Under The Dome

[JaneiteIsTrite]

Has anybody read it yet and ready to talk about it?

I finished it a week or so ago and would love to talk about it

Oh good! What did you think?

I don't think it was as good as the comments re: 'his greatest since The Stand' suggested but I did enjoy it.

I didn't think it was as good as the Stand but I was pleasantly surprised. I had felt the quality of his writing had dropped way down but this and Duma Key have renewed my faith in him. Was a bit about the end with the alien because it felt a bit rushed but I loved the fire. My face was literally like this the whole time.

Agree re the alien.

I thought it was too long with too many characters and too high a death count tbh. You didn't get close enough to many of his characters, as you usually do with his best books. I did like Barbie's character though - and Joe. And Phil the Chef.

My favourite bit (didn't cry but close) was the bit with the boy and the soldier putting their hands on the glass - and then again later when the soldier was helping the boy to breath with the fan. Lovely.

I agree, I think he got a bit carried away with the build-up so it was almost too longwinded. I think that unless you're quite a quick reader it has the potential to be a bit frustrating. I love Barbie and Julia as well as Rusty and the children. I found the rape scene quite harrowing though.

I cried a few times but tbh have forgotten which bits Did cry at the exchange between the boy and soldier.

I was quite pissed off in the end with the way he killed off a load of the main characters in such a shallow way. It read like a list I thought and considering they had been built up over the whole book it was a bit of a letdown. I think he was trying to do his 'Stephen King callously kills everyone' thing but it almost felt a bit disrespectful [gets too involved with books emoticon]

Spoilers for anybody new to thread...

Yes. The killing off of teenage boy especially (Joe's friend) really disappointed me. I liked the character of the girl who was raped and liked the poetic justice of her follow-up actions. I liked the guy who kept speaking all Creole-ish too - v funny!

I guess the point of him killing everybody was that the aliens were totally dispassionate and would enjoy/fail to be moved by watching them die - therefore we must watch them all die too - like ants. Hence there is no repect, if that makes sense. It still made me cross though!

Yes, I see what you mean re dispassionate killing. I lost track of who he killed off though, lots of characters to keep track of!

DP didn't like Carter being killed by Rennie in the bunker, he thinks it would have been better if Carter had got the better of him. I'm not sure though. I think it symbolised well how Rennie used the town for his own ends and it almost got the better of him.

I loved the Reacher reference.

I enjoyed the book, except for the eventual reason for, and resolution of the Dome. It seemed like King had a good idea for a novel - completely isolate a small town and see what happens - but he had a problem with the Why and How of the dome, and took the easy way out with the ET kids.

Reacher? Am I being dim here? I don't understand.

I was just glad that Little Walter didn't die...it said something about how his mother thought she might drug his chocolate milk, and then before she went to kill her rapists it said "she fed him for the last time," or something like that. I was terrified she was going to kill him too.

Janeite - The colonel (Cox? the one on the outside of the dome) gets a reference from Reacher for one of the cops (Jackie) inside the dome, who used to be an MP.

Sorry - Reacher is Jack Reacher, the main character in Lee Child's novels. Stephen King is reportedly a fan.

Ah - nope: that passed me by completely and still means nowt to me! But thank you for explaining.

Well, if you liked Barbie in this novel, try Lee Child. Start with Killing Field.

I loved this book, but I think I agree that the end was rushed with it being aliens that caused the Dome, it was a relief they made it out though, was a bit dissapointed Rennie didn't have to face the consequences for his behaviour.
But anyhow, I have now read every single Stephen King (except for the dark tower books) so I'm bookless til he releases his next. As you all appear to be King fans can you recommend some one similar for me to try?
Please?

Read The Dark Tower books - they are fabbo! Except the fourth one, which is too long and a bit boring.

Really? I'm not really into urm... what genre would you call it? Fantasy? It all seems a bit Tolkien for my liking.

Nothing like Tolien (though I like LOTR too). Fantasy yes but a mixture of a sort of King Arthur-ish type world and modern day. King himself is a character in the later ones.

Trust me - they're great.

And I really fancy Roland, the gunslinger and central character.

Lost a K from Tolkien there.

Ok, next time I'm at the library I'll give them a try, if they have the 1st in the series in (which I doubt, local library is rubbish for King fans).
On your head be it though!