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Under the Dome
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*****spoiler alert ********Leslie, if you're 500 pages in, you must have missed the explanation of the "bad blood" between Junior and Baaarbie . . . it's just a small aside, but basically, one of the girls (the one who works at the steakhouse) made a move on Barbie, and was turned down by him. That made her tell her boyfriend (one of Jr.'s gang) that Barbie had raped her. That's why the parking lot beat down ensued.
Bondama wrote: "*****spoiler alert ********you must have missed the explanation of the "bad blood" between Junior and Baaarbie
Oh right, That detail had slipped my mind.
Bondama wrote: "*****spoiler alert ********Leslie, if you're 500 pages in, you must have missed the explanation of the "bad blood" between Junior and Baaarbie . . . it's just a small aside, but basically, one of..."
that's why I stated he was evil earlier as well. If he had been a sane non-evil person he would have gone to the authorities with the accusation instead of trying to be a vigilante.
Robert wrote: "i havent read any comments. I will when i have finished but i just want to sayI HATE THE CHARACTORS IN THIS BOOK
in this i mean
SK MADE ME HATE THE CHARACTORS IN THIS BOOK
He has done a good j..."
You know...I'm kinda with you there. There are a lot of characters in this book I find truly disgusting and not many I really, really like. Barbie and Julia are ok, but I didn't fall in love with them as I usually do with SK's heroes. The one character I did love was Piper Libby. I totally related to her!
And SPOILER...
I found Junior's interest in the kids creepy as well. I get the idea that no one is all bad or all good, but his obsession with them made me ill after his attachment to his "girlfriends". When he talked about going to get them I had a feeling that they would end up in "the pantry" as well.
Hello Stephen King Fans .. First time I am posting here... wondering How people feel this book compares with Duma Key ? I also happen to be simultaneously reading "Tommyknockers" . When Ruth McCausland tries to leave Haven , she wonders if a "Dome" will prevent her from going... It turns out to be more like an elastic force field but I also wondered if there were any other references to this (Domed places) in any of SK other works. I agree that Jim is creepy, Junior may be impacted by his tumor but is primarily an evil character to start with. I am only about 250 pages in, so this thread is tough to read and dodge spoilers.
I like the dome way better than I liked duma key! I wasnt too impressed with Duma Key. Dont get me wrong it was a good book and I probably would haved loved it if it was written by any other author, but its not one of the master's best works imho. Must be a b*tch setting the bar so high for yourself, lol.
Holly, MOST excellent catch! I don't remember that scene; where in the book is it? Chapter? [better yet, page?:]Thanks.
Holly wrote: "Hello Stephen King Fans .. First time I am posting here... wondering How people feel this book compares with Duma Key ? I also happen to be simultaneously reading "Tommyknockers" . When Ruth McCaus..."
Tom-The Ruth McCausland leaving town scene in Tommyknockers is Chapter 6 specifically section 11, in my version it is page 335.
In terms of Duma Key I felt much more in the "heads" of those characters where this book is much more descriptive of action but not as much thought. I guess I have to read the whole thing to really compare because it took a long time to get invested in Duma Key and it wasn't nearly as interesting as this one. I agree UTD is much closer to "The Stand."
Lonnie wrote: "Sam - the birthday girl wrote: "Angie wrote: "I wish a author who I love would come to a city near me. It always seems they stay on the east coast! "try livin' on the West Coast of Australia A..."
is he coming again????
Holly wrote: "...wondering How people feel this book compares with Duma Key ?..."I enjoyed Duma Key, but am enjoying Under the Dome so much more. I am completely absorbed in it!
Really feeling jealous here, the hardback won't come out in Karachi, Pakistan until next month at the earliest, there's usually a 3 month lag, which is a killer. Must admit, have been sneaking peeks at the spoilers and the stephenking website - just can't wait that long to find out what's happening:)
Theories? I'd be apt to agree with Barbie's idea that he's just dreaming it all, but I know thats not like Stephen King. So im gonna say a goverment screw up or experiment.
***********POSSIBLE SPOILER***********Wouldn't it be SO funny if it was all a silly kids game? Think _Wordprocessor of the Gods_ gone awry!
Fran wrote: "Theories? I'd be apt to agree with Barbie's idea that he's just dreaming it all, but I know thats not like Stephen King. So im gonna say a goverment screw up or experiment."
***********POSSIBLE SPOILER*********** Oh crap!! That would explain the boy's (cant remmeber his name, sorry) comment that THEY WERE the experts!
"***********POSSIBLE SPOILER*********** remember the scene with the ants?
Thinking about it, I would say this relates to Big Jim's thought process. He has a captive audience, is beyond the control of most in authority, and can act out on his cruelty to his black heart's content. Kinda like the mean kid when no adults are around.
\Fran wrote: "***********POSSIBLE SPOILER***********
Oh crap!! That would explain the boy's (cant remmeber his name, sorry) comment that THEY WERE the experts!"
didnt get that far yet, last i read the kids just went out with the giger counter. Im really into the story and wish I had more time to dedicate to reading it, but things are really busy right now. As it is Im usually up til 1:00 or 2:00 trying to get my reading time in :)
Fran,Get your priorities in order!
Take a day or two off work :) haha
Fran wrote: "didnt get that far yet, last i read the kids just went out with the giger counter. Im really into the story and wish I had more time to dedicate to reading it, but things are really busy right now..."
I just finished this book last night and found it to be excellent.
I finished this one this morning around 1:30 am. It's the newest among my favorite novels (Funny how many King novels occupy the top 20....hmmmmm...you'd almost think I was a fan. LOL)
I am really enjoying this one so far. It's big but the reading is actually going really fast.
I am so envious of you guys - just under 2 weeks and I'll finally have the electronic version!
Passed the halfway point last night. I dont want it to ever end!!!
I finished this at 12:30 this morning and loved every minute of it. It is my favorite King book so far (I have only read 3, but have seen all the movies based on his books). I did not feel that it fizzled at the end, like some people here did. The action was nonstop the entire time.***SPOILERS***
There were a few things I didn't care for in the story. One was the ghost of Brenda Perkins telling Julia's dog, Horace, to get the Vader file at Andrea's house--it introduced a supernatural element that was completely unnecessary and only served to diminish the story overall, IMO. The other was the description of the aliens, all the assumptions made about their behavior and intentions, that everyone just "knew" they were children, and that the aliens were so anthropomorphized. There were also some physical aspects and characteristics of the dome that did not jibe with me, though they likely resulted from SK's lack of understanding of physics and they did not bother me too much.
I love this book and would recommend it to anyone, even those who are not SK or even horror fans.
Oh well, I couldnt resist reading the above, so now I know. Still gonna enjoy the read though!!
Just finished too!!! Best book I`ve read this year! I only started reading King in March of this year, but so far I have 15 under my belt (inlcuding the Dark Tower books). UTD would have to be my favourite stand-alone of his that I`ve read. Don`t let the length scare you. It gets right into the action from page 1. And for those that say that King hasn`t written a good book since his accident, then I strongly suggest reading this novel of his (I think you`ll change your mind!)
Martin wrote: "...Best book I`ve read this year!..."I second that.
As far as not writing a good novel since his accident.... I think duma key was a better novel overall. But i also LOVED this one. The ending was a dissapointment though
I'm afraid I'm going to open up a can of worms here, but... I found this one disappointing. I should explain that one of the joys I find in King's writing is how well he does the 'nuts and bolts' of his craft. He's got great stories, but more than that, he can write really well... and I didn't see the same level of technical mastery in this one- or at least the technical 'tricks' he used didn't work well for me. My experience reading King is that everything in his stories- from what is happening to how it's told- is necessary to the story as a whole, it builds on what happened earlier and forms a foundation for what happens next, and when you get to the end you're left with the overall impression that the story is complete and the conclusion inevitable (of course, there are exceptions... no one can be perfect all the time ;p). That's not the way this book made me feel... I found that the shifts in tenses between chapters hampered the flow of the story, and the chapter where he randomly switched to an omniscient narrator POV completely broke the tension and momentum for me and yanked me so far out of the story that it was a struggle to get 'back into the moment', so to speak. There were lots of things that I liked, and some that I even loved (Horace and Libby especially) but on the whole I was disappointed with this read.
I have to reluctantly agree with you Stacie. This is not King at his best. Far from it. Parts of it feel too rushed, and the characters are essentially caricatures, the villains almost comic-book bad. So bad as to be unbelievable. Annie Wilkes is a worthy villain -- so well-developed she fairly screams off the page (and haunts me still) -- but Big Jim Rennie and his son Junior? Totally forgettable, and that's disappointing. There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed (and you could tell King had a blast writing it), but compared to The Stand? IT? Even The Tommyknockers? or The DT series? It doesn't hold up.
Oh, Stacie, I do not agree. King states in the afterward that one of the things he wanted most was to keep the "pedal to the medal" during this book - and I think he did that excellently. I absolutely loved this book - it lacked, of course, the delicate touches of "Lisey's Story" or "Duma Key" - maybe that's what you're referring to. I also did not perceive any os the characters as caricatures (whoo - that's some sentence!!") I simply saw them as standard characters in Stephen King's collection. The earnest, well meaning woman - the slightly loopy librarian, and above all, the extremely intelligent kid who has a few solutions of his own -- all known before from King's works, and all loved. Jim Rennie was but a different form of so, SO many King villains.
The only criticism I can agree with above is that of Jason's complaining about the very unnecessary introduction of a "supernatural" element -- the book just didn't need it, -- and I LOVED UTD!
I haven't read the entire thread so forgive me if this question has been addressed. I am on page 326 and just finished the chapter where Junior picks up the kids that were wandering in the forest. When the little girl hugs him he says he has never felt that feeling. Did the story address why Jim Rennie's wife/ Junior's mother is not in the picture ? Did I miss it ? I know there was a conversation earlier in this thread about the question of whether Junior is crazy or evil or affected by a brain tumor to change his personality. Could his lack of mother figure play a role ? THanks for advising if you know the answer to the whereabouts of Mrs. Rennie.
Holly wrote: "I haven't read the entire thread so forgive me if this question has been addressed. I am on page 326 and just finished the chapter where Junior picks up the kids that were wandering in the forest. ..."The reason Mrs. Rennie isn't in the picture any more is explained a little bit later in the story. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't say anything else :)
***********Sorta/Kinda/Maybe a Spoiler**********Now I'm a fan of the re-occurring characters, towns, and occasional shared history that happens in King's books, but did the reference to The Mist movie just go a little to far for anyone else?
berrybuzz wrote: "***********Sorta/Kinda/Maybe a Spoiler**********Now I'm a fan of the re-occurring characters, towns, and occasional shared history that happens in King's books, but did the reference to The Mist..."
Meh...maybe? It was a really obvious reference but it was fleeting and didn't one of the kids or teenagers say it?
*********Spoilerish********Rachel wrote: "Meh...maybe? It was a really obvious reference but it was fleeting and didn't one of the kids or teenagers say it? "
It was in a blog post that Scarecrow Jim was reading. It really jarred me and broke my suspension of disbelief. Usually when I read, I slip right into it with time and pages flying, very immersed. It pulled me right out of it. :(
Other than that I'm a quarter of the way through the book and really enjoying it!
I just finished this book at around 5:30 this morning, and I have to say I loved it. I couldn't put it down. There were a lot, a LOT, of parallels and references and "shades" of King's earlier works, but I always love when he does that. I don't think if it was any other author I would like it at all though, to be honest.
*******Spoilers Below*******
Big Jim and Junior kept reminding me of other characters I've recently (and not so recently) read. I was NOT a fan of either one of them, or their teenage hair-trigger army, but I have to say that I felt that Junior really did want to look out for the kids, and had no ulterior motives for wanting to get them.
At that point, he was so far gone that he thought that pretty much everyone who was not him was against him, and the only "innocents" were those two kids. So I think that he legitimately wanted to "save" them.
One thing that I was a bit disappointed in was Piper's reaction after touching the box. I had kind of identified with her "Not There", and her questions as to whether there is anything "There" after all or not. So I was a bit disappointed that after touching the box and seeing what she saw that she would lose everything, including her doubt, and replace it with a surety that there really is nothing.
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't understand why she felt that a creator could create her but not what she saw. She'd already opened her mind to the possibility of no God, or even a different God than maybe the one she thought she knew, so I don't see why she'd give up altogether.
It seems that the thought process is that Man is great and all-powerful with the only greater Being being God. And if that's not true - if there is something in the middle-ground, then there must be no God at all. I just don't really see the logic there, but I could be thinking around it. LOL
Anyway... Just my thoughts. Sorry to be so long-winded. I really enjoyed this one even though it was incredibly brutal. It seems that the smaller the set is, the more King ups the death-toll. LOL :)
I finished the book last week and i LOVED it!! There are always things that you wish you could change in any story and this is no different. However, I have to agree with Becky when she says "One thing that I was a bit disappointed in was Piper's reaction after touching the box." This was my biggest disappointment too. I definately like a more inspirational climax!!
Fran, I wasn't looking for a more inspirational climax. In fact my disappointment had nothing to do with that at all, really. I was just disappointed that she just gave up completely. And it didn't make sense to me why she should feel that because the LH's existed that a God didn't. It wasn't a really religious thing on my part, I just felt that her logic didn't make sense. But I guess it's not always a logical decision.
I finished the book last night and although I liked it, it wasn't SK at his best in my opinion.I'm not a die hard SK fan - I loved him when I was a teenager and read a lot of his works in translation (The Stand, It, Christine ...) and are now rediscovering and re-reading him in his own language. I sometime forget how great he is at telling stories ...
For me, this was a great idea but the execution lacked a bit.
Spoilers below
I also didn't care for the deadvoice telling Horace about the Vader file - that could have been so much easier with someone just trying to see what Horace was eating and without the deadvoice appearing twice to make it happen.
Also, the whole alien thing didn't work for me. Someone mentioned that they were too anthropomorphized and I agree with that. Also, the way the novel ended didn't quite work for me.
I read the international version of this novel (880 pages - I think it's complete - nothing says it isn't) but in my version, Horace changes name for some pages and become Hector and I just hate it when that happens. Lousy editing!
Christina, I have to agree with you about the deadvoice. Kandice and I talked about that right after I'd finished and we both agree that it was out of place. But I still really enjoyed the book aside from that.
Although I was a little put off by the dead talking to Horace, I consider King's nod to Koontz.Becky wrote: "Christina, I have to agree with you about the deadvoice. Kandice and I talked about that right after I'd finished and we both agree that it was out of place. But I still really enjoyed the book asi..."
I didn't feel it ruined the book or anything, and it would not have been out of place in some other work, but to me, Horace's ghost incident just didn't fit this story. Like Christina Stind said, there are so many other ways it could have been accomplished.I was okay with the aliens. I always get surprised when King uses aliens, but after all these years I shouldn't. Tommyknockers, Dreamcatcher, lots of short stories...he likes his aliens, obviously.
The deadvoice wasn't what ruined the book for me either - it just felt out of place in this book. Maybe Tom is right that it was a tribute to Koontz - but it still felt wrong in this book.Kandice is right, King likes his aliens. I don't however. Tommyknockers is the only book of his that I've begun but not finished. I haven't read Dreamcatcher but hated the movie ... But I could have been okay with the aliens if I felt the end was satisfying enough - I didn't. Just like the deadvoice was somewhat of a too easy plot device, how they got the dome lifted also felt too easy to me.
And I'm sad that I didn't like it more because he did have some cool images along the way - in the end when Ollie cleans the Dome to look out for instance - loved that! And the people sitting against the Dome and just waiting ... loved that as well! Loved the entire idea - just didn't feel like King wrote up to his fullest potential in this one.
Haha! I really expected to see something like "DOME DAY" on the calendar of events!
The top town guy James Rennie seemed to me to be a version of Boss Hogg off the Dukes of Hazard and the guy who became Chief of Police, Randolf was kindof like Rosco off the Dukes too. Did anyone else get this impression?All in all I felt like I was reading a screen play instead of a book.
That actually takes away from the enjoyment of reading a book. With a movie you are too busy watching it to think about how the screen play reads which is why the two should always be delivered differently. I guess what I'm saying is a Story should be a story and a movie a movie.
I"m not sure if King was maybe trying to make it easier on screen play writers if this becomes a movie but if so I think he should just stick to making a great story and letting the screen writers do their own job.
I'm not a writer, however I am a reader and I felt the story was detracted from by trying to compensate for a possible movie.
Just my opinion. King does still write good stuff I just don't think this was his best.
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Oh now I'm deviously plotting out to cause problems. :D