My father gave me a copy of Stephen King’s The Stand for my thirteenth birthday, and I was hooked. A serious King fan from then on.

And I still am. Even after Dreamcatcher. It seems though, that sometimes I read something he’s written and my brain is searching for that same high I got in the eighth grade reading about Captain Trips and the end of the world. I had high hopes for 11/22/63. High enough that I asked my husband to buy it for me for Christmas. In hardback. I’d say my expectations were close to met, but not quite.

Here are few notes:

1. Stephen King is a talented, amazing writer, but he should never (ever, never ever) write romance. Ever. Those awkward scenes were as bad as walking in your parents doing it. You just want to back out of the room and bleach your eyes.

2. The vast majority of the action is in the last 100 pages or so out of 849. The action is good, but was out of balance tension wise with the rest of the book.

3. I strongly dislike sad endings. That’s all I’ll say about that. I especially dislike sad endings when they could as easy be not sad.

4. I think the one thing that disappointed me the most was that Stephen King, with his giant imagination, could have come up with a better time travel story than a bubble.

5. The descriptions of small town life in the late 50s and early 60s made me wish I could find a time bubble myself.

6. The history was well presented and I really enjoyed it. The time travel aspect was much less well done, and I was sorry for that. I would have liked to have heard more about the Yellow Card Man and the time travel itself.

So, my final analysis? It’s a worthy read. Engrossing, fairly epic, written by a master who maybe took a few short cuts. I kind of wish I waited for the paperback, though. It’s not one I’ll read over and over like I have The Stand, but I’m not sorry I spent the time on it.