Sunday, February 5, 2012

11/22/63 (Stephen King)

Isn't Stephen King the guy who writes horror stories? The kind I would n.e.v.e.r ever want to read?

But then as I perused the book table at Walmart, this book caught my eye. At 849 pages, it was definitely a solid, hefty tome, and the front jacket, with its world-famous photo, lent the book a very intriguing air.

So I flipped open the cover and began reading the dust jacket...

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 readers on an incredible journey into the past..."

I was sold, and so I brought the book home in my trusty canvas shopping bag, and placed it on the bookshelf to be saved for when I was finished reading We Need to Talk About Kevin. I excitedly told Pete about this fascinating book I had bought about the JFK assassination, pontificating about how it was going to be an interesting look into the events leading up to and occurring on that fateful day, and would likely deal with the numerous conspiracy theories and other such questions.

Then, a few days later, I was rearranging some books, and happened to notice the back cover of the book for the first time:


Um, huh? Say what? So I turned back to the inside front jacket. This time I read a little more carefully, and I saw a few important words that I had missed the first time. Such as the all-caps, red heading:

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

Yep, that last sentence is pretty critical, right? And how about the ending of the paragraph I quoted above;

-- takes readers on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.

Oops...

In short, it's a book about time travel. And there's nothing horror-story about it; in fact, it's a page turner. So much so, that I began it on Thursday evening, and had all 849 pages done by 8pm Sunday.

If you want to know more about it, you'll just have to read it yourself. :o)

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