an audience who's not my ordinary audience. Instead of people who read horror stories, people who read
The HelpThe Help is an American situation comedy television series which premiered on The WB on March 5, 2004. The show was a raunchy comedy that focused on the hard-lucked life of a beauty school dropout, who now must work for the wealthy and spoiled Ridgeway family. The rest of the hired help are also...
or
People of the BookPeople of the Book is a 2008 historical fiction novel by Geraldine Brooks. The story focuses on an imagined past of the still extant Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the oldest surviving Jewish illuminated texts.-Plot summary:...
might like this book".
King and longtime researcher Russ Dorr prepared for the novel by reading many historical documents and newspaper archives from the period, looking at clothing and appliance ads, sports scores and television listings. The book contains detailed minutia such as the 1958 price of a pint of root beer (10 cents) or a haircut (40 cents). King and Dorr traveled to Dallas where they visited Oswald's apartment building (now a private residence), found the home of Gen.
Edwin WalkerMajor General Edwin Anderson Walker was a United States Army officer known for his conservative political views and for being an attempted assassination target of Lee Harvey Oswald.-Early life and military career:...
(one of Oswald's assassination targets), and had a private tour of the
Sixth Floor MuseumThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is a museum located on the sixth floor of the Dallas County Administration Building . The museum examines the life, times, death, and legacy of President John F. Kennedy...
in the
Texas School Book DepositoryThe Texas School Book Depository is the former name of a seven-floor building facing Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas . Located on the northwest corner of Elm and North Houston Streets, at the western end of downtown Dallas, its address is 411 Elm Street. The building is notable for its connection to...
. King studied various conspiracy theories, ultimately coming to the conclusion that Oswald acted alone. King met with historian
Doris Kearns GoodwinDoris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer and historian, and an oft-seen political commentator. She is the author of biographies of several U.S...
, an assistant to Lyndon Johnson and the author of the book Team of Rivals, and King used some of her ideas in the novel on what a worst-case scenario would be like if history had changed. In "The Langoliers", one of the characters while speculating the nature of
time travelTime travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
wonders if it is really possible to
interfere in events already happenedThe grandfather paradox is a proposed paradox of time travel first described by the science fiction writer René Barjavel in his 1943 book Le Voyageur Imprudent . The paradox is this: suppose a man traveled back in time and killed his biological grandfather before the latter met the traveler's...
in long past. There he briefly mentions JFK assassination, asking if Kennedy could have been saved.
Synopsis
Jake Epping is a recently-divorced
high schoolHigh school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
English teacher in
Lisbon Falls, MaineLisbon Falls is a census-designated place in the town of Lisbon, located in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population of Lisbon Falls was 4,420 at the 2000 census...
, earning extra money teaching GED classes. Near the end of the school year, Jake is summoned to a local diner, Al's Famous Fatburger, by his friend Al Templeton, who owns the establishment. When he arrives, Jake is shocked to discover that Al has become ill with terminal
lung cancerLung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
, despite appearing perfectly healthy just the night before. Al instructs Jake step into the back of the Famous Fatburger's
pantryA pantry is a room where food, provisions or dishes are stored and served in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen. The derivation of the word is from the same source as the Old French term paneterie; that is from pain, the French form of the Latin panis for bread.In a late medieval hall, there were...
, promising that the experience will help placate Jake's confusion. Jake does so—and becomes amazed upon realizing that the pantry contains a mysterious portal leading to Lisbon Falls as it existed on September 9, 1958.
Upon his return to the present, Al explains that the portal leads to the same moment of the same day in 1958 every time it is used, and that whoever takes a "vacation" there will witness events happening again and again. Also, while a visitor may spend several years in the past, he will always return to the present by a margin of two minutes. Finally, the portal can be used to alter the present by changing an event in the past; Al managed to use the portal to save a little girl from being crippled by a stray gunshot. He also planned to kill
Lee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
and prevent the Kennedy assassination, believing that doing so would change history for the better. Al spent four years in the past after entering the portal the previous night, explaining his seemingly rapid condition. Because of his cancer, Al asks Jake to continue his mission.
Jake reluctantly agrees deciding he will try to change the past first by saving the lives of the Dunning family. Harry Dunning, the youngest son, is a student in Jake's GED class and wrote a gut-wrenching story of the night his family was murdered. This is a watershed moment for Jake. He tells Al that once he saves the Dunnings, he will save Kennedy.
Jake reenters 1958 and, after buying a car, moves into Derry,Maine. The people there are not very friendly towards him and he realizes that, while he is following Harry Dunning's father, someone else is following him. On Halloween night, the night the Dunnings were murdered, he waits behind their house for the father to come home when someone puts a blade to his neck. He turns around and discovers it is Bill Turcotte (aka No Suspenders) who he had asked several weeks earlier for directions to the Dunnings house.
Bill explains that Dunning murdered his little sister a long time ago and that he is the one who is going to kill him. He holds Jake at gunpoint but his rapidly deteriorating health causes Jake to overpower him. Jake reaches the house just in time but is unable to save one of the brothers, Tugga, and is also too late to save the mother whose leg is broken. Jake manages to distract Dunning and succeeds. However, Dunning soon overpowers him and is just about to kill him when a blade pierces his belly. It is revealed to be Bill who threw the knife, as Dunning dies. Before Jake leaves, he tells Mrs. Dunning that he will do better next time. Leaving Derry, Maine, he returns to the portal and walks back into 2011.
Back in the present, he discovers that Harry is still dead, having survived his father's murderous rampage only to get drafted into Vietnam. Jake briefly talks with his sister who makes the connection that he is the one who saved them. When Jake goes to talk to Al, he discovers that Al has killed himself because there was too much pain. Resigned, Jake decides to reenter the portal and prevent the Kennedy assassination. Each time Jake has entered 1958, a man (called the Yellow Card Man by Al on account of the yellow card he holds) always asks him for some money. Al believed that the Yellow Card Man somehow knows what's going on. However the last time Jake entered 1958, the Yellow Card Man's card had become orange. Now as he enters the portal again, he finds that the Yellow Card Man is dead - his throat was slit - and the card in his hand is now pitch black.
Jake quickly leaves the town so as to avoid any suspicion whatsoever for the crime. He returns a few days later and buys the necessary supplies (and a car) he will need for the rest of his time there. He travels back to Derry, Maine but rather than wait till Halloween night again, he drives to the cemetery where he had seen Dunning place flowers on his parents' graves one other time. He meets Dunning there and after asking Dunning what is most important to him ("family," he replies), he shoots him dead. When Al was using the portal, he would save the life of a woman named Carolyn Poulin who was accidentally shot while hunting by a man named Andy Cullum. Since coming back into 1958 means everything has been reset, Jake finds Andy and convinces him to stay home and play cribbage all day thus preventing the paralyzation of Carolyn.
Jake moves on and decides that he needs to be resourceful with his time. He sends away for a "mill" degree in English and begins substitute teaching at a local high school. He becomes endeared to the students and faculty by putting a stunning play,
Of Mice and MenOf Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California, USA....
, starring many of the local high school football stars. Eventually, he is asked to stay on full time. Many people, however, are beginning to see Jake for what he is, or more exactly, what he isn't. The acting principal finds out that his diploma is fake and his references are forged, but the information doesn't go any further.
Publication
The trade hardcover edition features a faux-newspaper dust jacket, with the front featuring the story of Kennedy's death, the back, on the other hand, containing a story of Kennedy surviving an assassination attempt. The newspaper headlines were written by Stephen King. In addition to the regular trade edition, Scribner produced a signed limited edition of 1,000 copies, 850 of which were made available for sale beginning on November 8, 2011 (ISBN 978-1-4516-6385-3). This edition features a different dust jacket, exclusive chapter-heading photos, and a DVD. Due to a web site problem on November 8, most copies remained unsold and a drawing ran from November 10 to 11 to sell the remaining copies.
There was also a limited edition of 700 published in the United Kingdom. It was a slipcased hardcover with deluxe binding, photographic endpapers, and a facsimile signature, and included a DVD.
Critical reception
The reviews for 11/22/63 have been generally positive, with
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
selecting the novel as one of its top five fiction books of the year.
Lev GrossmanLev Grossman is an American novelist and journalist, notably the author of the novels Warp , Codex , The Magicians and The Magician King...
, in reviewing the novel for
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine called the novel "the work of a master craftsman" but also commented that "the wires go slack from time to time" and the book wanders from genre to genre, particularly in the middle. More pointedly,
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
book critic David Ulin called the novel "a misguided effort in story and writing". Ulin's primary criticism is the conceit of the story, which requires the reader to follow two plotlines simultaneously: historical fiction built upon the Kennedy assassination as well as the tale of a time traveling English teacher, adds a page load to the novel that Ulin finds excessive. Alternately,
NPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
book critic
Alan CheuseAlan Cheuse is an American writer and critic, the son of a Russian immigrant father and a mother of Romanian descent. He graduated from Perth Amboy High School in 1957 and Rutgers University in 1961. After traveling abroad and working for several years at various writing and editing jobs, he...
found no fault with the structure, commenting "I wouldn't have [King] change a single page."
USA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
gave the novel four out of four stars noting the novel retains the suspenseful tension of King's earlier works but is not of the same genre. "[The novel] is not typical Stephen King."
Janet MaslinJanet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
of
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
also commented on genre change and pacing but, unlike Ulin, felt the writer has built the narrative tightly enough for the reader to suspend disbelief. "The pages of “11/22/63” fly by, filled with immediacy, pathos and suspense. It takes great brazenness to go anywhere near this subject matter. But it takes great skill to make this story even remotely credible. Mr. King makes it all look easy, which is surely his book’s fanciest trick." The review in the
Houston ChronicleThe Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
called the novel "one of King’s best books in a long time" but also "overlong" noting "As is usually the case with King’s longer books, there’s a lot of self-indulgent fat in 11/22/63 that could have trimmed." The review aggregate site
MetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which is owned by
Scribner-Media:* Charles Scribner's Sons, also known as Scribner, New York City publisher* Scribner's Magazine, pictorial published from 1887–1939 by Charles Scribner's Sons, then merged with the Commentator which continued until 1942...
parent company,
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, judged 30 out of 36 reviews as positive, with four mixed and two negative.The review in the
Bangor Daily NewsThe Bangor Daily News is an American newspaper that was founded on June 18, 1889; in 1900 the paper merged with the Bangor Whig and Courier. The Bangor Publishing Co. publishes the paper in Bangor, Maine, in addition to two weekly papers distributed by the BDN and several others distributed by the...
commented that the novel "[is] another winner", but provided no critical review of the plot construction.
Film adaptation
On August 12, 2011, well before the novel's release, it was announced that
Jonathan DemmeRobert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
has attached himself to write, produce and direct a film adaptation of 11/22/63. King will serve as executive producer. Shooting should begin in the fall of 2012.
Links to other King works
As with most Stephen King novels, there are connections to his other works in 11/22/63.
- The greater part of the first half takes place in King's fictional town of Derry, Maine, between September and October 1958, a few weeks after the events in It. During his time in Derry, Jake Epping encounters two of Its protagonists, Richie Tozier and Beverly Marsh; other characters such as George Denbrough and Ben Hanscom are mentioned. He also visits the storm drain where Denbrough was attacked and killed by It. Epping hears rumors about a murderous clown, and borrows the idea for the novel he works on as a cover story. He also visits the Kitchener Ironworks mentioned in It and can feel and hear It calling to him.
- There are multiple appearances of 1958 Plymouth Fury
The Plymouth Fury is an automobile which was produced by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1956 to 1978. The Fury was introduced as a premium-priced model designed to showcase the line, with the intent to draw consumers into showrooms....
s, the title vehicle in his 1983 novel Christine, and the Takuro Spirit, a fictional brand of car featured several times in the The Dark TowerThe Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. It describes a "Gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. King...
books, makes an appearance.