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adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore
Minor: Mental illness
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Classism
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Oh hallelujah I finally finished this book. I'm probably be generous with an extra half a star in my review because I'm just so glad to be done. I chose to listen to the audiobook which is over 30.5 hours long. It started out really promising - historical fiction (but the 'real' kind, where a fictional plot happens in a very real historical time and place and you get to really learn more about the events of the time and what it was like to live there) is one of my favorite genres, so him going back to the late 50s/early 60s and really going and seeing all the differences and the series of events leading up to the Kennedy assassination was really great.
In the middle, it slows down a bit, which I expected because I had read that in other reviews and I would actually argue was a clever narrative device. The point is that he arrives in 58 so he has to pass the time for years before the historical event he hopes to influence, so it's natural and a good part of storytelling that this part lags a bit as he waits, and you the reader, wait with him. BUT this is where it goes into a full fledged, overly detailed, Stephen King personal fantasy. Our main character, a write & teacher from Maine (just like King himself) meets a tall, gorgeous woman (but don't worry, not taller than our main character who is a strapping 6'5"!) and even though she's been married (since it would be weird for a 28 year old to be single during that era) is miraculously a virgin! And wouldn't you know he gives her an orgasm the first time they 'make love' together with his magical d*ck?! And she is traumatized by her husband, so needs rescuing by this hero. They become the most beloved teachers in the school and town and find the inner actors in their students and put on amazing school plays that have cream pie fights that go on and on and on. Really, no detail is left out in this loooong elaborate fantasy. However, the creepy part is that this woman is coming out of a psychologically abusive relationship, but that he himself starts to have more and more erratic behavior and lying to her and being shady and convincing her that a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy in the relationship is best. He then admires her for being so 'brave' and doing 'the right thing' by trusting him. UGH. It's really crap like this that perpetuates abusive relationships.
Anyway, all that aside, we finally get closer to the 1962 and back into following Oswald to determine whether he was a lone actor or not. However, the original mojo of the story is now extremely secondary to this love story and the drama going on there. At this point I get 70% through the book and I'm rolling my eyes a *lot* and can see that we're not going to get back to the promise that the beginning of the book held. I questioned whether or not to continue, but completely got pulled in to the sunk-cost fallacy since 70% of this book is 24 hours. I had spent literally a full day listening, I might as well see where it goes...
Well, of course, Mr King has to really punch up the action so needs to find a way to make stopping Oswald a suspenseful literally down-to-the-last-second thing (after 4 years of waiting), so the character gets a beating including a head injury with wouldn't you know it - convenient amnesia! Which just felt like a lazy way to build suspense. However, I will give Mr King credit where it's due in that, the reason he gets beaten up is because the plan to have money is to bet on sports events (which is most people's time-travel go-to), but the reality of that is that you deal with shady, mob-connected people who will NOT be happy about you getting massive winnings against crazy odds *especially* if it's happening more than a couple of times. So that was great.
At this point with the artificially manufactured suspense, which isn't suspense because you *know* he is going to succeed because this entire freakin' massive book has led up to this moment, I actually found myself hoping he doesn't succeed - because, heck - *that* would be interesting. Where would the book go from there? But of course, he does, and of course it's tragedy for our love story I haven't even mentioned the cliche-d writing that read quite often like a film noir, but the dying "How we danced...how we danced..." line really took the cake .
But then what's the lesson to all this? Well, that fucking with the past is bad because of the butterfly effects, and you shouldn't, so of course he resets it all. Wow. 30+ hours for that? Great.
In the middle, it slows down a bit, which I expected because I had read that in other reviews and I would actually argue was a clever narrative device. The point is that he arrives in 58 so he has to pass the time for years before the historical event he hopes to influence, so it's natural and a good part of storytelling that this part lags a bit as he waits, and you the reader, wait with him. BUT this is where it goes into a full fledged, overly detailed, Stephen King personal fantasy. Our main character, a write & teacher from Maine (just like King himself) meets a tall, gorgeous woman (but don't worry, not taller than our main character who is a strapping 6'5"!) and even though she's been married (since it would be weird for a 28 year old to be single during that era) is miraculously a virgin! And wouldn't you know he gives her an orgasm the first time they 'make love' together with his magical d*ck?! And she is traumatized by her husband, so needs rescuing by this hero. They become the most beloved teachers in the school and town and find the inner actors in their students and put on amazing school plays that have cream pie fights that go on and on and on. Really, no detail is left out in this loooong elaborate fantasy. However, the creepy part is that this woman is coming out of a psychologically abusive relationship, but that he himself starts to have more and more erratic behavior and lying to her and being shady and convincing her that a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy in the relationship is best. He then admires her for being so 'brave' and doing 'the right thing' by trusting him. UGH. It's really crap like this that perpetuates abusive relationships.
Anyway, all that aside, we finally get closer to the 1962 and back into following Oswald to determine whether he was a lone actor or not. However, the original mojo of the story is now extremely secondary to this love story and the drama going on there. At this point I get 70% through the book and I'm rolling my eyes a *lot* and can see that we're not going to get back to the promise that the beginning of the book held. I questioned whether or not to continue, but completely got pulled in to the sunk-cost fallacy since 70% of this book is 24 hours. I had spent literally a full day listening, I might as well see where it goes...
Well, of course, Mr King has to really punch up the action so needs to find a way to make stopping Oswald a suspenseful literally down-to-the-last-second thing (after 4 years of waiting), so the character gets a beating including a head injury with wouldn't you know it - convenient amnesia! Which just felt like a lazy way to build suspense. However, I will give Mr King credit where it's due in that, the reason he gets beaten up is because the plan to have money is to bet on sports events (which is most people's time-travel go-to), but the reality of that is that you deal with shady, mob-connected people who will NOT be happy about you getting massive winnings against crazy odds *especially* if it's happening more than a couple of times. So that was great.
At this point with the artificially manufactured suspense, which isn't suspense because you *know* he is going to succeed because this entire freakin' massive book has led up to this moment, I actually found myself hoping he doesn't succeed - because, heck - *that* would be interesting. Where would the book go from there? But of course, he does, and of course it's tragedy for our love story
But then what's the lesson to all this? Well, that fucking with the past is bad because of the butterfly effects, and you shouldn't, so of course he resets it all. Wow. 30+ hours for that? Great.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Terminal illness, Car accident
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief
Minor: Racial slurs, Antisemitism