Book Review - 11.22.63 by Stephen King

If you'd told me there was a new book out in which a teacher has to travel back in time to try and stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on the 22nd of November 1963, I would have bought it regardless of the author. From Back To The Future to Mad Men, I've long had a great affection for late 50s / early 60s Americana, and I've also always been fascinated by the way the Kennedy assassination has been absorbed into pop culture, from Oliver Stone's epic, star-studded and wildly paranoid JFK to one of my favourite Manic Street Preachers songs, I'm Just A Patsy. And it goes without saying that I'm a sucker for time travel stories too. So, like I say, I'd have bought this book whoever wrote it. But Stephen King? My favourite author in the whole world ever, ever? Could it get any better?

Well, yes, it could. Because not only is this Stephen King, but it's also the best Stephen King I've read in 20+ years. I've been more positive about King's recent works than many of his longtime fans, but I've still been aware of its flaws: self-indulgent rambling and anti-climatic conclusions being his greatest crimes of late. But at no point during 11.22.63 did I feel that King was dragging his feet: indeed, for a novel that's 734 pages long I could happily have read another 734. Unlike many novels, I wasn't racing to get to the end so I could move on to the next book on my stack, I was pacing myself, slowing down my reading, trying to relish every page, not wanting it to end. That said, I was glad when it did - and, more importantly, how it did. This was perhaps the most satisfying climax King has ever written, and it was interesting to see him tip his hat in that regard towards his son, Joe Hill, who "thought up a new and better ending".

The most impressive thing about 11.22.63 is the plot. Time travel stories are notoriously tricky to navigate, especially ones which involve changing history. Add to that the conspiracy legends that surround JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald and there were a plethora of predictable twists that could have sunk this story. That said, there are also certain time travel tropes which are essential, and to ignore them would have led to a hugely unsatisfying read. King's answer to this dilemma is two-fold: firstly to cleverly hoodwink readers who were expecting a shlocky conspiracy thriller into enjoying a far more satisfying romantic drama. To the point that once the Oswald chase finally takes centre stage, we're screaming at the author to take us back to the comforting diversions of young high school teachers in love. Secondly, there's King's ingenious solution to the book's true protagonist and antagonist. Despite what you might expect, this is not one man from the future versus history's most infamous assassin. Instead, it's one man from the future versus time itself. Time is the bad guy in 11.22.63, because time does not want to be changed. And time will do anything to stop history being meddled with. 'How does one man defeat time itself?' is the novel's central question, yet we're ever aware that a second question lurks in the background: 'What are the consequences if he does?'

The best thing I can say about 11.22.63 is that it's taken top place on my list of Stephen King novels I'd recommend to people who don't read Stephen King novels. If it's true that King has spent his entire career trying to shed the clumsy genre labelling and write that elusive "Great American Novel", then I'll be damned if he hasn't finally done it. Whether or not the sniffy critics will be able to get past the fact that this is a story in which an English teacher travels back half a century through a food pantry in a roadside diner... well, screw 'em if they don't have the imagination.

X-Men: First Class

While not as great a success as the second X-movie (yet far more satisfying than the third), the long-awaited X-Men prequel provides enough sturm und drang to keep fanboys hungry. The casting - and recasting - works wells. Michael Fassbender's Magneto could easily develop into Ian McKellan's calculating antihero (plus "he's a hottie", says Louise) while James McAvoy shows flashes of the intensity Patrick Stewart brought to Professor X, if slightly less wisdom. Kevin Bacon slices the ham as oily villain Sebastian Shaw and January Jones reprises her Mad Men role - down to the 60s fashions (albeit somewhat racier) as the ice cold Emma Frost. Winter's Bone Oscar-nominee Jennifer Lawrence is excellent as Little Miss Mystique, bringing a vulnerability to her character that reminded me of Anna Paquin's Rogue. Nicholas Holt, meanwhile, is Nicolas Holt. As Beasts go, I'd still rather have Frasier.

There are some surprising cameos from Michael Ironside, Ray Wise and Oliver Platt - surprising in how little they're used. Given actors of this calibre, you'd expect to allow them a little more scenery to chew. I'd rather have watched them than the bland young non-entities drafted in to play Havok, Banshee and Angel - though to be fair, none of these characters is given a whole lot in the way of development. As in previous X-films, you get the feeling they're only there to sell toys. (And don't even start me on Sebastian Shaw's henchmen - an unrecognisable Jason Flemyng as Nightcrawler's dad and another character so obscure I didn't even know who he was after I'd looked him up on wikipedia.) Still, at least we avoided any casting calamities of the Vinnie Jones / Juggernaut variety. Oh, and expect some kind of backlash over the fact that of the two black mutants featured, one dies a horrible death while the other turns traitor.

The story rambles in set-up - intriguing for X-fans, but I wonder how it'll play to less devoted audiences? The set pieces, when they do arrive, are worth the wait, particularly the Cuban Missile Crisis climax. (Best of all - it's not in 3D!) The 60s setting made the film for me, particularly Bacon's classic Bond villain / Dr. Evil turn, complete with lavishly decorated submarine. But again, I did wonder how well these stylings would go down with younger audiences.

There is, however, one moment that makes the whole film worthwhile. It's about 10 seconds in duration, occurs approximately halfway through, and came as a complete surprise. No spoilers, but I'm still cheering 24 hours later.

It's X-Men First Class week over at thoughtballoons this week. My script goes live tomorrow, but pop over now to see what kind of 60s spin the other guys are putting on our merry mutants.

Top Ten Songs About The 60s

So we move on from the 50s... to the decade you can't remember if you were there. I wasn't, so I guess I remember it better than most. Certainly better than many of the artists below...

10. Kenickie - 60s Bitch

Having previously included this in both my Top Ten Number 6 Songs and my Top Ten Bitch Songs, I'm running out of excuses to play it. Unless I decide to do a Top Ten 0s songs. Ordnance Survey?

9. Booker T & The MGs - Soul Clap '69

Booker T named his backing band "the MG's" after producer Chips Moman's sports car, but his record company (not wanting to get caught up in the murky world of trademark infrigement) claimed it actually stood for "Memphis Group". Moman's previous group (also with Booker) was called "the Triumphs". He was also temporarily in charge of "the Scumbags", until he sold his Audi.

8. Gorkys Zygotic Mynci - Foot & Mouth '68

An instrumental from the least interesting Gorkys album, this makes the list for its title alone. What other band would write a song about the outbreak of a terrible cattle disease 40+ years ago?

7. The Stooges - 1969

I love how youtube describes the genre as "proto-punk", suggesting Iggy represents some kind of primordial slime whio might one day evolve into the Ramones or Green Day. (He wouldn't evolve into the Pistols... Johnny Rotten was his own very distinct genus of British slime.)

6. Half Man Half Biscuit - 1966 And All That

Apparently there was some kind of famous footballing tournament in 1966, the last time we English won anything of any real worth. I wouldn't know.

5. New Order - 1963

New Order were one of those bands - like the Smiths and the Jesus & Mary Chain - who all the cool kids liked when I was in High School. Unlike The Smiths and the JMC though, I didn't arrive at the party late... I didn't arrive at all. I tried, which is how come their Greatest Hits landed in my collection. It's one of their more lyrically interesting tracks, but all those synths that bothered me back in 1987... bother me even more today.

4. The Auteurs - 1967

It's 1967 and there's no pop in Luke Haines's record collection. So he has to go and get a job in West Yorkshire... and being the proud Southerner he is, you know that'll kill him.

3. The Indelicates - Julia, We Don't Live In The 60s

Have I told you lately how much I love The Indelicates?

We never had it so good - life is sweet.

And now...

I've never had a tie for top place in these Top Tens before...

But I really can't decide my favourite song about the Sixties...

So this week there are TWO Number Ones...


1. Bryan Adams - Summer of '69

Summer of '69 is the cloest Adams ever got to recreating Born To Run era Springsteen - a triumphant, fist in the air, air raid blast of nostalgia that never fails to make me smile. As classic a slab of rock 'n' roll sunshine as Johnny B. Goode...

Adams and co-writer Jim Vallance can't appear to remember whether the '69 in question was the Summer of Love or the Summer of Mutual Oral Pleasure. You'd think something like that would stick in their mind.

The Canadian rocker's mum once lived just over the hill from me in Honley. That is my claim to non-fame for the day.

Oh, when I look back now, that summer seemed to last forever...

1. The Four Seasons - December 1963 (Oh What A Night)

Frankie Valli's biggest hit was originally titled 'December 5th, 1933' and celebrated the night prohibition was lifted in the States.

Apparently John Barrowman once recorded a cover. Much as I like Captain Jack, I won't be going out of my way to hear that.



So... do you remember any other songs about the 60s? Or were you actually there?