11/22/63 "the work of a master craftsman" but commented that "the wires go slack from time to time" and the book wanders from genre to genre, particularly in the middle. More pointedly, "Los Angeles Times" book critic David Ulin called the novel "a misguided effort in story and writing"; Ulin's primary criticism is the conceit of the story, which requires the reader to follow two plotlines simultaneously – historical fiction built upon the Kennedy assassination as well as the tale of a time traveling English teacher – which adds a page load to the novel that Ulin found excessive. On September
The Historical Novel processes over time, but the characters in a historical novel live as real human beings do, being only aware of probabilities and potential situations rather than knowing precisely where certain events and phenomena are headed. The work did not display Butterfield's later detestation of the form of the historical novel; later on, moreover, he referred to the arguments in his first publication in disparaging terms, arguing that it was 'a bad book'. The Historical Novel The Historical Novel is a 1924 book by Herbert Butterfield. It originated in an undergraduate essay and gained the Le Bas Prize for Butterfield. It