I recently underwent about two months of ill health. I don't know what the deal was, but I was damned sick and it just wouldn't go away. About one week of that month, I hardly noticed my ails, and that was due entirely to the weighty tome of Stephen King's "Under the Dome." I'm a very rapid reader... my comprehension is at 100%, I can fully absorb the information and the elements, but I can do it at a remarkable pace. "Under the Dome" took me at least a week to read, no sleep, no meals... hardly even a bathroom break. This book was monolithic. I was excited as soon as it was released- about a month before it was released, honestly; as soon as I heard how long it was.
My two favorite novels are by King... and they're two of his longest. "It" and "The Stand" are both remarkable tales with characters I will never forget- in fact, I think about them regularly, as if they were real people. Before reading "Under the Dome," I knew this would continue. Somehow it seems that King's longest works are his most memorable and unique.
I had read about this story when it was still in the making, when King described it as- and I paraphrase- "a book about a town that gets trapped under a huge dome and the citizens start eating each other." I was a little sad when I found that the cannibalism hadn't made it to the final evolution of the novel, but as a stand-alone story with no prior knowledge to previous plotlines, "Under the Dome" didn't disappoint.
The story is still about the town of Cleave's Mill being trapped under a dome, but the conflict is with the political pantheon and their abuse of power while cut off from external forces which would normally bring them under the fist of justice. Left only to their own devices, these people- primarily Big Jim, the main protagonist- had no limit to the horrible things they can do to other people when he owns the police and no one from the outside world can set so much as a foot in their city limits.
The characters in this novel were incredibly real to me... the most prominent being the bully Big Jim and his henchmen. I hated these characters so fiercely that, were I to meet them, I would find myself capable of unspeakable acts I wouldn't normal imagine. As a matter of fact, this brings me to one of only two things I didn't like about the hefty novel. But I'll get to that later.
The town of Cleave's Mill was remarkably complete. It didn't feel in the least bit imagined- and there is even a small map depicting the layout of the town in the first pages of the book. The characters within the town had real-world positions in such; they were policemen and cooks and journalists. Not extraordinary people, just good old Small Town America, with unbelievable realism to their roles.
As always- or at least almost always- King narrates the story perfectly. There is just enough description, a perfect blend of speculation and action, and above all else the characterization and plot-building qualities I love about his work. Despite the size of this book, I couldn't put it down. And I'm sure I developed a good amount of muscle in my forearms from carrying it around the apartment all week.
Now, what I didn't like about the book were two very small, but very important flaws in King's direction. The first one being the main antagonist. This is one of those rare bad guys... one that has a blackness in them so complete that Hitler would shudder when he walked into the room with them. I hated this beast of a man so much that I couldn't wait to see how he would meet with justice. Whether the Dome collapsed and Big Jim had to find himself under the retribution of the outside world for his heinous crimes, or he met with a grisly- and by grisly I mean absolutely horrific, nightmare-inducing, wrath of God- death. Unfortunately, his reprisal was anticlimactic, leaving me feeling as if he had mostly gotten away with what he did.
The other thing was the explanation for the Dome's existence in the first place. I won't spoil it here, but when I found out the cause for it all- the entire story and every conflict within- it seemed a bit contrived. It was almost as if King didn't quite know how such an abnormal thing could take place and, as the novel neared completion, he just threw a card into the hat and said "done." Still, these minor infractions take only a shred away from the story.
This is why I rate Stephen King's "Under the Dome" a 9.9 out of 10... my first rating which requires a decimal point. I wanted to give it a 10... but these things were slightly remiss, in my eyes. But he certainly deserves more than a mere 9 for this epic work.
The P.S. Zone: Even if you aren't a fan of King or abnormally long novels, I still recommend you read this book. While there is a strong supernatural element (the existence of the impenetrable Dome) it is more a story about the faults of humanity and how inhumane we can be when we don't think there will be consequences for our actions. Additionally, as a second postscript, I would like to say that I fully intend to read this book again- many times- just as soon as I find the courage to undertake such a lengthy novel.
Stay Scared.
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