Stephen King's "Under the Dome"

[Guest MickeyMoosie]

I must confess. I'm a huge Stephen King fan.

 

I read "Carrie" when it first came out - it was referred to me by a friend. And since then, except for the Dark Tower series (I found the first book unreadable and never finished it), Duma Key, Lisey's Story and Insomnia (which I tried twice to read and could never get through), I've read everything he's written.

 

I haven't been thrilled by his stuff for the past 15+ years. There've been good stories but nothing like the "early years". I've been reading him in hopes that the "magic" would come back.

 

Finally, it has.

 

I bought "Under the Dome" as soon as the bookstore opened on Tuesday and couldn't put it down. I finished it two days ago.

 

It's pedal to the metal from Chapter One and you'll have a very difficult time putting it down.

 

For those who don't know what it's about, it's very simple. One day, in late October in a Chester's Mill (a small town in Maine), an impenetrable "dome" suddenly comes down over the town, sealing everyone inside. How everyone behaves after that is what the book is about.

 

A lot of the early "reviews" have been comparing it to The Stand. It's nothing like The Stand - which I consider his greatest novel (I've read it four times). The comparison has something to do with the length (1,074 pages) but that's deceptive because if they had used a slightly smaller font, it would have probably been under 800 pages. Also, The Stand was a sweeping work that covered the entire nation whereas all the narrative of this book takes place in one town so, in a way, it's a slightly claustrophobic book - but that isn't a criticism.

 

It has a huge cast of characters but thankfully there's a character list at the beginning so you won't get lost. There's also a map of the town so you'll able to place events.

 

As is always true of a King novel, there is NO ONE who can't be killed. Over the years, I've learned that the hero or the loved one can easily be killed off - the unexpected death in Bag of Bones immediately comes to mind (BOY did that upset me!). So while reading the book, there was a constant sense of dread because I knew everyone was vulnerable - and King doesn't disappoint - the body count is staggering.

 

My major criticism of the book is a problem I've always had with King. He has a gift for writing vividly realistic characters - they're human beings we can immediately recognize. However, when it comes to his villains, they're more often than not, comic book characters who talk in Kingspeak. Those who are familiar with his work will know what I mean.

 

Under the Dome is no exception. The bad guy, Big Jim Rennie, is pure Stephen King with all of King's bad habits on full display. Because of this, his scenes were my least favorite and the ones I wanted to get past the quickest. It was like walking through a beautiful garden and suddenly coming across a ceramic frog.

 

Also, it's time for King to give the Christian bashing a rest. In his first novel Carrie, the mother was a crazy Christian and it's a recurring character theme in many of his books. Rennie is a Christian wacko and so are several of the townsfolk including one of the ministers - the other minister is an atheist. I don't know why his editor hasn't put a stop to it because it's artistically lazy and repetitive.

 

But those faults aside, it has everything else going for it and I can't recommend it enough. Don't let the length scare you, you'll wish it were longer (insert perv joke here).

 

I won't give anything away, but I will say this: King isn't big on "happy endings" so don't assume there is one. One of the most compelling things about the book is knowing that King has no problem whatsoever killing ALL his characters if he wants to. So, when you see you have only a few pages left to go, don't be lulled into a sense of security that you think you know how it will end - he might very well pull the rug out from under you.

 

Now get your asses out of the rice fields and go buy the book!

 

http://promo.simonandschuster.com/underthedome/

[Guest zipperzone]

For years I faithfully bought every King book as it was published. I think he can spin a great yarn. But........ I was never able to finish any of them. Somewhere about a third to a half through I found it hard to retain interest. So..... I stopped buying them and can't see myself going back to him.

 

My favorite, and one that I did finish, was Misery. It is so graphic that I wince even as I write this. Another one I enjoyed was in a collection of short stories - forget the name of it - but it was about a group of teenagers taking a midnight swim out to a raft and then one by one they were all sucked into the water by some creepy slime.

 

I think they would be much more readable if they were shorter and not quite so far-fetched.

 

But you have to hand it to him - he must have made a piss-pot full of $$$

[josephga]

F Another one I enjoyed was in a collection of short stories - forget the name of it - but it was about a group of teenagers taking a midnight swim out to a raft and then one by one they were all sucked into the water by some creepy slime.

 

$$$

 

I think the short story is just called ,the raft. Thats what it was called in the film creepshow 2. Ive read most of his earlier books. My favorite was the stand

[seeker630]

I'm a huge fan too, and have read probably 90% of his works. Although I wasn't that fond of the first Dark Tower book when it first came out (years ago!), I did read the successive volumes and became very engrossed in the saga.

 

You hit the nail on the head about no characters being safe - I still remember the kick-in-the-gut feeling at the end of Cujo. (also made me swear off King!)

Which leads me to another point - why have so many bad movies been made form his books? Ironically, I remember that when I first read 'Salems Lot' (my first King book, I think), I was impressed at how visual some opf the scenes were for me. (Reminded of the better Hammer horror films).

'Under the Dome' is on my Christmas list - right now, I'm reading the collection 'Just After Sunset'.

[josephga]

I prefer the book ending version of Cujo compared to the movie ending. Americans have this thing about having a happy ending in movies.. Iv been watching a lot of foreign horror lately. the ending of allot of their films end things on a very grim note. nothing wrong with a happy ending but it doesn't always turn out that way in real life and shouldn't in film.

[Guest MickeyMoosie]

why have so many bad movies been made form his books?

 

There are two reasons:

 

1) They keep too much of the Kingspeak and it just doesn't translate to the screen. The bad guys need to be dialed down and I suspect screenwriters are afraid of tampering with his characters.

 

2) Hollywood rarely makes good movies.

 

I refuse to ever watch any of The Stand. I just know they totally fucked it up and I don't want any of that imagery in my head when I read it. Let's be honest, when you read that book, did you ever see Rob Lowe or Molly Ringwald in your head???

 

If JJ Abrams were really smart (he's a huge King fan), he would take The Stand and turn it into a series that spans six seasons. There's more than enough material to fill up 120 episodes. And if I were doing it, it will all be in black and white.

 

As for Cujo, that was a huge disappointment. When I read the book I thought: "Jessica Lange will play this and win an Oscar." Instead, Dee Wallace did it and it turned into a glorified ABC Movie of the Week with a cop-out ending.

 

I saw a few minutes of the most recent adaptation/abomination of Salem's Lot (Rob Lowe again!!) but my viewing came to an end when it caused projectile vomit that splashed the screen.

 

The same thing happened with Pet Semetary - another criminal movie made from a fantastic book.

 

Everyone says Kubrick's The Shining is the best adaptation ever. I agree with that up to a point. I thought the casting was all wrong. The whole thing about that book is the slow decay of everyone's psyche and Shelley Duvall was nutso from the very first shot and as much as I love Jack, his persona is too "wild and crazy" to begin with that it didn't work for the character.

[MsGuy]

O.K., you talked me into it. I'm going to buy myself "Under The Dome" as an early x-mas present.

 

By the way, I recall an interview with some Hollywood type that said that you couldn't fuck up a King novel badly enough for the movie to lose money. According to him that accounted for King's popularity with the cinematic crowd.

[seeker630]

Then you should watch 'The Mist' [spoiler ALERT?]

 

I prefer the book ending version of Cujo compared to the movie ending. Americans have this thing about having a happy ending in movies.. Iv been watching a lot of foreign horror lately. the ending of allot of their films end things on a very grim note. nothing wrong with a happy ending but it doesn't always turn out that way in real life and shouldn't in film.

The movie ending is another kick-in-the-gut!