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Book Review: 11.22.63 by Stephen King

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
11-22-63-stephen-king-book-cover
View on Amazon.co.uk
 In 11.22.63 by Stephen King Jake Epping an English Teacher is recruited by Al an Diner Owner to step back in time from 2011 to 1958.

Al has a rabbit hole – a bubble in time, in the pantry of his Diner that people can step through to go back in time to Tuesday 9th September 1958.

Al first sends Jake on a trip to explore because seeing is believing. Jake spends a few hours in 1958 and when he gets back to 2011, he finds that only two minutes have passed. Al says it’s always the same. No matter how long you stay in the past, even months or years, you have only ever been gone for 2 minutes.

Then Al, who is dying of lung cancer, tells Jake what he would like him to do. Al wants Jake to go back in time and stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy (JFK). Al has it all planned out. He would go back and do it himself, but he fears he doesn’t have the time.

Al gives Jake a pseudonym, George Amberson, along with ID, thousands of dollars (Al made by betting on sporting events) and extensive notes he made about the assassination. Jake tells Al the truth: he’s worried he’ll mess up.

Al reassures Jake can (mostly) reset the past by stepping back through the rabbit hole into 2011. It is then that Jake realises two things:
1) That if he is successful, he’ll have to stay and live out his life in the past.
2) That he may have to do some very bad things to achieve his mission (although he doesn’t actively acknowledge it at this point).

The plot idea of 11.22.63 was mildly interesting for a Brit and probably more intriguing for an American. The mammoth-sized book totals 740 pages. The pacing was reasonable at times and at other times excruciatingly slow.

Reading 11.22.63 felt like hard work, unlike any of the other Stephen King books I’ve read. Parts of the book were significantly over written and the last quarter of the book significantly underwritten. The ending was flat, lacking any depth or satisfactory conclusion.

However the description in 11.22.63 was exceptional. Whether this was from good research or Stephen King’s personal experience, I couldn’t tell.

Jake (George) is a good man that ends up doing terrible things including murder, with the intention of making a better future. He is a very redemptive character and the story is written from his perspective. By Stephen King writing the story from Jake’s first person perspective, it helped me develop some positive regard for the man.

Al was interesting but is removed far too early from the story. The other characters were all two dimensional. It would have been great to have more than one main character, as Jake’s voice did become tiresome about half way through the book.

I wanted to enjoy 11.22.63 as much as I’ve enjoyed all of the other Stephen King books that I’ve read. But it just didn’t happen.

11.22.63 is available to buy on Amazon and at all good bookshops.

Review soon,

Antony

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Saturday 22 July 2017

Book Review: Eve & Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
eve-&-adam-book-cover After being hit by the car, Eve goes flying through the air. The next thing she’s vaguely aware of what’s happening – her mother arguing with the doctor and then being transferred to her rich mother’s pharmaceutical headquarters.

It’s like a private hospital where Eve is the only patient. As she recovers, she’s got sexy Solo pushing her around in a wheelchair. Then she comes to an agreement with her mother to trial software to create the perfect man for herself, who she names Adam.

But there are secrets everywhere. Eve is about to uncover these secrets and then will have to make some difficult choices about what to do with the truth.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. Especially after loving Michael Grant’s Gone Series and knowing that Katherine Applegate is his wife. I hate to give a bad review, but I was disappointed with Eve & Adam.

I just didn’t care about any of the characters. At the beginning of the book as Eve is flying through the air thinking that her life is about to end. Rather than thinking of loved ones, she thinks about an Apple. I felt that the authors had done this conceitedly to make links to Adam & Eve for the purpose of marketing the book. It felt unnatural and therefore Eve felt unreal.

Solo marginally more real, but was a great source of conflict for me. He’s this techno whizz-kid who is described as looking like a surfer, yet doesn’t know some of the fundamental details of his own history. Details that would have been in the computer systems that he so expertly knows after living at the pharmaceutical headquarters for so long.

Aislin, Eve’s best friend did have some believability and depth but was a minor character. It’s always worrying when authors make a minor character more interesting than a main character.

A problem I had with all of the characters is that they conveniently had all of the knowledge, skills, equipment and resources as they needed them. The authors did this by slotting a sentence of backstory in that the reader didn’t know up until the point the characters needed something. It felt like very convenient and lazy storytelling.

The plot was tediously predictable at times verged on being boring. The only reason I carried on reading when I felt bored was because I was half way through the book. I hoped it would get better, have some interesting plot twists, but it didn’t.

Eve & Adam isn’t badly written. The description, dialogue, grammar, punctuation and spelling are all good. It was just the characters and plot that I didn’t enjoy.

Eve & Adam is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

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Wednesday 17 September 2014

My Writing Process for The Good Teen

By CreativityNo Comments
the-good-teen-plot-line

The Good Teen Plot Line

 I recently self-published The Good Teen, a modern-day telling of The Good Samaritan parable, with a hint of magic. I want to tell you a bit about my writing process for this short story.

The idea came from my childhood. Being brought up as a Christian we were told the The Good Samaritan parable. It’s a story that has stayed with me and one that I wanted to retell with my own twist. So I wrote/drew out the plot on flipchart (Left: My flipchart for The Good Teen, click on image for full size).

I like to develop my ideas, plots, sub-plots, settings, characters, pacing and description on flipchart as it’s faster than typing and allows me more creative freedom. The creative freedom to draw pictures, arrows and anything else I want to.

I originally decided to publish The Good Teen as a christmas story for my readers. Hoping to start an annual tradition. But then I saw a call for submission on the BBC Writers Room website for the BBC Radio4 Opening Lines programme and decided to write, edit and submit The Good Teen.

I had already written a To Do List for The Good Teen (below) and changed the timescales to meet the submission deadline.

the-good-teen-to-do-list

The Good Teen To Do List

The editing process, as always, was maddening. I had to cut to the word count limit, which meant some scenes were either cut, not written or combined.

Unfortunately, The Good Teen was not long listed by the BBC. So I decided to self-publish it online. You can download The Good Teen on it’s page. It’s a free download, with a Twitter Tweet or Facebook Like in exchange for the download link.

Write soon,

Antony



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Sunday 8 June 2014

A Sensational Sunset

By Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, NatureNo Comments

One of my New Experiences for 2013 was to see the sun rise and set. A few weeks ago I did manage to see a sensational sunset. It was the first time I’d truly observed a sunset. Click on any photo in this post for a full size image.

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At 8:30PM Simon & I parked up in a lovely spot overlooking Rivington reservoir. The sun was due to set at 9:30PM and other people were around. The sun still shone bright and I felt the heat on my skin that emanated from the sun. There was a cool breeze that carried noise from the other people: cars, car radios and chatter. I was feeling excited to experience something new and yet frustrated at the distracting noise from the other people.

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As the time approached, most people had gone which made it quieter and I was thankful for this. Simon & I sat on a bench and even nature seemed to go quiet. The only sounds were from the rustling of the trees that swayed in the fresh breeze. The breeze it’s self felt colder than before. The daylight had dimmed in the direction opposite to the sunset. The sun released orange ambers and reds that filled the skyline and reflected off strips of clouds. Time seemed to slow down.

I felt a new appreciation for the life giving warmth and light of the sun. I felt totally relaxed and able to be truly in that moment – without any intruding thoughts. I enjoyed the beauty and magic of the sun.

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The sun began to make it’s decent over the horizon; I noticed the moon rising on the other side. The moon’s luminescent glow grew stronger as the sunset. The transition from dark to light across the sky was phenomenal. I savoured the final rays of light feeling awe struck and enchanted. I realised that I’d taken for granted that the sun will always rise and set.

The final moments of the sun’s day go quick – it took 5 minutes to completely disappear from sight. I glanced at my watch and noticed that it was precisely on time. I took a deep breath, the transformation from day to night was complete.

sunset-2013-7

sunset-2013-8 It was a magical experience, almost spiritual; that made me fully comprehend why some people did and others still do worship the sun.

The contrast from light to dark, as the day transforms to night is magical. At one point the sun and moon even looked almost in balance.

The sun is currently rising far too early for me, but I’m hoping to see sunrise later in the year.

Take care,

Antony



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Thursday 8 August 2013
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