Under the Dome

Executive Summary: Classic King. Despite the supernatural setting, the real horror of the book is perpetrated by characters on one another.Full ReviewI've long since given up on reading every Stephen King book. But I try to read the ones with Dark Tower ties. This one was supposed to have minor connections, but I'd call them easter eggs at best.What really moved this one up my list was the TV show. I enjoy the show, though if was a Fall show rather than a Summer one, it's possible I would have dropped it already. My main reason for reading the book was to find out the mystery behind the dome before the show revealed it. I needn't have worried though.Like just about everything else though, the book is better. Not only is it better, it's almost entirely different. The plot seems to diverge from almost the very beginning. Some of the characters are similar, and they used some of the names. Most of them are drastically different though, or severely toned down.No one will watch the show and think the Rennie's are likable characters by any means, but they have some redeemable characteristics. In the book both of them are downright awful. And they are not the only ones.Mr. King's strength as a writer to me has always been his characters. They jump off the page. This book has some great ones. Though his best characters here are probably the worst. Jim Rennie, used car salesman, town selectman, and fervent Christian is absolutely despicable. His ability to do something downright awful and follow it up with prayers for strength to continue to lead the town just show how self delusional some people can really be. And his son is probably worse. Most of the town is behind the Rennie's, or at least willing to blindly follow their lead in this time of crisis.Thankfully though, there are plenty of likable characters, which will be somewhat similar to anyone familiar with the show. Primarily Dale Barbara, a drifter currently employed as a short order cook at the local diner. And there is Julia Shumway, the owner/editor of the local newspaper. They are rounded out If you pick this book expecting a supernatural horror story, you may be disappointed. Mr. King doesn't spend a lot of time explaining the how or why of the dome. It mostly serves as the setting and a bit of plot vehicle. The characters want to escape, or use the dome as the reason to do something they might not otherwise.Forget the fact that there is giant supernatural dome for a minute. The core of this story is really about all the horrible things people will do to one another when given an opportunity to get away with it, or simply not face real consequences.Mr. King paints a picture of the best and the worst (mostly the worst) of humanity when panic and isolation and puts them under the microscope (or a dome!) for us to see the results.I'm having a hard time trying to figure out other King book I've read this is most like to say “if you like book name, you'll probably like this one.” Maybe [b:The Shining 11588 The Shining (The Shining #1) Stephen King https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353277730s/11588.jpg 849585]? You have that same sort of isolation and human driven horror with a bit of a supernatural flavor.My main disappointment with the book was that the ending felt underwhelming. This goes back to the dome not being very flushed out, but merely a plot device. Despite that once I got into this book it was really hard to put down and I kept reading more and more each night until I finally finished it.

Did you ever watch Lost? If not, here's a summary: A group of people on a plane crash onto an island. There are multiple casualties. Then the remainder of the town must band together to survive. Then some people get greedy, some try to establish authority, some just want to know what's going on. They start trying really hard to get off the island, more things happen. We get small filler plotlines for various characters. We get views into their life before landing on the island. People turn on each other. Then it is all wrapped up into a pretty poor ending.

How does this tie in with Under the Dome? Well, in all honesty, it felt just like lost. It started off with an excellent first season (or first few hundred pages). There are casualties, people try to set up a structure within the town. Panic ensues. We get side stories for characters we don't really care about. They start to panic about never getting out of this dome. What about if supplies all dissapear? Lots of slow, tedius chapters in the middle (although I admit they brought some realism into the book). Then an explanation for the dome. Oh, what's that? It's supernatural? Just like Lost?? SHOCKER. Then the ending comes, it starts to build up the tension and suspense again. Then, wow, all wrapped up nice and neat in a little bow. puke

This was my first full length Stephen King novel, and I have to admit I'm disappointed. It started out so strong, dragged in the middle, then had a pretty poor ending. I don't want to say too much without giving away spoilers, but seriously?? That's the ending? The only other Stephen King works I'm familiar with are The Shining (watched the movie), IT (watched the movie), and The Bizarre of Bad Dreams (collection of short stories). The first two both ended with the good guys finally beating the bad guy or monster in the end. This one too, has survivors. The short stories don't all have “happy” endings. I always assumed, with the realism of Mr. King's writings, that there would be realistic endings. Under the Dome was realistic to a point. The ending had TONS of realistic moments, but frankly, I wish everyone had died in the dome. To me, that would have been a satisfactory ending. Instead, the fact that people survived felt too campy. Just like Lost, when everyone reunited. It just wasn't what I expected.

I don't read much King. No real reason, the movie adaptations are always interesting, I just don't read him. But when I saw this title listed on Amazon, i had to see what it was about.

Glad I did. Really good read. he kinda wraps it up in a hurry, which after investing so much time leading up to the end, a few more pages/chapters to really close it wouldn't hurt my feelings, but ending aside, awesome book.

Definitely a good read.

This is a fun read, but it's not very good. If you're going on vacation, this is a good choice to keep you entertained on the beach. I doubt you will remember many of the details in a few months. The overall premise is very interesting, a town completely enclosed by a force field, unable to leave, unable to receive anything from the outside. It also has Stephen King's somewhat iconic level of violence and bizarre profane slang, by which I mean phrases like “cotton picking,” and genetalia refered to as his “love machine” and her “breeding farm,” generally used to highlight the flaws in the antagonists, and thankfully these are terms I do not hear often, if ever. People in Maine must have quite colorful language, if Stephen King's writing is any indication. (Really though, are there people who talk like that?)

There are some minor and major problems to this novel. The characters are very one dimensional. The antagonists, namely Rennie and the other local politicians, start out as merely arrogantly unlikable. But then, in what feels like a really bizarre turn, it turns out that they have been going to church by day, cooking meth by night.

Another minor flaw in the plot, the government almost immediately shuts down cell reception to the town, as a sort of media black out. However, they allow the much bigger threat, the internet. People can make phone calls using their computers, using Google, Skype, or other services. So this distinction, which is mentioned repeatedly, between cell phones and the internet is weird. I personally would much rather have the internet than my phone, I can get a lot more information and connect with a lot of people. I can share pictures, I can write articles, I can call my grandmother or Wolf Blitzer. In an age where the lines between cell phones and computers is increasingly blurred, for King to make such a big deal about the government shutting one down but allowing the other is really nonsensical.

Another thing that I thought was weird-Barbie advises people to stock up on perishable meat. “Everything, but especially meat. Meat, meat, meat. ... “ When they run out of gas for their generators there won't be any way to keep that fresh. Isn't that a really weird choice? How about grains? Rice, oats, beans, peanut butter, canned goods. Shelf stable, long lasting, hearty and filling.

So overall not a bad read, but not a great one either. If you're a Stephen King fan you will probably find something to like about it.

There were some parts of this book that I would rate at four stars, and some at two stars, so I split the difference and gave it three.

There's a lot of interesting stuff going on here - there's the obvious ecological parable contained within the story, with the problems faced by those under the Dome being similar to the ones we all face in terms of global climate change and global warming. King's also commented that the story could be taken as a 9/11 parallel, with the first and second selectmen of Chester Mills filling in for Bush and Cheney. It also works as an exploration of the Stanford Prison Experiment and its real-life examples of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

At the end of the book, though, it kind of all falls apart. We go through hundreds and hundreds of pages about how horrible people can be when the constraints of society fall apart, and how we are, ultimately, our own worst enemies. Then we find out that we are our own worst enemies - except for the god-like alien beings that can place us under a dome at will and destroy an entire city. It's completely inconsistent with the rest of the book, and for me it cheapened the entire story.

Just finished the audio book of Stephen King's latest novel. It was very enjoyable, but I feel empty afterwards. Good entertainment but does not feed the soul. A throw-away page-turner.

The concept was very clever and the characters were wonderful and deep, as Stephen King's characters always are. That's what kept me going I think.

If you've enjoyed other Stephen King novels, chances are you'll enjoy this.

Well, for me, I'm surprised how quickly I got through this book. It is 1072 pages long but right from the get-go you're hooked and the pace of the book is brilliant. Yes there are a ton of characters but King handles their introductions with the skill he showed in The Stand, we like and care for the people who we are supposed to and we hate and dread those who deserve it. The story is not so much about the dome as it is about the town. Just as The Mist was more about the horrors of humanity trapped i the shop rather than the beasts in the mist outside, for the most part the dome itself is simply a means of containing a town.

There are a full range of characters and they all feel realistic, especially the ‘villains' and for the most part the actions of everyone is realistic also. I cannot remember at any point question what people did.

There are very tense moments in this book, the main tension develops steadily and is done extremely well and there gradually develops two main sides to be on, unfortunately the bad side is a lot bigger.

If you love Stephen King books, especially The Stand and The Mist, then you will love this book. If you have never read a King book, this wouldn't be the one I'd recommend first, however, it is so easy to get through that if it was your first then you should have no problems at all with it. If you don't like King then why are you reading? Anyway, still try this book and you may change your mind.

Quanto è stato pesante portare avanti la lettura, altro che imprigionamento da Cupola, qui si è trattato di imprigionamento da pagine!

Quanto deprimente era stare sotto questa dannata Cupola, ogni volta che dovevo riprendere in mano questo tomo mi sembrava di respirare la stessa feccia d'aria che si respirava a Chester's Mill, non ce la facevo più a trascinarmi avanti in questa trama. E dicevo: “o Dio mandami un po' di quelle anfetamine che si cuoceva lo Chef!”

Ogni volta per cercare di farmi coraggio mi dicevo: “questo libro è del Re”, “è uno degli autori che più ti piacciono”, “non puoi mollare” e avanti così; ma è stata una fatica davvero da giganti portarlo a termine. L'unico aspetto che davvero mi è piaciuto è stato il riferimento in un paio di paginette a Jack Reacher, protagonista dei libri di Lee Child, dove King lo fa comparire come autore di una telefonata per “raccomandare” una persona a Chester's Mill. E questo la dice lunga su quanto di bello c'è all'interno del libro.

Mentre proseguivo con la lettura pensavo: “qui sì che vi vorrebbe uno come Reacher, non questo stoccafisso di Baaaaarbie Barbara”. Lento, lento e stagnante, si salvava a sprazzi come il comparire del sole in una giornata nebbiosa, solo che si capiva che stavamo a Novembre e il sole non è che appare poi tanto in questa stagione. E poi luoghi e nomi e altri nomi e altri luoghi, sì abbiamo capito che ti piace scrivere di comunità in difficoltà, ma ti prego risparmiaci un po' mio Buon Re, o almeno fai sì che il tutto scorra un po' più velocemente perchè qui si sta ad annaspare come i tuoi protagonisti... e poi il finale... miei Dei il finale... pietà vi prego esseri che giocate con la Cupola.

Forse se da un libro da mille pagine ne fosse uscito uno da trecento, molti di noi avremmo gradito infinitamente e ci saremmo messi a cantarne le lodi. E non perchè non gradisco i libri corposi (cioè ridatemi “L'Ombra dello Scorpione” e tutta la “Saga di Roland”), ma perchè proprio potevi tagliare a man bassa la maggior parte dei capitoli.

Mio Buon Re, quando mi ridarai un libro come “Pet Semetary”? Con affetto, un Tuo Fedele Lettore.

Despite what King claims in the afterword to be a lot of trimming, this book is still overlong. The characters are really well developed, which is typical for King (though Chester's Mill is FULL UP on terrible men) - and once the book gets to its climax everything is really riveting. But it took a loooong time to get there.

Raul Esparza does a great job reading the audiobook, too. He gives it a real relaxed storyteller vibe, and he does a lot accents for Mainers. Not sure how accurate they are, but he's definitely consistent.