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munky15's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, and Car accident
Minor: Cancer, Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Sexual content
savvyrosereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Jake Epping is a high school teacher in Maine who learns he can go back in time and decides to attempt to stop the assassination of JFK.
I started this book many years ago (around when it came out) and never got back to it, so it was the latest in my “Project DNF” attempt to finish every book I’ve ever DNFed. I’ll start with the positives: it was entertaining and I am glad I finally got back to it. That said, I also found it WAY too long—over 800 pages/30 hours on audio for absolutely no reason.
My biggest problem, however, was that I really disliked the ending, and it made the length feel even more oppressive (who wants to read for that long and not even have a good payoff?) Overall, it felt like a very self-indulgent book…and while an author has every right to publish something self-indulgent, I strongly feel like edits could have been made so this book was *also* as good as the super intriguing premise promised it could be.
If you like historical fiction with a side of time travel/alternate history, you might like this one, but be prepared for a long and winding road.
CW: Murder/blood/violence/injury/death; suicide
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism
psychnp's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
But I kept going because hos books so often start slow building a base for the action, this was the first of his books I finished still thinking it was boring.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Classism
katierobertsonshaddix's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail
edenconroy's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism and Suicide
booksoversecondbreakfast's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This book has an amazing, well-thought out, invigorating plot, for the most part. It's so interesting, and with the exception of the slower middle half of the book, it was a real page-turner. That middle part was kind of rough though. I'm not kidding when I say this took me a few years to get through. I wanted to persevere through this book because I liked the story, but the middle part just dragged on and on, and I put it down and then picked up several times the past few years. Once I got passed the middle part, however, I was back glued to the book.
I loved that this revolved around the trope of a historian-type figuring uncovering the truth about something that happened in the past, and I liked that it actually used time travel too. Stephen King, as he always does, successfully worked horror into the story as well, and I thought it was very well done in an understated kind of way. I didn't love the ending, but it was okay, and I was just happy to find out how it ended.
This book's romance was lacking, in my opinion. The book used the 'not like other girls' and 'man teaches woman what good sex is', and I really dislike those tropes. I feel like the romance could have written so much better than it was, but it wasn't the main plot that drew me in anyways.
Overall, I enjoyed it, felt 'meh' towards some aspects of the story, and will keep the book around in my personal library. Will I read it again? Not sure, but maybe someday.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Ableism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
courtneymacal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, and Murder
quipo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore and Gun violence
Minor: Drug use
bigolscrewup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Dancing is life
5/5⭐
I feel so stupid for thinking Stephen King can't write Romance, based on the few books I've read of him before 11/22/63. It wasn't just Jake Epping who went into the past and fell in love with Sadie, I bet it's everyone who read this book. I can't believe that the idea for this book came to King in the early 70's and I'm glad he finally wrote it, four decades later. One of the most beautiful story I've ever read. I read this book in seven days and almost every one of those days, I kept thinking I'll be able to read the next chapter tomorrow and see what happens next. I don't know how I will feel tomorrow, waking up knowing there aren't any more chapters. Utterly compelling and absurdly entertaining. I read this under comment section of some YouTube video and I didn't understand it back then, but now I can. "one of my life's greatest comfort is knowing that there will always be more Stephen King books to read" I only wish this story never ended, I want to live in the world he created and never come back. I even tried to watch the show that was adapted from this book and it's just not the same.
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Death of parent
1721egp's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
This is NOT a horror or thriller. It’s truly historical fiction meets science fiction.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Grief, and Stalking