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ninamitu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism, Car accident, and Alcohol
eadrianschmitz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
justagirlwithbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
“We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.”
This was my first Stephen King novel, and it was not what I expected at all. I don't usually like horror, and so, I decided to start with this one, which is a sci-fi. Ironically, despite the title, I didn't know this was a time travel book until just before I started it. I didn't even know Stephen King wrote time travel books. I really enjoyed some parts, while I found other parts to be slow. This book feels long (it did take me a whole month to finish it), but there were a lot of slice-of-life moments that I really enjoyed. I especially enjoyed the romance between Sadie and Jake. The last 200 pages or so were really tense and it was really good. At times, I was reminded of Back to the Future, which is one of my favorite movies! I did like that this book was more than sci-fi, being part historical fiction and part romance. I like books that are more than one thing! Stephen King is a good writer, and he really encapsulated the world of the late 1950s-early 1960s well. Also, I'm very intrigued to watch the show now! And, I can't wait to read more Stephen King novels!
Moderate: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
hayley_mariep'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
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Car accident
chickelope's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Hate crime, Xenophobia, and Alcohol
greendog95's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racism, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Stalking
elindseyr190's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Stalking
Minor: Cancer, Antisemitism, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and War
laurenleannereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death
caitsgreats's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Jake Epping, a high school English teacher in Maine, USA, gets summoned to the back room of his favorite diner by Al, a dear friend, who shows him a portal to the past. Literally. A straight line to 1958 and back. Al is dying, and wants Jake to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jr. But that would require spending 5 years in the past just to get to that point, and still it remains unclear who really shot JFK. Was it truly the lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald? Was it the CIA? Soviets? And what will the future behold, if he's successful?
But I've buried the lede. It's a romance novel, I promise.
What I liked:
- strong historical research
- feasibility of how the characters would have acted
- the flow of the storytelling
What I didn't like:
- failure to critically assess the downsides of the 50's and 60's
- only a peek behind the curtain of the time travel system
- the "downstream effects" of altering the past seemed farfetched in a book that was otherwise very reasonable (within its own world, of course)
When the book was written (2011), the willingness to overlook the glaring flaws of the midcentury in order to appreciate "a simpler time" was more okay than it is now, or maybe I just have a lower tolerance for it. Yes, major bad things happened to marginalized people as a part of the plot, but the character didn't seem to mind the "generic racism" that permeates his environment, for example. I prefer Kindred by Octavia Butler for getting that criticism correct.
The ease of systemic oppression is too distracting for me to really love the book. But to give the great Stephen King credit, it's the first book in a long time that I stayed up late to continue reading. Which was dumb, given that I was plagued with nightmares afterwards. But hey, I kept going back, because the book is written so compellingly. The characters are themselves. The time travel system sparks my curiosity, and I'll be thinking about it for a long time. And I'll certainly continue to pick up Stephen King novels.
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Antisemitism, and Stalking
Minor: Terminal illness and War
A quick note on all the content warnings. I wouldn't say this book is horror, or even "that bad," as it were. Gore and violence was used in a realistic, but minimal way (i.e. no sugarcoating, but it was the 60's). The worst part to look out for is likely the intimate partner violence. The rest is fit for cable television.lqne's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail