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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
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.mariposa517'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
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Drug use, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Classism
uphorikbooks'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
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Pedophilia, Racism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Vomit, Stalking, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War
theunmessjess's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
IT WAS AMAZING!
I have avoided reading Stephen King because I do not like scary stuff.
This book is NOT SCARY!
I was told by a friend that I would be hooked by the first page, and she was right. All 849 pages were SO GOOD!
It took me all 30 hours of plane rides to and from Hawaii to finish reading it. I just couldn't put it down!
SO GOOD! EVERY PAGE! EVERY PLOT TWIST! EVERY SUB PLOT! SO SO GOOD!
Moderate: Gore and Violence
It's not scary!bookchatwithbeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, and Murder
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
abby_can_read'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
4.0
I thought this was an enjoyable book. The pacing wasn't consistent, it was slow for most of the book and it was fast in others. I thought the characters were fine. I didn't really like many of them but I didn't dislike them either. I thought the plot was interesting, though a little predictable at times.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Racism, and Sexual content
Minor: Gore, Racial slurs, Blood, Car accident, and War
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
daelight's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, and Violence