11/22/63 was my first, and probably last Stephen King book

After seeing 11/22/63 touted as a literary marvel in basically every sub, I pulled the trigger. I will start by saying, I did enjoy it. It was a fun read and I enjoyed it for what it was. I thought the story was an adventure if I turned my brain off and just let it unfold.

Now for my criticism. First, the time travel doesn't make sense and is hardly justified. I liked the explanation of the rabbit hole influencing people within it's vicinity, but that's where the time travel stops making sense. Much later in the novel, a new character is introduced and explained away in one paragraph. It's just a human being with many timelines in his head and it's driving him mad. End of character.

The next thing that really gets me going is the use of the butterfly effect within the final last chapters of the book. The abdurate past is an interesting concept until you consider what it actually means. It's the past itself, changing ingredients itself and creating it's own butterfly effect to stop another butterfly effect. All those people who crashed on the bus were now late for whatever they had going on, and injured on top of it. That's a huge change in order to stop another huge change. This implies the past is conscious in some way too. A butterfly effect stems from the actions of the time traveler, not the actions of an all knowing and abdurate past, intent of not changing, by what, changing? And I know it's just another timeline then, but that means it should be even more susceptible to Jake's changes, not against them. The earthquake especially made no sense. Seismic activity a week later stemming from the butterfly effect of JFK not dying, is just magic. It's nothing to do with time travel then.

I already went over the Card Men. I think it bears repeating how sudden and unexplained that, potentially intriguing concept was presented.

Also, if I took a shot of tit milk for every mention of breasts in this novel, I'd have bones of steel.

In summary, while I enjoyed 11/22/63 for a fun, mindless adventure, it showed me Stephen King is not my cup of tea, especially as this is often referenced as one of his best books. I did just come off of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and Replay by Ken Grimwood, so I am hyper critical of the time travel mechanics. I'm just a time travel snob at the moment.