Feature

Novel of the week: 11/22/63 by Stephen King

In King's new novel, a time traveler tries to prevent John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

(Scribner, $35)

Stephen King “has always had a soft spot for an America where men wore fedoras, drove Fords with big engines, and everyone could do the fox trot,” said Rob Merrill in the Associated Press. Take his latest novel. The title alludes to the date of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, which a diner owner in present-day Maine believes he can prevent because he’s privy to a time portal that takes him back to 1958. He’s used the portal to keep tabs on Lee Oswald and to buy ground beef at 1958 prices, but when he grows ill, he hands over his mission to the novel’s narrator, Jake. King’s “richly layered” tale proves to be full of characters “whose adventures in the fantastic are made plausible because they are anchored in reality,” said Jeff Greenfield in The Washington Post. Though the final outcome of Jake’s journey is too “casually rendered,” 11/22/63’s narrative power suggests that if a time traveler journeyed to the future to learn which of today’s authors were still being read, “King would be one of them.”

Recommended

Will Moscow drone attacks turn Russians against Putin?
A building damaged by a drone attack in Moscow
Talking point

Will Moscow drone attacks turn Russians against Putin?

Uganda's 'shameful' new anti-gay law
Protesters against Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill
Global lens

Uganda's 'shameful' new anti-gay law

War under the sea
A nuclear-powered U.S. Navy submarine
Briefing

War under the sea

Xi Jinping tells national security team to prepare for 'worst-case scenario'
Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Chinese Troubles

Xi Jinping tells national security team to prepare for 'worst-case scenario'

Most Popular

Why are so many boomers homeless?
Homeless person and tents
Today's big question

Why are so many boomers homeless?

Xi Jinping tells national security team to prepare for 'worst-case scenario'
Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Chinese Troubles

Xi Jinping tells national security team to prepare for 'worst-case scenario'

Fossils uncovered in Australia are 107 million-year-old pterosaurs bones, scientists say
Reconstruction of Australian pterosaur.
ptero-sighting

Fossils uncovered in Australia are 107 million-year-old pterosaurs bones, scientists say