112263 by Stephen King
Introduction
In 112263 by Stephen King, Jake had a problem. He’s friends with Al, a diner owner and cook, who tells him about what he calls a rabbit hole that he found in his diner. Al says the rabbit hole is a time portal back to 1958. He wants Jake to go back and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Was Lee Harvey Oswald a lone gunman or was there a conspiracy? Will Jake find out in time and save Kennedy or will he doom the future?
Summary
112263 by Stephen King starts with schoolteacher Jake Epping making friends with diner owner Al Templeton. Al tells Jake that he finds what he calls a rabbit hole in his diner. The rabbit hole takes him back to 1958, he has made many trips, and he always returns exactly two minutes after he left. Al is sick and he wants Jake to do something for him that he can’t do for himself because of his condition.
Jake doesn’t believe Al. Al gives Jake a diary with all the information he will need to succeed in the past. Al wants him to go back and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on 11-22-63 in Dallas, Texas. Al wants Kennedy to live because he believes that the escalation of the Vietnam War will not happen and the current time will be better because of it. Jake discovers two tests that will show if changing the past will affect the future.
Jake does his tests and returns to the past under the alias of George Amberson. At first, he pretends to be a novelist but to make money he gets a job as a substitute teacher in Jolie, Texas which is near Dallas. He needs to figure out if Lee Harvey Oswald is the lone gunman and prevent the assassination. His mission is compromised when he falls in love with the school librarian Sadie Dunhill. The timeline of history pushes back at his efforts as he gets closer to the date in question. Will he or won’t he succeed? What will happen to Sadie?
Recommendation
I think that 112263 by Stephen King is a great novel. This novel is a romance, but that’s not clear until Jake meets Sadie. In the afterward, King said his son, Joe Hill, insisted on the ending that is in the novel that closes the loop on the romance. He was right about that ending and the last chapter is what makes the novel great in my opinion. There is a good miniseries adaption of the novel on Hulu called 11.22.63 that presents the novel well, especially that last scene. Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone? Stephen King writes in the novel’s afterward that he is 99% sure that he was. Whatever you believe, if you treat this novel as a fantasy, one possibility of what had happened in the past, then you should enjoy it. I certainly did.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of 11/22/63 by Stephen King.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12530184-11-22-63
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