11/22/63 Small "Mistake"

[Boxcar W]

In reading 11/22/63 last week I came across what may be a small mistake in the book and I thought this forum would be the best place shed some light on it. This mistake is not an anachronism although I am guessing plenty of people will try to spot those in a book that is partially "historical fiction". That kind of stuff does not interest me too much though as in a work like this it is bound to happen, even to a master writer like Mr. King. The info directly below is not really a spoiler of any kind BUT if you have not read the book yet what are you doing here? Crack it open and get started!

Show Spoiler

Here is the first part of the "mistake" -
Pg. 306 George/Jake arrives in Jodie for the first time and meets Freddy Quinlan the real estate agent - "He was curious about me - I think the Maine license plate on my car struck him as exotic - but not unduly so."

And then later -
Pg. 335 Mimi casually confronts George/Jake about his identity - "you showed up in Jodie with a New England drawl in your mouth and Florida plates on your auto."

Maine plates or Florida plates? I thought about this a bit and here are the explanations I could come up with (Now I will caution those who have not read the book yet with a ***SPOILER ALERT***) -

1) Mimi was incorrect. This feels kind of unlikely as she was such an observant woman, she certainly had George/Jake pegged. I really don't see what point this would serve, other than being confusing to the reader.

2) Mimi was speaking figuratively and just meant that he had driven to Jodie from Florida. This seems like an odd way of saying what she meant, especially for a lady who was very direct with her words.

3) Reality was "shifting" due to damage caused by Al and George/Jake's time traveling. If this is the case then this is the only example of this side-effect and it was not directly addressed as such in the book. All other differences occurred during different travels while this was within the same, main, time travel episode of the book.

4) If the book is supposed to be the manuscript George/Jake wrote at the Tamarack Motor Court and buried maybe George/Jake made a mistake when he was writing. This whole setup is doubtful as the rest of the book does not really support that theory, namely it includes info about what happened to George/Jake after the manuscript was buried within the book itself. Also there is no info included about the manuscript being found, etc. In the end that is a pretty precious arrangement and kind of unlike Mr. King anyway (although quite Lovecraftian and this idea did remind me of the promotion surrounding Rose Red).

In the end it does not matter, this little issue is nit-picking and in no way lessens the enjoyment of this very good book. I do not really mean to make anything of it but it was interesting to me so I posted it for all of you to check out and chime in on.

[jcadams]

Did she really see the license plates or just assume they were from Florida because that's where he had been teaching?

[GNTLGNT]

Our flawless author makes no mistakes!!!!!.....yep, didn't think I could type that with a straight face...but really, he does damn well for the amount of work and research that's been cranked out over the decades...

[pg1129]

On page 626,Mr.King refers to the Chicago Bears winning the NFC(National Football Conference) in 1963. There was no NFC in 1963-it wasn't formed until 1970.In '63 it was still the NFL........ Surprising considering Mr.King's a big sports fan.....maybe you can post this for me?

[bobledrew]

Who is that trip-trapping over my bridge?

[prufrock21]

Mr. King makes no mistakes. It's the copy editors and the proof readers who are to blame.

[Canada Jack]

I was surprised to see the "Canadians" defeating the Maple Leafs for the 1960 Stanley Cup. The proper name is, of course, the "Canadiens."

[P.S.Eliot]

Actually, I' ve read the UK-edition (Hodder&Stoughton), and I think there's another mistake, but I'm not sure.
On page 202 there's a sentence, saying:“Harry’s MacBook sat on the sort of desk I remember using in the third grade”.
If I’m not mistaken, I think this has to be “Al’s MacBook sat on the sort of desk I remember using in the third grade.”,because the name of the character referred to is Al, and not Harry.
Did some other readers noticed this as well, and it is in all editions, or is it just me?

[P.S.Eliot]

By the way, this is not criticism.

[~Ally~]

I also have the UK edition, and yes it does say "Harry's Macbook." I'm figuring it was simply a mistake not caught in the editing, especially since Harry was mentioned a couple of times on the same page. People slip up. It happens. I also noticed a mistake in a character's name later on in the story, but it didn't bother me.