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.

2011 - TV of the Year

My annual countdown looking back on the best bits of the dying year begins here... with the magical tellybox. This year I've had to suffer the loss of Lost and 365 days without 24. So what's taken their places? Not The Walking Dead (or The Treading Water as we've renamed the lacklustre second series; inspired mid-season climax not withstanding) or True Blood (though the camp monstrosity of Denis O'Hare's Russell Edgington almost brought it home, we did have to balance that with the whole "Sookie is a Faerie" nonsense, and not enough Jason or Lafayette). Speaking of O'Hare, I'm still undecided about American Horror Story. The more ridiculous and implausible it becomes, the more I find it a guilty pleasure, and there are some great performances from O'Hare, Jessica Lange and Six Feet Under's Frances Conroy (slumming it). But... I can't help but feel they're making it up as they go along. And as for Smallville...

As usual, I've probably forgotten some shows that ran earlier in the year. Special runner's up prize goes to Fresh Meat, which is probably a better show than half the ones listed below, but hasn't yet wormed its way into my subconscious. Next year, it could well be Top Ten. For anyone who's read these lists in years gone by, the Top Fifteen will contain few surprises...

15. Castle

Occupying the same slot it did on last year's countdown, Castle continues to be a great example of comfort food telly, thanks largely to the charming Nathan Fillion. That said, they did shake up the formula somewhat at the end of Season 3, so I'm intrigued to see where it goes from here.

14. The Hour

Dominic West comes home from Baltimore for a show that's about as far away from The Wire as possible. He's still got that devilish twinkle in his eye as 50s newscaster Hector Madden and, along with Ben Whishshaw and Romola Garai, West helped make this show more than just a British Mad Men.

13. Rev.

A rarity in sitcom world, Tom Hollander's Rev is both witty and thought-provoking. It's not afraid to swerve away from the obvious laugh in favour of deeper, sadder, yet more honest resolutions. And it has genuine character development. Excellent cast (particularly Simon McBurney as Archdeacon Robert) and some top draw cameos from the likes of Sylvia Sims and Richard E. Grant. Even Dawkins would be swayed by the Reverend Adam Smallbone.

12. Monk

Farewell, then, Adrian Monk. More comfort food telly, Tony Shalhoub's OCDetective always reminded me of the kind of show I'd have watched when I was a kid... the kind I didn't think they made anymore. Despite its formulaic nature, Monk managed to make me laugh out loud and cry real tears on more than one occasion. I'm glad they gave him a happy ending.

11. Nurse Jackie

Sadly stolen from our screens by the Evil Murdoch Empire, I've no idea when I'll get to watch the third and fourth seasons, but Season 2 had me itching for more of Edie Falco's self-destructive uber-nurse. Guess I'll be waiting for the DVD...

10. Fringe

No idea where Fringe is going this season, but as long as John Noble continues to give us his alternately hilarious and heartbreaking portrayal of Dr. Walter Bishop, I'll not miss an episode.

9. Psychoville

Not now, Silent Singer!



8. Justified

Come season 2, Walton Goggins got some serious competition in the sneaky scenery chewing stakes from Margo Martindale as malicious matriarch Mags Bennet. Together, they even encouraged Timothy Olyphant to raise his game. A sly, witty show not afraid to break with formula: Elmore Leonard must be proud.

7. This Is England '88

More merry misery from Shane Meadows. I just love Woody's banter...



6. Mad Men

Another one stolen by Murdoch's Evil Sky Atlantic. Don Draper would not approve...

5. Luther

Told he probably wasn't getting a third series, Luther creator Neil Cross went all out to make the second as grim and nihilistic as possible. With random hammer-killing twins and a violent, clown-masked psycho it made Silence of the Lambs look like Playschool. And somehow granted the show a reprieve: season 3 is currently being filmed. Idris Elba: another member of the Wire alumni come home and made good.

4. Doctor Who

The Stephen Moffat Renaissance continues. Matt Smith cements his place as Best 21st Century Doctor. And Who finally became a show about Time Travel!

3. Frozen Planet

Who cares if they faked the baby polar bear scene? This was still jaw-dropping, eye-popping TV that finally justified the invention of HD and made us all fall in love with penguins. Again.

2. Forbrydlesen / Forbrydelsen II (The Killing)

Like a Danish Jack Bauer, Sarah Lund scowled her way into our hearts with a selection of chunky jumpers (which she even wears when visiting Afghanistan) and a single-minded, self-sacrificing determination to crack the case... even if it takes 20 episodes to do so. Roll on season 3... sadly planned to be the last.

1. House

Cuddy and Thirteen both walked out on him, but House survives (even prison couldn't reform him!), with a couple of new assistants to torment and a new boss (the best choice) to aggravate. As long as he's got Wilson, he'll be OK. But will this be the last series of House too? Hugh - no!

2010 - TV Of The Year

"I don't watch a lot of TV but..." could well become a catchphrase round these parts. Here's what's kept me glued to the idiot box this year...

15. Castle

Castle isn't great TV. It's formulaic as hell. The scripts rarely get beyond workmanlike. It has none of the sparkle of Moonlighting or even Remington Steel, which it so carefully models itself on. And yet, I can't stop watching it - for two great reasons. The main one being Nathan Fillion, who - after Firefly and Dr. Horrible - I have a heckuva lot of time for. He's one of those actors who can make even the corniest of lines raise a smile, and who has more charisma in his eyebrow than I have in my whole body. And then there's the improbably named Stana Katic who's grown beyond just another unbelievably pretty American TV cop to develop actual chemistry with her goofball co-star that often goes beyond what the scriptwriters can bother to deliver. They make an engaging pair... to the point where I'm also tempted to check out Ms. Katic's previous role...

...but I just know I'd be disappointed.

I've always been a sucker for quirky detective shows and now Monk has hung up his OCD mac (though we've still to see the final series in the UK), Castle fills that gap nicely.

14. La La Land

In which guerrilla comedian Marc Wootton takes his hideous creations Gary Garner (a wannabe Jason Statham), Brendan Allen (a kamikaze documentary maker with no ideas of his own) and Shirley Ghostman (a disgraced psychic) to Hollywood... where everyone takes him far too seriously.



13. Luther

Stringer Bell escapes Baltimore and comes home to London where Idris Elba's maverick cop teams up with a cold-as-ice murderer (an inspired, nutty-as-a-fruitcake turn from Ruth Wilson) and tries to keep his job while his best friend goes mental, his wife shacks up with a one time Doctor Who, and everyone wants his badge. This show got better the more extreme it became, leading to a genuinely exciting climax. Disappointing then that the Beeb seem to committed to only two new episodes next year.

12. True Blood

A curious show in which the main characters are also the least interesting and most annoying. If True Blood was just about Sookie and Bill, I'm not sure I'd still be bothered. Fortunately Season 2 brought other characters to the fore - notably Eric, Sam, Lafayette, Jessica and Jason. If they made Jason the star, I'd watch this show forever.

11. The Trip

Sending Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon off on a tour of the north's favourite poncey restaurants could easily have been a luvvie-fest of tedious proportions. Fortunately director Michael Winterbottom had other plans, playing with our expectations of both performers, letting them riff mercilessly, and revealing unexpectedly dark and touching aspects to their "characters" in the process. At times laugh-out-loud funny, at other times really quite sweet.



10. Nurse Jackie

Like ER's wicked step-sister, this is the show that proves everything you always suspected about hospitals. The staff are sicker than the patients. Edie Falco's philandering, pill-popping, mercy killing head nurse is scarier even than a Carry On matron.

9. Justified

When The Shield wrapped, it was a dark day for fans of Walton (Shane) Goggins. Apart from an amusing turn in the otherwise woeful Predators, where would we see our favourite bad boy again? Luckily he turned up as a thorn in Timothy Olyphant's side in Justified... then went and found God and got really messed up. Olyphant in a sheriff's hat is always good value, but it's Goggins who makes this show unmissable. Glad to see he'll be back for season two.

8. Sherlock

Everything that needs to be said has already been said, far more incisively, by others. Sherlock wasn't perfect (the middle episode sagged), but it really shouldn't have worked at all. Yet Benedict Cumberbatch's ADHD Holmes and (particularly) Martin Freeman's warm everyman Watson provided essential viewing, not to mention that sly but nail-biting Moriarty cliffhanger which left us all begging for more.

7. Fringe

This was the year that Fringe finally found its feet and stepped out of the knock-off X-Files box as alternate realities went to war, fake Olivia swapped places with real Olivia, Peter (Pacey) bedded fake Olivia by accident, and Walter Bishop - always the star of the show - offered his son some typically skewed words of comfort...

"In the seventies I innocently wandered in the wrong home and it was three days before I realized my mistake. And unlike Olivia, the woman I was sharing a bed with didn't look like my wife at all."

6. 24

For my full tribute to Jack Bauer, click the link.

5. Doctor Who

Finally, everything clicked with me and New Who. Mainly due to the departure of Russell T. Davies and the stepping up of Stephen Moffat, a writer who understands both sci fi and characterisation - and actually gets the possibilities of time travel too. Credit must also go to Matt Smith. Whereas Eccleston's Doctor was a little too reluctant and Tennant's occasionally over the top, Smith pitched it just right. And then there's Karen Gillen - the least annoying Doctor Who companion since Romana... and easiest on the eye since Peri Brown.

4. This Is England '86

Part hilarious nostalgia piece, part harrowing social drama... and featuring Flip and his gang of moped-riding goons: TV idiots of the year.



3. Mad Men

How could Mad Men top the assassination of JFK? Easy, by getting Don and Peggy to work through the night on a campaign while Don's world fell apart around him. Best single episode of any show this year - though the rest wasn't too shabby either.

RIP, Mrs. Blankenship.

2. Lost

It was never going to please everybody, but the Lost finale satisfied me, wrapping up enough of the mysteries, answering enough of the questions, and managing to give even long-dead characters a happy ending... of sorts. Plus, Sawyer got away. That'll do me.

1. House

House beat everything else for me this year, though admittedly I have been catching up. Season 6, starting with House in the loony bin, was the best yet... and while Season 7 (House in love!) isn't quite up to that standard, that's only because I'm scared that a happy House cannot last... and I care so much about this character, I really don't want to see him hurt any more.

Hugh Laurie is the highest paid TV star in the world? Hugh Laurie!?

Deservedly so.

The Town

I don't know why people have such a problem with Ben Affleck. He's a decent enough actor, seems like a pleasant and intelligent bloke in interviews, and he's made some pretty good movies in his career. Good Will Hunting, Chasing Amy, Reindeer Games, Changing Lanes, Daredevil - OK, maybe no out-and-out classics, but he's rarely embarrassed himself. He has done his fair share of tat - Pearl Harbour, Paycheck, Gigli - and of course, he had pretty terrible taste in women (Gwyneth? Bennifer?) that's only been put right by marrying Jennifer Garner... but I still don't get all the hate.

When his career started to go off the rails a few years back (while his GWH co-star Matt Damon went stratospheric), Affleck wisely took himself off the board. If people are sick of your face, give them a rest. Now he's back, let's hope audiences are a little kinder this time round.

The Town is a pretty low key movie, but if it's indicative of the sort of story Affleck wants to tell nowadays - as actor and director - it bodes well for his future. The story centres on a gang of crooks in America's most bank-robbed city, Boston, and a relationship that develops between one of the robbers and a bank manager they take hostage, played by the always excellent Rebecca Hall. (Yes, yes, if my bank manager looked like Rebecca Hall, I'd extend my overdraft. Etc. Etc.) There's strong support from a volatile Jeremy Renner (look, comic fans - it's a Daredevil and Hawkeye Team-Up!), Mad Men's John Hamm (who doesn't look quite right without the slick 60s suits), Chris Cooper, Pete Postlethwaite, The Man In Black from Lost and... Blake Lively. And if I don't get the animosity towards Affleck, I certainly don't get all the fuss over current fashionista it-girl Blake Lively. Each to their own, I guess. If she gets a few more bums on seats for Affleck, more power to them both.

The Town isn't a classic, but it's more thoughtful, intelligent and dramatic that majority of Hollywood churn this summer. Give it a shot or wait for the DVD. You won't be wasting your time.

I Love It When A Film Comes Together

The A-Team movie didn't do as well as expected at the US box office. It lost the battle to another 80s remake, The Karate Kid. I had a hard time understanding why before I'd seen the movie. As a child of the 80s, while I thought The Karate Kid was an OK flick, The A-Team dominated my youth. I loved that show, and I'd been looking forward to a big screen remake for years. We've had to wait a few more weeks for The A-Team to burst into the UK, but after finally seeing the movie... I now have a REALLY hard time understanding why it lost out to Jackie Chan, Will Smith's kid and a bit of rubbish kung-fu.

Because The A-Team movie does exactly what you want it to do. It doesn't try to re-invent the wheel. It doesn't try to make the A-Team believable or hardboiled or treat the concept with a seriousness it doesn't merit... yet neither does it mock the show (and our memories) in the way other big screen adaps have done (stand up, Starsky & Hutch). It says - you know what, The A-Team should be big and loud and brash and outrageous... but most of all, it should be fun.

They could so easily have screwed this up. It's simple enough to cast some black dude with a mohawk and have him say "I ain't getting on no plane, fool" a few times to satisfy the fans. And the rest of the team could have been reduced to their broadest strokes and replicated too - the handsome playboy, the crazy pilot, the silver-haired, cigar chomping leader. Yet the writers here have actually tried - and mostly succeeded - to give what could have been merely caricatures a little depth and development. The casting is perfect. At no point did I think, "that's Liam Neeson". I actually believed it was Hannibal Smith, from the start. George Peppard would be proud. Likewise Bradley Cooper captures that same mix of charm and vulnerability that Dirk Benedict did so well, and District 9's Sharlo Copley gives us a Murdock who's both Howling Mad and really quite sweet. Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson wins the battle with Mr. T, going beyond bluster and bling to be the surprise of the show. And yes, we do get to discover exactly why he doesn't want to get on no planes, fool.

There's slimy support from the always excellent Patrick Wilson and another 80s hero - Simon & Simon's Gerald McRaney (George Hearst in Deadwood); plus a nice cameo from Don Draper himself, John Hamm. (Sadly I missed the Schultz and Benedict cameos as nobody warned me to wait around till after the credits.) The only character who gets shortchanged is Jessica Biel's one-dimensional love interest / super agent, as forgettable in her way as the original Amy Amanda Allen... I guess this always was a show where the guys dominated.

The stunts are utterly ridiculous, the gags are frequently hilarious, the catchphrases, vehicles and gadgets are all given due consideration... really, what else could you want from an A-Team movie?

The Karate Kid? Bah!