When your biggest writing influence puts out a novel, you drop whatever it is your reading and turn to your master, regardless of what kind of story it is. With Stephen King's latest, 11/22/63, it is beyond the phrase 'worth the effort and time.'
Bear in mind, don't expect a Christine, Carrie,or,The Dark Half with his latest epic(This story is about a schoolteacher who goes back in time, at the behest of his friend and diner owner, to stop the assassination of one President John Fitzgerald Kennedy). Instead, you're going to get some historical fiction, a love story(a rather strong one), a bit of fantasy(time-traveling), and a welcoming back of old friends from the King stories of the past.
I felt the story works best when the main character is living his life in the past, adjusting to himself to no computer, cell phone, cable tv, etc. A kind of Stranger in a Strangeland for regular folk. It is great for this main character to meet real people from the past and not go gaga, keeping things in prospective.
The ending, imo, was the right ending(I won't give that away either), may leave you sad, but again, it was the right thing to do. The only thing I found a bit of a flaw was what happened towards the end of the book. I wish it would have been expanded to incorporate more situations, but again, a tiny flaw.
11/22/63 is without a doubt one of the strongest stories of King's career and if he were to go out of the writing game now(which we know he isn't) he would go out a champion!
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