Under the Dome

A Novel

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Raul Esparza

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when - or if - it will go away.

Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens - town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing - even murder - to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

©2009 Stephen King (P)2009 Simon & Schuster

No Stand

"Under the Dome" is being compared to King's earlier and greater work, "The Stand." "Dome" is entertaining, and I give it 3 points mostly for King-isms such as "Nothing runs like a Deere." (Of course the narrator deserves some credit for the delivery too.)

It's no "Stand," however. The big difference is that King devotes the entire work of the "Dome" to the subject covered in about 1/6 of "The Stand" - that is, the destruction of the world he's writing about. "The Stand" deals with that and then moves swiftly on to the part which I personally found more interesting; would it be possible to reconstruct society after the loss of so many people? That King had to use the hand-wavium of supernatural events to pull the protagonists together into one location shows that Stewart's "Earth Abides" describes the likelier outcome of such a catastrophe, but in "The Stand," King manages to pull off a fairly exciting work on the subject. In "Dome," however, King becomes one of those kids burning ants under a magnifying lens that he talks about in the book; he creates characters - some really evil bad guys and some weak and ineffectual good guys - then he spends the rest of the book watching them jump through hoops while everything goes crashing down around them.

If you thought the best part of "The Stand" was part 1, you'll enjoy "Under the Dome." If you're a hard core SF buff and would like a more character-driven and more scientifically interesting look at this notion of what would happen if you were cut off from the rest of the universe, I highly recommend Robert Charles Wilson's "Spin" instead.

A Good Listen, Though the Ending Disappoints

While having almost all the bad guys being rock-ribbed Republicans and fundamentalist Christians got tedious after 500 pages, King still provides gripping prose and engaging dialog, and I was hooked, until the end, which was anemic. Raul Esparza did a passable job at the narration, but it made me long for William Hurt and his nuanced, brilliant narration of Hearts in Atlantis. Still, if you don't mind a hefty does of King's leftwing politics and some strange vocal characterizations (especially for several of the women and most of the children), then this is well worth your time.

The humanity

This does not seem to be a Stephen King story. There are no parallel worlds as you normally find in his writings. It is more of a sci-fi story but mostly just about life in a small town and mans inhumanity to man. There is the obligatory religious nut involved but I have come to the conclusion that anyone religious is a nut. So I am not surprised. It does drag a bit at times so I gave it four instead of five stars. It is also a long story so a bit of dragging is expected. It also seemed like the bad guys always won and the good guys never did, and even at the end did not win much. That irked me a little. Over all it is a good book that I am glad I downloaded. Worth the credit but I wish he had left Jack Reacher out of it.

Classic King!

I was beginning to think Stephen King had lost it. But this was great! Not too bizarre, but classic King. One of his better books in the past ten years. Maybe not as good as Green Mile, but still good enough to keep me listening for hours at a time. Great characters.

Great Listen

Wicked good listen. 35 hours moves at light speed. Really enjoyed the narrator.

Ahhhh, What else can I say!!!

It is a must read!!!
First of all I have to say it is a wonderful story, and think you again Mr. King for doing what you do to bring entertainment and sometimes a little enlightenment to "Constant Reader" Life.
This was a story, not only of the nature of man but the nature of the word and how somethings are just bigger than we are. There are bad people in the world and there always will be. No matter how much "Right Teaching" and Religion we try to fix it with. It is the way of things.
As far as the reader goes, I think he did an OK job, although he did get his voices mixed up from time to time. I think there was a time when Barbie was talking in the voice of a little girl. That was weird.
There was a few mistakes, mostly cosmetic, and probably not very noticeable. Like in the first of the book when Barbie tells the guy he is walking the wall with to call the Colonel and tell him "Captain Barbra called" and a few other times he was referred to as CAPTAIN, Until he was promoted to Colonel, the rest of the book it was said that he was Promoted from Lieutenant to Colonel. He refers to himself as former Lieutenant Barbra. Kind of an over sight I think.
Also, sometimes I wonder of Stephen King needs to do more research on guns or maybe he messes things up on intently. I have heard similar things to this in other King books. But there is no such thing as a Beretta 92 Taurus. That is like saying someone has a Ford Mustang, Chevrolet. They are two different brands.
Oh well like I said they are cosmetic mistakes and really take nothing away from the fact that this is a wonderful story with a GREAT message that makes you think a lot!!!

Difficult to follow and hard to stay engaged.

Didn't keep me interested. Some of the characters behaviors seemed unnatural and far fetched. The situation seems overly contrived at times. Similar to the Losties never talking amongst themselves.

Part 5 is really Part 1

You would think Amazon could get this right. Unfortunately I didn't figure it out until the end. I even checked Part 1 again to see if I missed something because Steven King usually doesn't start in the middle. Kind of ruined it for me.

GREAT book, lousy Narrator

Been a LONG time since read a King book and forgot how indepth he goes into character development. I know these characters so well I feel like I should send them Christmas cards. That development leads to the length of the book.

The story is unique and keeps you tuned in. I drove around the block to keep listening. There were times were I'd get so angry at the characters, which I guess is a good sign.

The narrator really is weak and at first I almost stopped listening to it just because of it. But after awhile you get too involved in the book to really pay attention. Highly recommended.

So Many Characters!!

This is an interesting book. It made me consider what it would be like if some sort of catastrophe occurred locally (or globally) and how close to the happenings in this story things would get. Too close for comfort I suspect!! My one main gripe about the story was the many, many, many characters. This is the first book I've ever had to literally make a list of characters, who they were & what they did and their family ties. I'd definitely recommend making such a list to anyone considering this audio book. Another gripe would be the ending. I really don't know what I expected, in fact, I kept wondering how things would be finished off. I found the ending disappointing, but then again, how else could it have ended (you'll see what I mean when/if you get the book). There are many gruesome descriptions and bad language (I normally don't mind a few f words, but this is loaded with them). Killings & death left and right. I'd still recommend the book, but be aware, it's a LONG story!