Synopsis: What would you do if you could go back in time? In 11/22/63 Jake Epping, a high school English teacher living in Maine, is given the opportunity to travel back in time to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But he quickly discovers the past doesn’t want to be changed and both the people, and time itself, fight him at every turn. 

My Thoughts: It has been a long time since I enjoyed and disliked reading a book this much. It should come as no surprise that the characters that populate this story instantly feel real. Multiple times while reading I had to remind myself that this was fiction and these people who I had connected with were not living a few miles down the road from me in Texas. 

The story itself was fascinating. Stephen King is the master of taking a vague premise and turning it into something most authors only dream of writing. I appreciate how quickly the story got started so the reader isn’t waiting around for some kind of action. We meet the main character, he is given a mission, and he sets off within 30 pages. There is an early payoff around ⅓ of the way through the book and from there until the very end the story seems to drag. The content wasn’t boring, it just seemed to go on a little too long. Then the end comes and we have to say goodbye to all these new friends, and we realize that the “boring” time was strengthening our bond to the characters which makes the ending all the more difficult. 

A fun inclusion was the multiple nods to It. Jake meets Beverly and Ritchie in Derry, and even visits the Kitchner Ironworks where he feels something calling to him. 

Overall, this is a five-star book and I am glad I pushed through to the end. I’m not ashamed to say I cried when I turned the last page.