Under the Dome by Stephen King

piranah

piranah

Padawan Learner
Just finished this book great read if you like the Stand you will like this one. Stephen has gone off the boil with last few novels but I still got a soft spot for him. He thinks the same way I do. The language and graphic violence does feel a bit much at time but I skim thru that. The dome deals with what happens in a small american town when this see through forcefield encapsulates the town. Inside people breakdown and the evil mayor takes over outside the army and the outside world try to no avail to get through. No one knows if it is aliens or what has done this. It is basically a study of a human behaviour and what happens when you cut people off and throw a few unknown quantities in.
 
Love Stephen King, loved the Stand (all 7 times) and will put this on my reading list as well...glad to hear this is meeting his old standard of storytelling, too.
 
I've read all of Stephen King's books. Not for the horror. It was the way King spun a story, how the characters said things that are normally thought but not spoken, reveals the inner workings and stuff of the characters, making the unreal real, and what happens if you mix x, y,z with a... so to speak. I've looked at this book but haven't gotten it to read. I had read Duma Key and was disappointed. It started out good, there was a concept there, but mid way I flat didn't like the turns in the story and I especially disliked the ending. The Stand was by far one of my favorites of King's. I'll add this to my extensive reading list, and most likely will not read it until sometime summer.
 
Sounds like an interesting book! I also like Stephen King and the Stand as well as The Dark Tower series are my favourite books. Maybe I'll check out this one for some leisurely reading!
 
I have " Under the Dome by Stephen King " but haven't started it yet. I also really like him and have read most of his books. I never saw him as a horror writer, I just like him.
 
I've just started reading this myself. I'm also a fan of many of his books and consider him a master at plotting. I quite liked the film adaptation of The Mist as well.

"Bloody Disgusting" ranked the film tenth in their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article saying "The scary stuff works extremely well, but what really drives this one home is Darabont’s focus on the divide that forms between two factions of the townspeople – the paranoid, Bible-thumping types and the more rational-minded, decidedly left-wing members of the populace. This allegorical microcosm of Bush Jr.-era America is spot on, and elevates an already-excellent film to even greater heights."
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i have been hooked on mr king since reading the shinning aged twelve i stole my sisters copy and scared myself to death i think he is so good at dialogue and he has power to draw me in.
 
Absolutely devoured this book and said the same thing, "It's as good as The Stand". I find it interesting the subject of the book and the parallels to some of the things that are going on in the world today: Agent provocateurs, LA now breathing methane gasses with the spill, the alien factor, etc. Really enjoyed it a lot! Probably one of my top two favorites of his now. And I've read almost everything he's written.
 
Hi truthseeker,

I'd like to invite you to post an introduction in the Newbies section telling us a bit about yourself, and how you found your way here. :)
 
tom32071 said:
I have " Under the Dome by Stephen King " but haven't started it yet. I also really like him and have read most of his books. I never saw him as a horror writer, I just like him.
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quite agree he is a shakespeare for the modern commoner. i try to disregard some of his language........and violence.....love his story about psychiatrist who is drawn into his clients psychosis.......or is it a psychosis.....i forget the title....the client has to keep counting these stones in a field....or a great evil w ill take place.....
 
truth seeker said:
Hi truthseeker,

I'd like to invite you to post an introduction in the Newbies section telling us a bit about yourself, and how you found your way here. :)
Click to expand...

For a second there, I thought you were inviting yourself. :P
 
I didn't feel Under The Dome can be compared favorably to The Stand. I don't think King's capable of that quality of writing any longer - maybe because he's got nothing to prove? Anything he puts his name to is instantly a best seller. And I doubt he needs the money! I suspect that writing is just habit now; a part of his life he can't abandon if he wants to feel purposeful and engaged. Unfortunately for us readers, some of his recent books (The Cell in particular) should have hit the round file before the first draft was finished. There just wasn't enough to it.

The Dome's only compelling, fully three-dimensional character is the psychopathic sheriff. It's not enough. Everybody's writing suffers if there isn't enough character development, but King's writing suffers even more than most. His "out there" plots can't stand by themselves. They are only devices for social commentary, philosophy and psychological insight. King as philosopher? Oh, yes. His best books do a bang-up job of answering the questions: What happens if you put so-and-so or this group of people in this weird situation? What would they do? How can they come to understand their situation? How does it challenge their beliefs? How does it change them? At his best, King's psychological/philosophical sophistication, and the wonderful immediacy of his writing style have kept me fascinated. But that hasn't happened in many years. Either he's lost it, or he's lost interest. Either one adds up to the same thing.

Now I read his books if I want entertainment from someone who has writing chops, if I can find them cheap at the local used book store. And I don't expect to be wowed. Not any longer.
 
I haven’t yet read Under the Dome, sounds promising. King’s recent output has been somewhat uneven, just finished Dr. Sleep, and in my opinion as a whole it fell a little flat. At his best King spins a really good quality yarn and the characters especially get to shine, he writes them exceptionally well in my experience.

Of his later books, 11/22/63 seems to be well received:

Am I saying 11/22/63 is better than The Shining or Misery or IT or The Dead Zone?

I guess what I'm saying, what I can't believe I'm saying, is that it very well might be. And at this point in King's career, after decades of delivering dozens of entertaining and moving and brilliant novels (and, okay, some stinkers if we're honest), that's one hell of an achievement.

_http://badassdigest.com/2014/02/18/discussion-is-11-22-63-stephen-kings-best-novel/
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About the plot:

. . . but an even more bizarre secret comes to light when Jake’s friend Al, owner of the local diner, enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination. How? By stepping through a portal in the diner’s storeroom, and into the era of Ike and Elvis, of big American cars, sock hops, and cigarette smoke. . . . Finding himself in warmhearted Jodie, Texas, Jake begins a new life. But all turns in the road lead to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. The course of history is about to be rewritten . . . and become heart-stoppingly suspenseful.

_http://www.amazon.com/11-22-63-A-Novel/dp/1451627297/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393348332&sr=8-1&keywords=11%2F22%2F63
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King appears to be a mainstream kind of guy, against ”conspiracy theories” (my impression from reading his books and interviews), for example regarding the assassination of JFK and 9/11. So, even if 11/22/63 is a well written book and otherwise good Positive Dissociation, I’m afraid the lone gunman/ Lee Harvey Oswald -angle might be too ”teeth grinding” to plough through. I’m thinking of not ”supporting” that particular lie and giving the book a pass.
 
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