Reviews for 11/22/63--Many contain spoilers

[Moderator]

Publishers Weekly

[GNTLGNT]

Don Henly said that? Really? Where was that from? Was that like from a song or something?

Apparently I'm quite the fossil here, if I have to explain that! Henley had quite a solo number one hit in 1982 with a cut called "Dirty Laundry"...from the album "I Can't Stand Still"......

[GNTLGNT]

PrisonerNumber6--I wouldn't worry about it all that much. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? A buncha ultra-conservatives don't read the book. Hell, they aren't gonna read the book anyway. Maybe Bill O'Reilly says he's doesn't like it. O'Reilly doesn't like anything. From the sound of it, 11/22/63 isn't gonna deal with hardcore politics, and, after all, it's a work of fiction--some pretty far out fiction at that. I don't think Uncle Stevie has much to fear. Now if he makes Jackie Kennedy out to be a closet pedophile eating the brains of girlscouts while dressed as Joe McCarthy, maybe some folks will squawk. Actually, that's a pretty good idea. I gotta write that down.

...and Gov. John Connally was the secret Russian spy lover of Oswald....

[Haunted]

He is, instead, offering a tale richly layered with the pleasures we’ve come to expect: characters of good heart and wounded lives, whose adventures into the fantastic are made plausible because they are anchored in reality, in the conversations and sense of place that take us effortlessly into the story.

from Washington Post review


Ayup...that's why we are here!!

[PrisonerNumber6]

To GNTLGNT

Re: Dirty Laundry.

Aw, man, the fault's all mine. I must of heard that song in the car more times than I can count. I must have been to focused on other things to hear that lyric. (Again, open mouth A, insert foot B.)

If you want to, (if you can stomach it) don't forget to check out that Gene Weingarten article on what's like to expose yourself to Spin for 24 hours straight.

[PrisonerNumber6]

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. The worst part is it kind of validates what I worried about. The following link
http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/sidewalks/please-leave-john-f-kennedy-rest-in-peace-133146273.html

Is the first negative and politicized review I found. What's real disappointing is it all happened so quick. Well, here it is for any who'd even care to read it. For what it's worth. Sorry if this makes me the killjoy for the day.

[Moderator]

I wouldn't worry about that one. It's not so much a commentary on Stephen's writing as it is a displeasure with anyone continuing to comment on JFK's legacy.

[RichardX]

I don't really see any basis to believe reviews of this book will be affected by politics. Or that conservatives will have a negative opinion. It's a work of fiction. King might be a liberal but he is not a political entity. If anyone is critical of the book it will be the conspiracy crowd since King apparently believes that Oswald was the lone shooter.

[PrisonerNumber6]

Maybe, just bear in mind the fact that Kennedy is name that still gets tossed around a lot in places like capitol hill and in the press, and for a whole score of reason, many of them political. I wonder what questions the audience of the JFK library will have in store.

[PrisonerNumber6]

I think the problem is this. Even when you aren't writing about politics, or to discuss politics the problem still remains when your inspiration is a subject or personality that already comes with politics or political issues built into. JFK comes with all that built in, it's an unavoidable inevitable. For example take the recent Kennedys mini-series and the uproar that got started there. I don't say we'll see a repeat. I'm just saying subjects such as this will always come with a certain risk of backlash of one kind or another. Still, it's not like Spin speaks for Democracy.