I promise. . . I will return to the nineteenth century—eventually. Right now, however, I have a lot to talk about regarding modern horror fiction and the scholarship thereof… In very recent times, the event of September 11, 2001 blasted into our collective consciousness. Several generations before mine, it was the Pearl Harbor Attack on December 07, 1941 that carved itself into the society of the day. However, between these two dates, an event occurred that tore the heart out of the people of the United States. Even to this day, our culture has not reconciled itself to this event. It still haunts and torments our society.
This event was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on 11/22/63.
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Stephen King’s 11/22/63: A Novel was published in hardback format in November 2011 by Scribner (Simon & Schuster). 11/22/63 was King’s 60th work published and his 49th novel. The novel won many literary awards and was 16 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list.[i] I should state that I did not read this novel. I only listened to the audiobook. All of my thoughts and comments were based upon my listening experience.
The audiobook version of Stephen King’s 11/22/63: A Novel was published in November 2011 by Simon & Schuster Audio and was supremely narrated by Craig Wasson. It has a runtime of a little over 30.5 hours.
In this consideration of the audiobook of Stephen King’s 11/22/63, several interesting aspects of this work will be explored. Also, while not a review in the traditional sense, spoilers will be kept to a minimum as much as possible.
I am not bothering to present a biographical statement on Stephen King. He is the most popular and culturally-significant author of horror fiction in modern times. If you don’t know Stephen King by now, I can’t help you. No amount of description will.
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One of the principal strengths of King’s writing, exhibited throughout this work (and indeed, in each and every one of his works), was the extreme detail devoted to creating the realistic environment of his tale. Closely related to this, was the depths King went through for character development.
Over the past few years, it seems that King is moving away from supernatural horror to a style of horror more of human nature, or even a bit of science fiction. This transition has not been absolute or exclusive. The tale being explored here initially appeared to fit into the sci-fi grouping—along the line of his Under the Dome or The Tommyknockers. However, the more King’s writing described the nature of time and detailed the working of the “rabbit hole” (which I will discuss later), the more the supernatural element seemed to arise.
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JFK and Jackie Kennedy arrive at Love Field in Dallas, November 1963. Photograph-AP
Looming over everything (as it must always be in the forefront of the audiences mind), is the historical fact of the assassination of President Kennedy on 22 November 1963. Therefore, in order to experience this novel to its fullest, it is important to remember these three oft-repeated quotes from the novel:
•“Every time is the first time.”
•“The past is obdurate.”
•“The past harmonizes.”
These three statements are necessary for the reader to fully appreciate the subtext that runs throughout this work. By keeping these statements in mind, the sense of dread within the tale is also ratcheted up to a terrifying degree.
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A central plot device in this novel is “the rabbit hole.” Simply, the rabbit hole is a time portal located in the storeroom of an old local diner. Whenever anyone goes through the portal (or down the rabbit hole), they always emerge at the same location at 11:58AM, 09 September 1958. Always. No matter how long the time traveler remains in the past, upon his return to the present, only 2 minutes in the present-time will have elapsed.
The rabbit hole possesses another perplexing feature. Any time anyone goes through the rabbit hole, all the changes and all the living the traveler experienced in the past are undone. The timeline reset. This reset occurs each and every time someone passes through the rabbit hole. This weird effect leads to comical situations where the traveler is introduced to people, places and situations repeatedly.
“Every time is the first time.”
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In 11/22/63, the power of time is more than an elemental force—like gravity—striving to maintain its own form of order. At first, this mysterious force might be seen as reminiscent of the strange energy seen in Under the Dome.
As the tale evolved, the power of time, or the past, appeared to resemble more and more a supernatural force. The narrator referred to this power as “the obdurate past.” The past acted to impede any attempt to alter the established timeline. The more wide-ranging the attempted alteration the more determined and volatile was the push back to prevent the change from occurring. This could be as simple as a flat tire hampering the protagonist from getting somewhere “in time,” to as drastic as causing a near fatal injury or illness to thwart the time traveler’s efforts.
Compounding this mystery further, it was finally revealed that there existed a brotherhood or an order of caretakers or guardians (priests?) who watched over the rabbit hole and by extension, the timeline.
“The past is obdurate.”
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Acting in conjunction with and frequently in opposition to the power of the past was its harmonic nature. In other words, certain places, circumstances or even people share a connection. This link can disclose hidden aspects held in common. This is true most especially in Stephen King’s writing.
For example, after the protagonist-time traveler goes down the rabbit hole, he makes a trip to the town of Derry. While there, he encountered two teenagers, Beverly Marsh and Richie Tozier, both survivors of IT and the Pennywise attacks.
Beverly Marsh and Richie Tozier from IT (2017).
It must be remembered that at the time of this chance (? – harmonizing effect) meeting, the events of IT and the predations of Pennywise were only a few months past. The after effects of this evil lingered in the minds of the residents. Beverly and Richie were wary but sensed that the protagonist was not evil. Not evil perhaps, but he was not right. He did not belong. It is as if having battled the evil Pennywise, the teenagers had gained the ability to sense if someone wasn’t quite “right.”
This harmonization is further reflected in the various acquaintances and relationships that the protagonist experienced. Building upon this linkage between this novel and King’s earlier IT, it is strongly hinted that there exists a synchronicity between Derry’s Kitchener Ironworks—the location of a great evil deed committed long before—and the Texas Book Depository in Dallas—what would become the location of a great evil deed in the near future. The protagonist-time traveler, upon first laying eyes upon the Book Depository felt the same dread and horror they he had experienced when he laid eyes on the Ironworks; different, but familiar.
“The past harmonizes.”
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In my opinion, this audiobook presentation of 11/22/63 is amongst the very best I have heard. I will not repeat all the positive traits of audiobooks I espoused on my previous post concerning Krysten Ritter’s Bonfire. Suffice to say that this audiobook is a masterwork and it is due in large part to the talent and skill of the narrator—Craig Wasson.
Image of Craig Wasson from Vivo Wallpaper.[ii]
An actor and a respected narrator of various works of Stephen King and other authors, Wasson was involved for a time with the now defunct blog, 11.22.63 An Event Podcast from Barren Space Productions. This blog focused primarily on the 8-part, made-for-Hulu adaptation titled 11.22.63. Occasionally, other related topics were addressed as well.
Image from Barren Space Productions.[iii]
The following two excerpts (from reviews) express the strengths of Wasson’s narration. From the blog, That’s What She Read and a post dated 26 July 2012:
Craig Wasson is an excellent choice as narrator. His performance is practically seamless, making it all too easy to forget that he is not actually Jake Epping. Mr. Wasson has just the right amount of gravel in his intonations that makes his voice age-appropriate. His New England, Texas, and Georgia drawls are spot-on without being overdone. His performance of Jake’s reactions to his initial foray into 1958 are absolutely priceless as well as infectious; a reader is left longing for the opportunity to experience that amazing root beer, just as Jake does. Mr. Wasson’s performance, combined with Mr. King’s words, makes 11/22/63 an excellent example of an audiobook.[iv]
In a similar vein, from the blog, The Guilded Earlobe and a post dated 29 November 2011:
I think it very important for audiobook narrators to not just read novels but perform them. For 11/22/63 narrator Craig Wasson doesn’t just heed that advice, but tackles it, throwing in a few kicks to the balls for good measure.[v]
And, The Guilded Earlobe, aside from praise of Wasson’s work, is not shy about meting out criticism when warranted as evidenced by the following two short excerpts from the closing paragraph of the review:
I was so ready to lambaste the narrator for over performing the novel, with his oddly timed laughs and screaming the ends of his sentences…
Wasson’s reading reminded me of the loud annoying guy at a party who has had one too many drinks…
Yet, the reviewer ended each of the above excerpts with praise for Wasson, turning these mild rebukes into compliments:
…but at some point Wasson’s narration went from annoying to endearing.
…yet eventually you realize that his drunken tales are actually quite fascinating.
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In doing my research for this post, I came across something that absolutely delighted me. As a huge fan of the world of fan fiction, I found on Wattpad, a site dedicated to hosting works of fan fiction, 9/11/01: A Sequel to Stephen King’s 11/22/63 authored by Kommissar2015.
Cover image of 9/11/01: A Sequel to Stephen King’s 11/22/63.[vi]
Sadly, only one chapter of this well-written work was posted before being abandoned. But, even so, I believe that a talented fan appreciated the novel so much to craft the beginning of a new tale speaks highly of 11/22/63.
I only wish it had continued.
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11/22/63 A Novel is an excellent work of supernatural (in my opinion) horror fiction. The effort and the depth to which King details late fifties and early sixties America is remarkable and deserving of praise. I also strongly believe that my experience of this work was enhanced by the performance of the audiobook’s narrator, Craig Wasson. He brought life to the characters beyond the printed word.
This audiobook should be held as the standard to which all future audiobooks should aspire.
References
Print Resources
Digital Resources
King, Stephen. 11/22/63: A Novel. Narrated by Craig Wasson, Simon & Schuster Audio, 2011. Audiobook. Digital Download.
Latham, Betty. “Down the Rabbit Hole 11/22/63: Stephen King’s Historical Changeling”. Linguaculture. February 2016. PDF.
Online Resources
Abbot, Sarah Jane. “This Not-So-Scary Stephen King Novel Is One of His Best Ever.” Off the Shelf. Simon & Schuster Inc. 10 April 2014. Web. 01 June 2018.
Hendrix, Grady. “The Great Stephen King Reread: 11/22/63.” Tor.com. Macmillian. 06 September 2017. Web. 01 June 2018.
King, Stephen. “A Stephen King Thriller: What Motivated Oswald?” The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 30 November 2011. Web. 28 May 2018.
Kommissar2015. “9/11/01: A Sequel to Stephen King’s 11/22/63.” Wattpad. Wattpad. 02 July 2016. Web. 07 April 2018.
Lawson, Mark. “11.22.63 by Stephen King – reviews.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. 02 November 2011. Web. 21 March 2018.
Maslin, Janet. “Race Against Time to Stop Assassin and Fall in Love.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 30 October 2011. Web. 01 June 2018.
McHugh, Kerry. “Audiobook Review: 11/22/63, by Stephen King.” Entomology of a Bookworm. Entomology of a Bookworm. 29 December 2011. Web. 01 June 2018.
Reardon, Patrick T. “Book review: “11/22/63” by Stephen King.” Patrick T Reardon Blog. 19 November 2012. Web. 01 June 2018.
Reiss, Bob. “Audiobook Review: 11/22/63 by Stephen King.” The Guilded Earlobe. WordPress.com. 29 November 2011. Web. 01 June 2018.
Shannon, Michelle. “Audiobook Review—11/22/63 by Stephen King.” That’s What She Read. That’s What She Read. 26 July 2012. Web. 22 March 2018.
Wikipedia contributors. "11/22/63." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 21 May 2018. Web. 01 June 2018.
Wikipedia contributors. "Derry (Stephen King)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 03 May 2018. Web. 01 June 2018.
[i] 11/22/63. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
[ii] http://www.vivowallpaper.com/wallpaper/craig-wasson-46814
[iii] https://barrenspace.com/112263/index.php/2015/12/
[iv] Shannon, Michelle. “Audiobook Review—11/22/63 by Stephen King.” That’s What She Read. 26 July 2012.
[v] Reiss, Bob. “Audiobook Review: 11/22/63 by Stephen King.” The Guilded Earlobe. 29 November 2011.
[vi] https://www.wattpad.com/story/77082342-9-11-01-a-sequel-to-stephen-king%27s-11-22-63
