STOP! Please remember that this is a spoiler page. That means that this post is for those tho have read this book or listened to the audio. This is a page where we can openly discuss the book with no fear of saying anything that would spoil the book for those who have not read it yet.
So, that said – lets begin…
I loved the fact that King put references from his others books throughout the story. I did not realize that many of his books were written around this area or Maine, or that King had created so many fictional towns for Maine. The references to me became like the “Easter Egg” hidden in the Ready Player One book. (*sigh… a moment of silence for a GREAT book/audio).
What did you think of Kings research? I personally did not know much about the facts surrounding the assassination so I may not be the best judge but it felt informative and true to me.
I loved the references to “the past
I think most modernly we call it de ja vu ….
And what did you think of the closing…. not the one I had hoped for, but for me probably a more realistic one. I love that George (Jake) gets back to Sadie, even if it is not the way that, he, she, and I wanted it to be.
Book Journey 
I absolutely loved the other book references! i would be reading and see one and get giddy that I caught it.
History was not my subject either so i can’t say one way or the other about the facts sections. Sure felt real though.
The ending seems fitting even if i was pulling for him to be with Sadie as well.
Listening to the ending when Stephen King talks about the research he did, I am confident that he told a fair and close to the happening as he could. I learned quite a bit by listening to this!
Me too! For once I found myself completely intrigued with something history related.
I feel like I could go on Jeopardy now for facts surrounding the event now – Marina is Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife (I didn’t know her name) She was from Russia (didn’t have that either). Their first daughters name is June (news to me!)
Where there book references? You mean, King referring to his own books? I totally missed that. I noticed Of Mice and Man (which I read just 2 books before this one). 🙂
They were subtle about it Judith, but there were hints to a clown that hurt children (IT) which oddly, I read as a teen even though dolls and clowns have always freaked me out… also references to The Dark Tower books but I have not read them.
Derry Maine is a fictional town that King has used in his books before. While in Maine, Jake lives on Harris Ave, the same street his main character of Insomnia lived.
In the original timeline, Frank Dunning had been sent to Shawshank Prison, the fictional location that is the main setting of Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.
(I am a dork, I did not even know that Swawshank Redemption was a King novel! 😯 Now, I love him even more. 😛
When Jake returns to the now destroyed 2011, the teens are asking for “new bucks” and “old bucks” the currency used in the book The Running Man.
A minor character is named “Toomey,” mirroring Craig Toomey, a major character from King’s “The Langoliers”.
Mike Coslaw, one of Jake/George’s students in Jodie, TX, shares his last name with the Coslaw Family in King’s book Cycle of the Werewolf.
The appearance(s) of a Plymouth Fury is a major plot point in the novel. The make and model of King’s Christine is also a Plymouth Fury.
When Jake Epping spends time in Florida, he rents a “conch house” to write his novel. The protagonist of King’s Duma Key also rents a house while recuperating in Florida, where he takes up painting.
In the “JFK Saved” version of 2011, Harry mentions that a nuclear reactor explosion occurred in Vermont on June 19, 1999. This is also the day that Stephen King was hit by a car.
Jake Epping visits the storm drain where Denbrough was attacked and killed by “IT”, and also visits the ruined Kitchener Ironworks, where it is implied that “IT” attempts to lure him into its lair.
There are a number of similarities between Sadie Dunhill from 11/22/63 and Susan Delgado from the DT novel Wizard and Glass. Both women were described as tall with blonde hair. Both have the initials SD and the same number of letters in their first and last names; and both women were virgins when they first met the men that would ultimately lead them to their deaths.
Beverly asks the narrator “Do you know about the Turtle?” The Turtle is one of the Guardians of the Beam in the DT series.
The number 19 is a significant number in the DT, and pops up frequently in 11/22/63 (e.g. pg 34: Jake’s Maine license plate number is 23383IY > 2+3+3+8+3=19; the license plate of the Red on white Fury is 90-811 > 9+8+1+1=19; pg 558: Jake’s safety deposit box number is 775 > 7+7+5=19; pg 147: The Denning family lived at 379 Kossuth St > 3+7+9=19; pg 564: When Sadie’s ex John Clayton called Jake, the phone number was Westbrook 7-5430 > 7+5+4+3=19)
These are some I found around the net….. fascinating I think! 😀
Thanks for looking that up, Sheila. I obviously have read fewer Stephen King novels than I thought, and even then I didn’t make the connections!
I’ve read this book for the Indie Lit Awards, where I’m a judge, so I can’t tell you what I think of the book yet, but I am very grateful to know about these links with other books. Thanks!
I did not catch them all but am thrilled that he does that – how fun! His own little world…. 😀
One more: the gun George/Jake uses in Derry and plans to use in Dallas (.38 Police Special) is the same Andy Dufresne uses is claimed to have used in Shawshank Redemption against his wife and her lover…
Fantastic – LOVE IT!
Wow I only caught a few of those myself. Now I want to go back and find them lol.
I will get the book and look for them! 😀
I didnt care for this book. Found it to be very depressing . Then the ending was like it was written in haste just to end the book. It never really had a lead up.
Loved the book, think it may be my new favorite King book. Did not find it depressing at all throughout the story, ending made me sad, a bittersweet ending I guess I would call it.
Stephen King published his book in 2011, just 11 years after the TV movie “Running Against Time” aired in 1990, which very much seems to be where he got the idea for the book from.
edit: make that 21 years!
Thanks for pointing out this web of connections. I absolutely loved this book. Very interesting to see the varied references to earlier works.
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Anyone else notice in 11/22/63 there are quick references to very minor characters as mr ritter and also mr curry….both of whom were actors in 1990 IT mini series?