Puzzled about Reset

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skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
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Things only reset if he goes back to the past after having gone 'home'. He can change things and come back to the modern day, but if he re-enters the past, things go right back to the way they were the first time he entered.
 

Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
Things only reset if he goes back to the past after having gone 'home'. He can change things and come back to the modern day, but if he re-enters the past, things go right back to the way they were the first time he entered.

One question that was never answered, because it never came up is what would happen if a second person went down the rabbit hole during that brief period time while the first was still in there. I expect someday the premise of the rabbit hole will be revisited and that question will be at the center.
 

Mr Nobody

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Jul 9, 2008
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Walsall, England
One question that was never answered, because it never came up is what would happen if a second person went down the rabbit hole during that brief period time while the first was still in there. I expect someday the premise of the rabbit hole will be revisited and that question will be at the center.

Three possibilities exist there, I think: 1) The first person would get erased as the second person entered and time reset (Person One would simply poof out of existence along with that reality, creating a very curious little case in their own time); 2) Person One and Person Two somehow inhabit the same time frame, i.e. time resets but treats the presence of Person One as an established fact; 3) time resets only for Person Two, meaning that Person One is in a different timeframe and therefore alternate universe.
On a quantum level (multiverses, anything that can happen does happen and co-exists within a different time stream that you can't access and therefore know nothing about), the chances are that all of these things happen. Other timelines are then formed due to cause and effect, while the original one also still exists (and may reassert). E.g. you find the rabbit hole in what you perceive to be your reality. At that point two new universes come into being. In one, you go down the rabbit hole; in the other, you no 'Nup' and walk away (multiple new universes spring up at that point: in each reality a different direction is taken, then realities branch from that depending on the speed you walk or run at, then other spring up around 'do you tell anyone? Y/N'. And so on. In all realities direction and pace lead to other consequences. In some you might have a near miss, in others you get mown down by a truck (in others it's a car, or a meteorite lands on your head, etc. Anything that can happen does happen, remember?). And in half of these alternate universes/realities you're of the opposite sex, because way, way back a certain chromosome formed - or didn't. Anyone got a headache yet? :D)
So in the book, after changing history (in reality, you would simply switch from your own perceived reality, which is both past and still a possible future to you at the critical point, to a parallel track, whereafter you can't get back to your true reality without finding a rabbit hole and doing it all again, letting events play out in certain ways), the nightmare future would still only be one possible future. It's just that it's the one from the infinity of alternatives that he's aware of.
 
Feb 29, 2016
9
20
If re-entry resets to the past, how is he able to save the children and JFK permanently? Ref. woman who returned to wheelchair when he went back up the pantry stairs. This has bothered me. If this could be explained, I would appreciate it.

Pat

I could be wrong for I read the book when it first came out however, there is a part in the end of the book where he talks to the new "yellow/green" card man and he sort of explains to Jake/George that every time AL or Jake go through the rabbit hole they do disrupt something.
 
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Pepethebear

Member
Feb 16, 2016
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Thanks Stephanie. I am halfway through the book and I think I got how the reset works now. Glad to know that the yellow/green card man is explained at some point. I have to say that this isn't Stephen King's best effort. I sometimes get the feeling after reading similar previous books, that he has grubbed around in his attic for stuff he wrote in college. This isn't Duma Key or Lisey's Story or It or the many other superior quality books he has written.
Pat Ebaugh
 
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Brooks

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Nov 4, 2014
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Thanks Stephanie. I am halfway through the book and I think I got how the reset works now. Glad to know that the yellow/green card man is explained at some point. I have to say that this isn't Stephen King's best effort. I sometimes get the feeling after reading similar previous books, that he has grubbed around in his attic for stuff he wrote in college. This isn't Duma Key or Lisey's Story or It or the many other superior quality books he has written.
Pat Ebaugh

Patience, my friend, patience. Don't judge a book until you finished the last page.
 
Feb 29, 2016
9
20
This is a book he started when he was a teacher and has worked on it on and off since I believe 1972(?). He shelved it originally because he couldn't teach and devote the time needed to do the research for the background of this book. So you're kind of right. My opinion, as to the book though, is most have grown so accustomed to his horror/thrillers that him choosing to finish writing a sci-fi historical has created a bias against the book for its not his "typical" work.
 

Pepethebear

Member
Feb 16, 2016
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Thanks Stephanie, for confirming my "rummaging around in the attic" theory. I love Stephen King for his horror/sci-fi books. He's one helluva of a writer but this book lacks the horror component that I so enjoy along with his exceptional writing. This book is over 1,000 pages long, I am at page 770 and I think that's long enough to form an opinion without waiting until the last page. Sorry, Brooks. I have been very patient and will finish the book, of course. Pat
 
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Feb 29, 2016
9
20
Thanks Stephanie, for confirming my "rummaging around in the attic" theory. I love Stephen King for his horror/sci-fi books. He's one helluva of a writer but this book lacks the horror component that I so enjoy along with his exceptional writing. This book is over 1,000 pages long, I am at page 770 and I think that's long enough to form an opinion without waiting until the last page. Sorry, Brooks. I have been very patient and will finish the book, of course. Pat
He always intended to finish the book. The research put into it though is unbelievable. From what I've gathered this is a book that may have been shelved when first started but has been worked on and off over the years. Again though this is not his usual writing style and he did put a lot of research into dates, people, places and such.
 
Feb 29, 2016
9
20
T
One question that was never answered, because it never came up is what would happen if a second person went down the rabbit hole during that brief period time while the first was still in there. I expect someday the premise of the rabbit hole will be revisited and that question will be at the center.
This is also explained at the end of the book.
 
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