this was one of the few Stephen King books I could not finish.

TIMESCAPE by Gregory Benford also


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The problem with Stephen King is that some years back he was able to refuse to be edited, and ever since then his books are at least 40% too long.

When I was reading it, I kept on thinking that the narrator was simply not noticing the difference between his time, and when he went back to. Example: in the present smoking is not very common, doesn't happen in public inside spaces. In the past, many more people smoked and they smoked everywhere. I'm a non-smoker, and so if I went back I'd be seriously annoyed by all the cigarette smoke. I bet a smoker would think he'd died and gone to heaven.

Here's a better change of history novel: Making History by Stephen Fry. It involves making sure Adolf Hitler is never born, Amazing book.

Is that the narrator actually has to go back several times precisely because he wasn't as familiar with the time period as the diner owner who tasked him with undoing the assassination. He stops commenting on the differences because he's become accustomed to the difference, which is extremely problematic and has big repercussions on the end of the novel.