With excellent literary structure, an incredible story, a splendid ending, and well-developed characters, ‘11/22/63‘ to this day, remains a masterpiece.
Story
‘11/22/63′ is a novel with a thrilling story that captures the attention of the reader. Stephen King’s choice to write the story in the first-person narrative proved crucial in adding a sense of authenticity to the novel. What makes ‘11/22/63‘ such a captivating story rests on the idea of it being character-driven and not plot-driven. Stephen King ensured to develop every character and make them drive the narrative rather than the story driving the narrative; this concept made ’11/22/63′ thrilling as the reader feels the character’s emotions personally.
Every plot and twist in ’11/22/63‘ seems to occur naturally, making the book feel more like a personal tale rather than a story. Stephen King’s development of historical characters like Oswald makes the book more interesting as King added authenticity to the historical characters; this made every historical character in ’11/22/63′ alive; it makes the reader see an alternate side to the characters that once existed in real life.
Characters
In ’11/22/63,’ every character seems to be alive and possess free will; this was only possible with King deciding to combine the first-person narrative with epistolary writing. ’11/22/63′ boasts well-developed characters, and even for historical characters, Stephen King went an extra mile in making them authentic, adding to the mystery of how they would have acted in King’s alternate reality.
Characters drove the story of ’11/22/63‘ as they brought out emotions and interacted with each other intricately. The extensive and intensive definition of characters makes the novel interest the reader with thrill and unpredictability.
Dialogue
’11/22/63′ is a dialogue-propelled story that focuses on characters’ dialogue to push the plot forward. With refined literary elements suited to the late 1950s and early 1960s, Stephen King created outstanding dialogues. The natural feeling dialogues in ’11/22/63′ also made the story fresh and intriguing as it leaves the reader wondering what happens next.
Writing Style and Conclusion
Stephen King adopted the first-person point of view narration, with the narrator being the main character, Jake. Though there was a switch to the third-person perspective narration, the first-person narration dominates and gives the novel a real-time narration feeling of authenticity. Stephen King also included numerous historical facts and events, increasing the story’s authenticity and making ’11/22/63′ an exceptional thriller.
Though ’11/22/63′ is a long book, reading the story is worth every page, as I appreciated the character definition, great storytelling, precise inculcation of factual events, and the imaginative expertise of alternating history.
11/22/63 Review: Life Turns on A Dime
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Story
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Characters
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Setting
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Writing Style
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Dialogue
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Conclusion
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Lasting Effect on Reader
11/22/63 Review
’11/22/63′ tells the story of a divorced high school English teacher, Jake Epping, who travels to the past in a bid to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. On traveling to the past, Jake realizes that time was a delicate network of intertwined events that when tampered with, could cause devastation. Jake’s mission leads him to falling in love, a decision which made him try to fix all his mistakes and heal the damage he caused to time.
Pros
- Excellent story
- Interesting characters
- Thrilling plots
- A very satisfying ending
- Unpredictability of story
Cons
- Very lengthy