Library Director’s NotebookJune, 2012 I remember where I was on November 22, 1963.  I was sitting in...

Wed, 06/06/2012 - 12:09am -- KChin

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Library Director’s Notebook
June, 2012

I remember where I was on November 22, 1963.  I was sitting in my 7th grade English class, watching with astonishment, as my usually dour teacher burst into tears upon learning that President Kennedy had been shot.

At that time I had no understanding at all of what was happening in the United States regarding race relations, women’s rights, the Cold War, or the American political scene.  The period of the late ‘50’s and early 60’s in American history is often glossed over in high school history classes, so I often feel a gap in my understanding of that often tumultuous era.

Reading Stephen King’s novel 11/22/63, I feel I’ve been given a kind of mini-history class in the political and societal issues of that time.  King spent literally years doing research on this era.  The results of his meticulous investigations are felt on every page of his novel, making the reader feel deeply immersed not only in the characters but in their mid-20th century world.

11/22/63 is both a genre novel and a stirring metaphysical examination of the flow, reset, and repeat of time.  It is a genre novel because it falls into the category of novels of the “what if” kind.  For example, what if someone had shot Hitler before 1936?  What if Lincoln had only been wounded, not assassinated?  And what if Lee Harvey Oswald never got a chance to fire at Kennedy?

The story begins when an English teacher named Jake Epping reads a remarkable essay from one of his G.E.D. students.  His student’s heartbreaking true story makes Jake realize how unpredictable everyone’s life is, and what small details weave the fabric of our fates. The novel continues as Jake recounts the fateful moment when his friend Al lets him in on a secret.  Al’s diner has a portal to the future.  Stepping through the portal takes a person back to 1958, with a chance to reset the future.

Jake and Al decide to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Jake also hopes to change the event that had such a traumatic consequence for his G.E. D. student. Yet very shortly after entering the past, Jake realizes how delicate the balance is between making things right and making things worse.

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