11/22/63 (2011) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

• Jake Epping: The novel's protagonist, a thirty-five-year old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine. Makes extra money by teaching GED classes.
• Al Templeton: Jake's friend who runs the local diner.
• Harry Dunning: Janitor at the school where Jake Epping teaches.
• Sadie Dunhill: The new librarian at the Jodie high school library.
• Lee Harvey Oswald: Assumed assassin of John F. Kennedy and husband to a Russian immigrant named Marina.
• John F. Kennedy: American President in 1963.
• Deke Simmons: Principal of the high school in Jodie. Friend of Jake
• Yellow Card Man: A wino.
• Frank Dunning: Harry Dunning's father.
• Ellen Dockerty: Deke Simmons' successor as principal at the Jodie High School and friend of George and Sadie.
• Chaz Frati: A friendly man who owns a chain of pawnshops.
• George De Mohrenschildt: Russian emigrant who befriended Oswald .
• George Amberson: A real-estate buyer.
• John Clayton: Obsessive compulsive husband (and then ex-husband) of Sadie Dunhill.
• Mimi Corcoran: Deke Simmons' girlfriend and then wife.
• George Bouhe: A Russian emigrant who assisted Lee and Marina in getting settled in Fort Worth in 1962.
• James Hosty: FBI agent who investigates the attempted murder of JFK.
• Bill Turcotte: aka No Suspenders
• Christy Epping: Jake's ex-wife.
• Father Bandy: Came to Harry's graduation.
• Gloria: The receptionist at Jake's school.
• Frank Anicetti: The proprietor of the Kennebec Fruit Company.
• Leola: A customer at The Kennebec Fruit Company.
• Patrick Hocksetter: The latest of a number of kids who were murdered in The Barrens in the past in Derry.
• Dorsey Corcoran: A four-year-old boy from Derry, Maine.
• Dicky Macklin: The step-father of Dorsey Corcoran.
• Fred Toomey: A young bartender George meets in Derry who gives George information about the town and the residents.
• Regina Starrett: The librarian in Derry who gives George some history of the residents.
• Marcia Guay: A woman who George meets at the U.S. Census Bureau.
• Troy Dunning: A fifteen-year-old boy with two brothers and a sister. George hopes to help him and his family escape a bad situation.
• Beverly Marsh: A young person who George meets in Derry.
• Richie Tozier: Beverly's dance partner in Derry.
• Mr. Currie: Manager at the Center Street Market.
• Tony Tracker: With his brother, he owns a freight hauling company.
• Phil Tracker: Tony's brother. They own a freight hauling company.
• Norbert Keene: Proprietor of Center Street Drug.
• Marnie Cullum: Andrew's wife.
• Hattie Wilkerson: A friendly librarian George becomes acquainted with while checking out books in Florida.
• Ray Mack Johnson: George's landlord in North Dallas.
• Ivy Templeton: A woman who lived near Oswald for a short time.
• Coach Borman: Football coach at the school George teaches at in Texas.
• Donald Bellingham: A sophomore and the master of ceremonies at the school Sadie Hawkins dance.
• Johnny Clayton: Sadie's husband.
• Bobby Jill Allnut: A student at George's school and Mike Coslaw's girlfriend.
• Mike Coslaw: A student and football player at George's school in Texas.
• Carl Jacoby: A shop teacher who teaches graphic design.
• Vince Knowles: Student in a play directed by George.
• Marjorie Frati: Chaz's wife.
• Ellen Dunning: Harry's little sister aka Li'l Carrot Top.
• Doris Dunning: Harry's mother
• Arthur "Tugga" Dunning: Harry's brother
• Jessica Caltrops: Member of the school board.
• Jim La Due: Star football player at the school where George teaches

Quotes edit see section history

• “Besides, there's an old saying: 'peek not through a knothole, lest ye be vexed.' Was there ever a bigger knothole in human history than the internet?”

  Jake Epping

• “Making the world a better place is important, but so is being able to get to the john under your own power.”

  Al Templeton

• “Asking questions that you don't have answers is a waste of time, and I don't have much.”

  Al Templeton

• “This was bullsh*t, but if you're going to lay it on, my father used to say, you might as well lay it on thick.”

  Narrator

• “But stupidity is one of two things we see most clearly in retrospect. The other is missed chances.”

  Jake Epping

• “Resistance to change is proportional to how much the future might be altered by any given act, I had told Al in my best school-lecture voice, and it was true.”

  Jake Epping

• “The past is obdurate. It doesn't want to be changed.”

  Jake Epping

• “For a moment everything was clear, and when that happens you see that the world is barely there at all. Don't we all secretly know this? It's a perfectly balanced mechanism of shouts and echoes pretending to be wheels and cogs, a dreamclock chiming beneath a mystery-glass we call life. Behind it? Below it and around it? Chaos, storms. Men with hammers, men with knives, men with guns. Women who twist what they cannot dominate and belittle what they cannot understand. A universe of horror and loss surrounding a single lighted stage where mortals dance in defiance of the dark.”

• “How we danced!”

  Sadie Dunhill

• “Because the past is sly as well as obdurate. It fights back”

• “For a moment everything was clear, and when that happens you see that the world is barely there at all. Don't we all secretly know this? It's a perferctly balanced mechanism of shouts and echoes pretending to be wheels and cogs, a dreamclock chiming beneath a mystery-glass we call life. Behind it? Below it and around it? Chaos, storms. Men with hammers, men with knives, men with guns. Women who twist what they cannot dominate and belittle what they cannot understand. A universe of horror and loss surrounding a single lighted stage where mortals dance in defiance of the dark.”

• “We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why. Not until the future eats the present, anyway. We know then it's too late.”

• “The suit would go well with the roses she'd be handed at Love Field, not so well with the blood which would splatter the skirt and her stockings and shoes.”

  Jake

• “Scaring people is a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.”

  Jake

• “Life… life is too sweet to give up without a fight, don't you think?”

  Mimi Corcoran

• “A little hope never hurt anybody.”

• “Dancing is life.”

  George Amberson

• “Life turns on a dime. Sometimes toward us, but more often it spins away, flirting and flashing as it goes: so long, honey, it was good while it lasted, wasn't it?”

• “Sadie could be vulnerable, and Sadie could be clumsy, but Sadie could also be very, very brave. How I loved her.”

  George Amberson

• “Sometimes a cigar is just a smoke and a coincidence is just a coincidence.”

  Jacob Epping

• “That was a good feeling to go on, so I walked away from them, giving myself the old advice as I went: don't look back, never look back. How often do people tell themselves that after an experience that is exceptionally good (or exceptionally bad)? Often, I suppose. And the advice usually goes unheeded. Humans were built to look back; that's why we have that swivel joint in our necks.”

  George Amberson

• “I sat down on the steps with my throbbing head on my knees. The pain pulsed in sync with the jackhammer beat of my heart. My watering eyes felt too big for their sockets. I could tell you I wanted to creep back to my apartment and give it all up, but that wouldn't be the truth. The truth was I wanted to die right there on the stairs and have done with it. Are there people who have such headaches not just occasionally but frequently? If so, God help them.”

  George Amberson

• “Want to know the best thing about teaching? Seeing that moment when a kid realizes his or her gift. There's no feeling on earth like it.”

  George Amberson

• “If you've ever been homesick, or felt exiled from all the things and people that once defined you, you'll know how important welcoming words and friendly smiles can be.”

  George Amberson

Setting & Locations edit see section history

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• Irving, Texas: "Posh suburb" of Dallas where Oswald hid his rifle in the garage of a friend of Marina's.
• Mercedes Street, Fort Worth: The residence of Lee Harvey Oswald and Marina in 1962.
• New Orleans: While traveling to Dallas, he stopped over in New Orleans to see the future residence of Lee and Marina Oswald.
• Sunset Pointe, Fl: West Florida town sixty miles north of Tampa where Jake lived after leaving 1958 Maine. He rented a conch shack on the beach under the cover of being a writer. Later, he obtained a mail order college diploma in English and became a substitute teacher.
• Jodie, Texas: Small Texas town where Jake teaches in 1963.
• Dallas, Texas: The city in which JFK was assassinated.
• Derry, Maine: The town where Harry Dunning is from.
• Lisbon Falls, Maine: The town where Jake is a high school teacher.
• Goddard Street: Where Harry has a house.
• Al's: A local restaurant frequented by Jake
• Lisbon Historical Society: Jake starts his journey and talks of the ladies at the Historical Society.
• Kennebec Fruit Company: A business Jake passes as he begins his journey.
• University of Southern Maine: Where Jake's father got a job teaching English.
• IGA: The main grocery store in The Falls.
• Shawshank State Prison: Where George thinks he might be sent if his plan fails.
• Tamarac Motor Court: Where George rents a room the first day, when he's back in 1958.
• Titus Chevron: One of the first businesses George sees when he goes back in time to 1958. It's also where he's purchases a car.
• Baumers Barber Shop: Where George goes for a haircut so he will fit in to the styles of 1958.
• Hometown Trust: The name of the bank where George opens an account in 1958.
• Derry's Dress & Everyday, Central Maine's Most Debonair Haberdashery: The business where George buys clothing that is in the style of the 1958 time period.
• Sleepy Silver Dollar: George stops here for a drink but is treated rudely by the other patrons.
• Derry Town House: Where Gorge checks in after arriving in Derry.
• The Barrens: A swampy patch of land that runs through the center of Derry. Some think that strange things happen there.
• Riverview Restaurant: Where George has breakfast and reads the paper about school's doings.
• Center Street Market: Where Frank Dunning is head butcher and part owner.
• The Lamplighter: A bar that George goes to.
• Country Consolidated High School: Where Frank Dunning went to high school and was a classmate of Chaz Frati.
• Center Street Drug: George goes here for supplies.
• Ninety-fiver: A diner Frank goes to with his children.
• Blackwell Street: The address George lives at while investigating Oswald.
• North Dallas: The part of the city where Blackwell Street is located.
• Nakomas Public Library: Where Hattie Wilkerson is the librarian.
• Montgomery and Ward warehouse: Where George meets a character about information on Oswald's house.
• The Saddle: A restaurant George is planning to take Sadie to for Christmas.
• Parkland Memorial Hospital: Where both Kennedy and Oswald were treated and where an employee at George's school went after an overdose attempt.

Organizations edit see section history

• Federal Bureau of Investigation: Popularly known by its initials as the FBI, it is an US national security organization. Its mission is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners.
• Central Intelligence Agency: Add a description of this organization.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Musterole: The MUSTEROLE CO., manufacturer of a famous over-the-counter ointment, began in 1905 after pharmacist A. L. McLaren developed a mustard ointment at his Cedar and E. 97th St. drugstore. Precursor to today's Vicks VapoRub.
• Moxie: Moxie is a carbonated beverage that was one of the first mass-produced soft drinks in the United States. It continues to be regionally popular today.
• Cribbage: Cribbage, or crib, is a card game traditionally for two players, but commonly played with three, four, or more, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points. Cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribbage board used for scorekeeping, the eponymous crib or box (a separate hand counting for the dealer), two distinct scoring stages (the play and the show) and a unique scoring system including points for groups of cards that total fifteen.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Stephen King (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• International Thriller Writers (2012: Best Hardcover)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3561.I483 A615 2011
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Lots of strong language, sexual situations, violence and other content that wouldn't be appropriate to anyone 15 or younger.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Thrillers › Suspense
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Horror

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