11/22/63 by Stephen King – A Book Review with some Hulu Series Comparisons

If you could change one event in the past what would it be? What if you could only go back to September of 1958? This is the main premise of the Stephen King novel, 11/22/63. Anyone alive on that date can tell you where they were, and what they were doing. It was the day that President JFK was assassinated. However, this novel is so much more than that date.

Here is my spoiler free description and thoughts of 11/22/63. Along with with some differences in the Hulu series from 2016 starring James Franco, which just recently came to Netflix.

The Story for 11/22/63 the novel

In 2011 Jake Epping was an English teacher who recently got divorced. He’s suddenly thrown into the idea of time travel through a portal in a diner. While at first wanting nothing to do with this impossibility, he begins to think of the change he could make. His main mission becomes stopping the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, on November 22, 1963. A mission that was already begun by his friend Al*.

*As I’m writing this I’m just now realizing the time traveling main character is being assisted by a guy named Al, and wondering if Stephen King is a Quantum Leap fan. Really, who isn’t?

Al seems certain that stopping this assassination will prevent other terrible events, and thereby prevent countless lives from being lost. Including the many young men lost in the Vietnam War. While Jake sees the good he could do, his motivation for saying yes seems personal. Being dropped into the past 5 years before a world changing event that you want to stop, leaves room for personal matters. Personal matters that just happen to take place in a very familiar city to any Stephen King fan, and it goes deeper than simply the location.

Once Jake is satisfied with his personal task, he heads to Florida, and then makes his way to Texas. He waits, and plans. His main objective while he waits is being certain that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Simply delaying the assassination by stopping Oswald wouldn’t change the future how him and Al envisioned it. While he waits, he makes a life for himself in a small town called Jodie, Texas. He teaches, he falls in love, and a butterfly flaps its wings.

He never gives up on his mission, as the past and what could be his future, fight back. Jake, who in the past is George Amberson, has difficult choices to make. All while having no idea what he could actually be doing to his future, and those around him. A butterfly flaps its wings, and can cause a hurricane. What can a man from the future cause when he falls in love and tries to stop a pivotal moment in our country’s history?

Overall Grade: 9.5/10

While I haven’t read every Stephen King book (I’m working on it), this is hands down one of my favorites, if not my #1 favorite! 11/22/63 is over 800 pages long and there wasn’t a single moment that I felt myself drifting off, or losing interest. Jake is definitely a flawed character, which makes this time traveling sci-fi story incredibly human. He’s trying to do his best, not knowing what he’s actually doing. All while wanting more from life and thinking he can have it all.

11/22/63 the Novel V. The Mini Series

Again, I will avoid spoilers for any overarching plots. However, this is less a review and more what I noticed was missing, or added from the 8 episode Hulu series, 11.22.63.

The overall premise is the same, as well as the main characters. The novel came out in 2011, while the show dropped in 2016. Both take place in the respective years they debuted. Jake never goes by George in the series, and instead of dropping us into September 1958, we go back to October 1960. When this happens Jake goes straight to Texas.

While it seems Jake’s “personal” matter influenced his decision to go to the past, it seems secondary in the series. This was something I didn’t love. It gets rectified, but it didn’t seem like something the Jake Epping I had just spent over 800 pages with, would have done. The city this personal matter takes place in changes in the series as well. While, that may seem a non issue, I loved that part of the book, and how the city played into the overarching story of it all. This difference is most likely due to who owns what rights to the media adaptations of Stephen King’s books, but damn, that would have been cool to see.

One change I enjoyed was the race of one of the main characters, Miz Mimi, played by Tonya Pinkins. In the novel it is clear she is a white woman, as she marries another white character, and it is of zero issue in the 60s. However, in the series, their relationship is kept secret for sadly obvious reasons as this was before schools even had racial integration. While this seems absolutely insane today, it helps show how different things were not that long ago. At one point Jake asks Miz Mimi if he can fill her coffee cup. He’s met with shocked looks, and he has no clue why.

While it’s never made clear as to what race Jake’s ex is in the book, as it wouldn’t be relevant at all. In the series we meet her, and she’s black. I think this even further shows the differences in 1960s America to 2016 America. Jake was able to marry his wife no problem. Meanwhile, a couple he loves and respects in a similar situation is forced to hide their love. Same country just 50 years apart.

Bill Turcotte plays a much larger role in the series than the novel. This seemed as if it was to help with the storytelling, as a lot of the story is pushed forward via Jake’s inner dialogue. It was an interesting difference, and nothing that I felt shifted my opinion one way or the other.

The last difference I feel worth mentioning is the love interest, Sadie. Her past and what happens to her in the story is more flushed out in the novel, giving her character, and their love story more depth. It felt like we spent more time with the two of them, and Jake’s simple life in Jodie, in the book. Her not smoking like a chimney in the series however, was a welcomed change for me.

While I stand by the trope of the book was better than the movie, I enjoyed both immensely, and absolutely loved the endings to both. However, the book was definitely better. Shout out to the writers of the series who literally wrote that line into the first episode. Definitely gave me a chuckle.

Overall Grade for the Series 11.22.63: 8.5/10

I would say the best way to enjoy this story, is to read the novel, and then binge the series. I never would have seen James Franco in my head as I was reading, but I thought he did a great job of capturing who I felt Jake Epping is. He’s a good man, who has selfish and flawed moments. Just like most of us. Once I got past his Green Goblin smile he became Jake Epping/George Amberson.

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