11/22/63: A Novel
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND MODERN CLASSIC FROM MASTER STORYTELLER STEPHEN KING
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? 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 and the possibility of altering it.
It begins with Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, whose life is upended when his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And the dying Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in the world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere and to the small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love. Every turn leads eventually to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? 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 and the possibility of altering it.
It begins with Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, whose life is upended when his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And the dying Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in the world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere and to the small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love. Every turn leads eventually to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.
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Community Reviews
Where do I begin???
I had understood that Stephen King did a great deal of research in order to write this book. It’s unfortunate in my opinion that he chose to reveal the results of his research so late in the book and did not figure out a way to incorporate into the rest of the story. For him to take a good 700 pages to get to the Oswalds is absurd. Additionally, none of the convoluted lead up, had any bearing whatsoever on the actual assassination attempt.
All that nonsense about the guy with the ticket in his hat was fruitless. It had nothing to do with anything. Even when the reveal came that he was in that football game, it meant nothing to either the outcome or plot of the story
Please don’t get me started on how awful Stephen King is at writing romance and intimacy.
I gave two stars because I felt it was interesting to learn why Oswald did what he did. Otherwise, it would’ve been a zero. 
Some books live with you after you’ve finished them. Though I only completed 11/22/63 a few days ago, I think I’ve picked up another long-term tenant.
Every bad Stephen King ending is balanced out by this absolutely perfect one. I'm gonna need a minute.
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