Under The Dome by Stephen King

I have been a fan of Stephen King for awhile now. His characters seem all to real to the point where I think I might bump into some of them while walking down the street. They are full of life. His settings are also very realistic and it makes you wonder if you could find Castle Rock if you looked at a map of Maine.

What I also enjoy about his writing is how he references several towns and settings in different books. It also helps that many of his books actually take place within the state of Maine. So it makes it all make sense if a character mentions he was up in Dairy a few weeks ago or Castle Rock. In Under The Dome for example, Shawshank is mentioned several times, which is the name of the prison from Shawshank Redemption(haven't read the short story/novella but seen the movie and loved it. lol) The way Stephen King has done all this is how I would want to do it. In fact many of the fantasy stories I have posted here all take place within a single world. You can only really tell by either characters coming back or mention of the Gods or organizations within it.

In Under The Dome his characters continue to be all to real. I almost had to catch myself from looking up Chester's Mill.

The premise of the book is rather simple... even though the page count is near 1,100 pages. An invisible forcefield, simply called The Dome, has encircled the borders of Chester's Mill. Its some thousand feet high and hinted that its roughly the same downwards. Meaning no one gets in, and no one gets out. Chester's Mill is almost completely cut off from the world. Air, but not alot of it, and water, again not so much of it, can pass through. Internet and cellphones work in some cases.

Big Jim Rennie, Second Selectsman and Used Car salesman, takes advantage of being cut off. He can do whatever he wants because... well the US Government can't really stop him. He is careful and smart about his decisions(except when it comes to his heart) and of course everyone soon falls onto his side.

Dale Barbara, Barbie to his friends, is a fromer US Army and now fry cook at a local resteraunt. On Dome day, because of Rennie, is trying to leave Chester's Mill but is trapped... like everyone else.

These two characters are the two focal points for each side. As Rusty would say, Its them against us.

As Jim Rennie beefs up the local police with High School Thugs and all around guys you don't want carrying Guns. Barbie and his side are mostly just trying to survive until the Dome is gone. Also most kids are begining to have Seizures and having dreams. Some hint at Pink stars falling, burning pumpkins, and other stuff. Which all builds a tension and iminent doom throughout the book.

The only true monsters in this book are the ones you can meet on the streets. Humans. That and the creators of the Dome. But in truth, even the creators are not so different from humans. Its very much an exploration of human nature. Its also has touches on the enviorment. The Dome sorta acts out Global Warming and a peek as to what we are doing to it.

In my opinion, this book was great. While seemingly long at 1,100 pages or so, its a fast read. Its also the type of book you really don't want to put down. Yesterday I spent the entire day finishing it.

My favorite charactes have to be... well all of them really. From Rusty the only person left in town who can be considered a doctor to Libby, a Reverend who has lost faith in God and refers to him as "Not There." To Chef, a rather intelligent meth maker and user who has fixated on religion. Even as much as I hated Big Jim Rennie, he was a great villian. OK well one complaint. Used Car salesman... seriously? Isn't there that stereotype that they are always bad people in fiction? lol

Speaking of 'Not There' the book also deals heavily in Religion. Mostly its the bad aspects of it. Big Jim Rennie appears to be a devout Christian often using the Bible to justify. One of his favorite sayings is... well aside from Cotton Picking, is 'Hes eating roast and mashed patotoes with Jesus' or some food anyways. The book isn't against religion, but rather the dangers of what Religion can cause and how it can so easily be used to Justify or mitigate what someone has done. Well thats the impression I got.

Stephen King doesn't shy away from instances of Rape, murder, necrophilia, drug use/addiction and shedding blood. Atleast not in this book. He also doesn't go into explicit detail on somethings and only alludes to it. In one scene a character is going through hell and tries to remember what she and Dodee had done the previous day together. Hinting at that the first selectmans daughter was intimate with another female(yay for lesbians) Even the Necrophilia is only aluded to... though there is one scene where a character goes a little far with a corpse.

But what can I say? Its a Stephen King novel.


HUGE Spoilers up ahead!!
Like no seriously, if you have any interest in reading this then dont. Wait until you finish the book.

Spoiler:

The ending was also great. You can feel the desperation the characters go through. Easily picture one character up against the dome almost dead.

Also the scene on Visitors Day was... well heart breaking.

Great book and if you are a fan of Stephen King, I don't think you will be disapointed. Its definitely worth a chance in my opinion. The page count can seem... large but it's a surprisngly quick and easy read.

*resists urge to read this*
I've had this book for almost a year now and have yet to begin reading. Eh, I'll get to it eventually!