May 2012 Weddings
spalko
member
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11/22/63 Discussion
Alright ladies, let's start talking about Stephen King's, 11/22/63
Hey, Hey Hockeytown!
Re: 11/22/63 Discussion
Heck yes!! I don't know how these usually go, but I'll throw my initial thoughts out there and then comment later I guess.
So I read the whole thing in a week. The fastest I've ever read a book, and that happened to be the longest book I've ever read, too!
I couldn't get through the first encounter with saving the Dunning family fast enough!! I almost jumped ahead to peek to see if everyone makes it, but I couldn't put it down! It was so horrifying, I totally imagined a "toolbox hammer" like he said, but a 20 lb SLEDGEHAMMER?! My heart was beating so fast! I'm surprised they didn't mention anything about the scar on George's head from that experience later in the book- King did a good job of recognizing others' scars because of the stories behind them and how they built each character, but this one wasn't really ever mentioned again...
I found the section where he was gathering information on Oswald to be kind of slow (it slowed my pace, but I still think it was necessary) because I felt it was a bit political, and I don't care for politics.
I cried like a baby when Sadie died. I loved her.
Then I cried again when Jack (or I can't remember if he introduced himself as George this time) met her when she was 80.
This one really resonated with me, I still think about it: The past is obdurate because the future is delicate. We say "everything happens for a reason" and I think when bad things happen, that's really hard to grasp. But if the future is delicate, it's easier to think it happens because the future needs those events to happen in order to stay stable... I don't know. Total mind f*ck. Loved it.
Like when Jack started pondering the events that might have been triggered by the butterfly effect from Al, tsunami of 2004? I remember that. 9/11? Everyone remembers that. Now of course this is fiction, but I knew somehow King wasn't going to end the book by saving Kennedy because that's not how we know it today. I felt that to really make the book good, and especially because the book was based on real historical events, it had to end with how we know history today. So to not only end it with "Jack resets, the end," I loved how he tied in historical events like the 2004 tsunami and 9/11 as events that weren't necessarily supposed to happen in an original timeline but were triggered by this butterfly effect from Al. Ahhhhh!!
Can't wait to see what everyone has to say!
Overall, I liked it. Didn't LOVE it, but I thought it was an interesting story. After reading the Dark Tower series (anyone?) I knew that there probably wouldn't be a happy ending, but I was satisfied with it.
I too felt like the story dragged a little bit when he was gathering "background".
I was also like, of all the knowledge of the future, sports betting was the best way he could make money?
Also, I guess I can understand the "new" future being politically terrible/unstable because of the repercussions of JFK not being assassinated, but mysterious earthquakes because some guy wasn't killed? Stretching the truth, I felt this was a detriment because it was SO unbelievable. Although I assume he was trying to convey the delicateness of reality after being altered so much.
i loved it! i've never read any books by stephen king, but i really really like the way he writes!
i cried when sadie died too, she was so awesome. after i got to that part i told dh to just quit reading lol
i bite my nails when i get really nervous/stressed/anxious and i pretty much chewed my nails all the way down because of some of the scenes in the book. like the first time he tried to stop dunning, and especially when jake and sadie were trying to stop oswald!!
i didn't mind the slower parts where he was following oswald, but mostly because i felt like i was really in it and i was the one spying on oswald. something about that made it seem really sneaky, and i liked it lol :-P
i was glad he was able to see sadie again at the end of the story, but it was so bittersweet, i just really wanted him to be able to be with her because i felt like she was his one true love, it was just so sad to me.
i think the book really made me think a lot, and i'm really glad stephen wrote the afterward at the end explaining all the research he did, and it sort of helped explain some things.
the part with the yellow card man, at first i thought was supposed to represent al, especially because after al overdosed the yellow (black) card man had killed himself with a glass bottle. after the green card man showed up i didn't really understand the point of him in the story, except i guess to explain the 'string' thing. which sort of explained it, but i didn't find it necessary for the story.. maybe i missed something there.
i actually really really wanted jake to forget about oswald and saving jfk and just stay back in time and live happily ever after with sadie... but i know it couldn't really work like that, but it's what my heart wanted for him :-P
i loved the book, good choice
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I felt the "colored card men" we're like all-knowing beings that monitored and protected the fragility of the future. Clearly the rabbit hole in Al's diner was not the only one. The green card man was sane enough to warn jack of his behavior, and the yellow card man was put there for the same reason, but keeping track of all the strings drove him to insanity and eventually suicide. Now I want to know, how does one get recruited into that line of work??
Also, did anyone understand the dates on the last page?
I typically wouldn't touch a Steven King book... however, this one was great! I loved it. I got it on my kobo so didn't really realize how long it was until I saw the actual book it Costco this weekend!
I'm with everyone else here... thought the part where he was doing recon on Oswald to be a little slow, but also necessary.... I'm Canadian... and in grade 11 did an entire unit in our Social Studies class on the Kennedy assassination and it FASCINATED me. I loved that sort of stuff.. so reading King's theories on it is part of what drove me to be so interested in this book. I really did like the history aspect to it.
I really loved the love story part of this book as well... i'm a sucker for a good love story. Couldn't help but love Sadie... and be TERRIFIED for her with regards to her ex. That part really captured my attention. Just waiting to see if/when he was going to come back and find her... i found her relationship captivating. I didn't cry when she died.. but it was a sad moment.. part of me didn't think she was going to make it from the beginning.
The whole theme of "the past doesn't want to be changed" really resonated with me. One of the previous comments said something about "everything happens for a reason" and i'm one of those people that truly believes that.. good or bad... everything happens for one reason or another... whether it is a "God" that has a plan (i'm not a religious person.. spiritual maybe.. but not religious) or if it's science, or if it's just human nature... my dad died for a reason... Kennedy was assassinated for a reason.. all these things happened.. so something else could happen... and you can't change that.. and shouldn't be able to.. and I really liked that theme in the book. I do agree that Kennedy not being assassinated causing major earth quakes seems to be a bit of a stretch... but whatever.
I did have a hard time processing parts of the book though... like the "resets". I had a really hard time wrapping my head around the concept that, for instance, Sadie dies... and then he goes back through the rabbit hole and she's alive again.. and can go back to the future and she's still alive and has lived a long life... that was just hard for me to grasp.
All in all, I loved the book though, thought it was fabulous, and have recommended it to a lot of people already. Even those, who like me, typically wouldn't read Steven King.I also do not read Steven King books find them hard to understand and follow, however, i did not at all on this one. I really liked it, and near the end had a very hard time putting it down.
I too loved Sadie and hated when she died. I was very scared for her when her ex came for her. What I found interesting is when George was in the past she was not afraid of her ex and never thought he would come after her yet when he reset it, she still got the scare and all on her face, however, she did tell the school about her ex and was a little afraid. Also she seemed to know George when he visited her when she was 80. It was almost like he didn't completely reset the past there was a shadow of him or he still influenced the past/future.
I do think parts when he was researching went slowly. However, it made me wonder what Oswalds family is really like.
I also found it interesting that in the reset Sadie warned people that her ex was possibly dangerous. I liked that George/Jake seemed familiar to her when she was 80. I think that's because sometimes when you meet a soulmate (your husband, a best friend, etc) there is that level of comfort right away...it feels like you've known them forever. I think that's why he seemed familiar to her. They were soulmates....just not at the right time. Sad.
I really liked the book! It was also my first Stephen King book. I thought the story flowed nicely, yeah some parts were a little long but it wasn't bad. I was confused by all the resets and then all the stuff about the strings, very confusing. I'm glad that he decided to not stop the Kennedy assignation but I do wish he could have gone back and had a life with Sadie even though that's the point....(I'm a hopeless romantic!)