Do you need to be North American to enjoy this book?

[michal]

I have started this novel awhile back and I have to be honest: It does not intrigue me much. Of course, this could just be a matter of taste, but the whole topic doesn't spark my imagination and I have wondered if that's because for me, in my country, for my culture, this event was not a fraction as meaningful as it was in North America. I obviously understand what an impact it had on all USA citizens buy to me it's just a faraway historical event. No one here asks: Where ere you when it happened and even if historical events were to be changes... well, it would have no affect on my personal and cultural history.
But maybe I am just reading too much into it. Maybe it is just a matter of taste and mood.
What yall say?

[Moderator]

I'd say that the true crux of the book has much less to do with the assassination than it does with Jake's story and that is universal. Perhaps you haven't gotten far enough into the book yet.

[Spideyman]

Just think of the book as a story with real and fictional history within. Grasp the love story theme and make that you main theme, not the history. There are many science fiction books that deal with time travel at different points of history and for different countries. Personally, I don't think it being an America historical event should detract from a wonderful love story, as well as time travel (butterfly effect- change the past and what happens to the future).

[unclelouie]

Without already having some knowledge of the JFK assassination and the historical context of this novel, I cannot see how one could fully enjoy it on every level. Yes, one could still enjoy it, having no background knowledge of the JFK assassination. However, imagine reading this novel... having no idea who LBJ was. No idea who Lee Harvery Oswald was, or about the conspiracy theories. Having no clue about the begininngs of the Vietnam conflict, the Civil Rights movement, etc. It would be like me reading an alternate history novel about Belgium or Paraguay. Yes, I may enjoy the book, but not on the same level as someone familair with the history of those nations.

[GNTLGNT]

....actually, I feel the "historical" aspect is just a framework for a beautiful and heart wrenching love story...

[Lily Sawyer]

I have started this novel awhile back and I have to be honest: It does not intrigue me much. Of course, this could just be a matter of taste, but the whole topic doesn't spark my imagination...What yall say?

I don't think you have to be an American or from North America for 11/22/63 to resonate.
You also don't have to have lost a child for Pet Semetery to ring true, or live in a parallel universe to appreciate Wolf's character in The Talisman.
It's much less about the what-ifs regarding a Kennedy assassination and more about the what-ifs when choices have to be made - and true, abiding love must be sacrificed.
If it grabs you, it grabs you. I don't care much for Vienna, but I know people who l-o-v-e that city.
Don't worry. If it's not your speed, then move on to another one you haven't read. Lord knows there's enough Stephen King material out there to give a person a choice.

[blunthead]

I am North American, so I have no way of knowing.

[fushingfeef]

As long as you're not a Kennedy.

[jimson]

I think it would be a good read for anyone.

In some ways it's a bit of an historical thriller, and I'm not sure non-Americans could really appreciate it in the same way, but the whole world is probably familiar with the story of the Kennedy assassination, so I could be wrong.

King's books are all set in N America, and if you enjoy his other American stories, I see no reason why you wouldn't enjoy this one.

[carrie's younger brother]

...but the whole world is probably familiar with the story of the Kennedy assassination...

That's a pretty broad statement there. I really don't think it's true at all. You're thinking pretty ethnocentrically.