I finished the novel just before the end of 2011. My take is that there are some departures from the usual Stephen King style, but occasionally the story reverts to King's usual storytelling techniques. I won't give examples because ... well ... I'd consider them to be spoilers. But basically the examples relate to:
- Graphic descriptions of gory events
- A character detects blood in his mouth by the taste of copper
- Foreshadowing as subtle as a fire alarm
- Something bad happens to a protagonist and it's really bad
- Emphasis is made on local accents and pronunciations
- To enhance authenticity, characters use figures of speech that no one has ever used colloquially, ever
- Themes (such as "The past is obdurate" and "The past harmonizes") are repeated explicitly, usually in italics
- Weird stuff happens with no explanation at all
That said, the story had some very strong points, and is worth the investment of time. If you are a buff, you won't find anything especially enlightening in the story (and King himself admits at least one significant historical revision). What you might find, though, is a new perspective on the unwinding of the events. What you will
certainly find is that there is a lot more story revolving around things that are unrelated to Kennedy ... which is in a way what the story is about.
The hero goes back in time with a definite purpose (actually one big purpose and several small ones). As a practical matter, however, he cannot devote all his time and effort on the purpose for which he has traveled. He has to do more than that. He has to live his life. The big purpose of his existence in the past almost gets lost in his life.
There are several episodes in the story about changing the future. The ones that resonate pertain to teachers who try to change the futures of their students for the better. Teachers--good ones--are SUPPOSED to change the future. They do it ON PURPOSE.
Another point worth mentioning is that, from time to time, one actually does get a sense of how things were within the lifetime of many of us on this forum (myself included). Smoking was prevalent, almost universal. Racism and sexism were overt. People communicated in different ways. Things taken for granted today did not exist.
And yet, when the occasional anachronism occurs (some of them clearly intentional, some less than clearly so), the illusion can be disturbed for just a moment, and the pleasant sensation that the reader has of actual time travel abruptly evaporates.
There is one final observation that is worth mentioning. For those who have some familiarity with the past, especially the events leading up to the death of President Kennedy, there are a number of events described in the novel, with no fanfare or explanation or discussion, that will resonate with those who know about the events in question. I will mention only one, with fair warning that those who wish to read the novel should not read this, even though I've obscured it a bit:
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