Stephen King is, hands down, my favorite author, and this Force of Writing proves his power. It brought tears to my eyes.
I’m not going to give anything away, but it’s not exactly about what you may think it’s about. And that is one of the reasons why I love most of his work (not his angry, mean stuff, like Full Dark, No Stars, which I chose not to finish…and it was a hard decision…)–specifically, his nonfiction and supernatural work. For the most part, whatever he writes about, he makes you care about it, both the characters and the story. This story (yes, it’s long…but is it, really?–and the research!) simply draws you in. Makes you wonder just where the hell he’s going with it. Yellow card? Black card? Green card? WTF?! He weaves and creates entire lives in ways few authors do–or are allowed to, in today’s publishing world. It’s simply magic. Could he have cut a couple hundred pages? Perhaps…but then 11/22/63 wouldn’t be the incredible piece of storytelling it is. It actually seems to me that the length of the story itself is directly analogous to its effect on the reader. Getting lost in another world…another’s LIFE. And how can anyone say that the life of a loved one is ever too long?
Because when it’s over…you’ll miss it.