communistbookreader's review against another edition
2.0
i'd skip this one unless you're a King Completist and have to slog through all his pages, wherever they end up...
read the first 1/4, then skimmed the next 5/8, then sorta read the final 1/8... amazing concept, quite outside King's usual everyday horrors, but just about 800-850 pages too long... hard to predict what 'regular people' would do in a crisis, so what King writes is possible, probable even, but that doesn't mean it was necessary to go into such repetitive detail... but people love them a train wreck don't they??? too much of everything for this reader, to be honest, and i am a huge fan of King and a huge fan of long-ass novels with great things to say and show and spin... i just found the characters too pat and easy and stereotypical, which i felt was King doing a huge disservice to readers... like i need my bad guy to be 100% fucking awful and my good guy to be 100% typical hero guy... puh-leeze! this could have been a 4 star novella, likely a 5 star short story, with King's writing chops... probably doesn't get paid to do short stuff, or maybe the book was already envisioned as the TV series so you had to have that filler shite... dramarama and all that... ugh...
read the first 1/4, then skimmed the next 5/8, then sorta read the final 1/8... amazing concept, quite outside King's usual everyday horrors, but just about 800-850 pages too long... hard to predict what 'regular people' would do in a crisis, so what King writes is possible, probable even, but that doesn't mean it was necessary to go into such repetitive detail... but people love them a train wreck don't they??? too much of everything for this reader, to be honest, and i am a huge fan of King and a huge fan of long-ass novels with great things to say and show and spin... i just found the characters too pat and easy and stereotypical, which i felt was King doing a huge disservice to readers... like i need my bad guy to be 100% fucking awful and my good guy to be 100% typical hero guy... puh-leeze! this could have been a 4 star novella, likely a 5 star short story, with King's writing chops... probably doesn't get paid to do short stuff, or maybe the book was already envisioned as the TV series so you had to have that filler shite... dramarama and all that... ugh...
flijn's review against another edition
3.0
Small town gets closed off from the rest of the world by a mysterious dome. Some casualties fall (a chipmunk is halved, a small plain crashes, people break their noses on the invisible barrier), but there is enough food, air and electricity to last the town for about a month.
But fear and isolation are the perfect opportunity for town bully / selectman / drug lord Jim Rennie to take over. The dome magnifies the qualities, both good and bad, of the people trapped inside. What follows is a disaster waiting to happen, brought closer by a police force gone rogue and greed for power.
With so many characters and points of view, it takes a while to get into the personal part of the stories. Blood flows like it's cheap and one person after another dies. The Good and the Bad are quickly pointed out: ex-military and reluctant good guy is Dale Barbara, who left just a little too late and is stuck as the story's hero. Rennie's side consists mostly of very trigger-happy, formerly good-for-nothing teenagers and the usual suspects that accompany a man in power who needs things fixed without getting his hands dirty.
This power play is the strength of this book. Without outside control, despotism is terrifyingly easily established. The plot is further driven to its climax by ominous visions the town's children have, about burning pumpkins, fire, and screaming.
So, plenty to play with for King, and he does it well. I liked the human aspect better than the supernatural part, mostly because he makes that far more believable. The steadily rising pressure that erases all tones of grey and turns people into predator and prey is extreme and at the same time it feels totally real. Turn on the news and you have no illusions about what a terrified mob or a powerful lunatic are capable of.
What I didn't like was the ending, I feel it did not add any new insight or closure.
But fear and isolation are the perfect opportunity for town bully / selectman / drug lord Jim Rennie to take over. The dome magnifies the qualities, both good and bad, of the people trapped inside. What follows is a disaster waiting to happen, brought closer by a police force gone rogue and greed for power.
With so many characters and points of view, it takes a while to get into the personal part of the stories. Blood flows like it's cheap and one person after another dies. The Good and the Bad are quickly pointed out: ex-military and reluctant good guy is Dale Barbara, who left just a little too late and is stuck as the story's hero. Rennie's side consists mostly of very trigger-happy, formerly good-for-nothing teenagers and the usual suspects that accompany a man in power who needs things fixed without getting his hands dirty.
This power play is the strength of this book. Without outside control, despotism is terrifyingly easily established. The plot is further driven to its climax by ominous visions the town's children have, about burning pumpkins, fire, and screaming.
So, plenty to play with for King, and he does it well. I liked the human aspect better than the supernatural part, mostly because he makes that far more believable. The steadily rising pressure that erases all tones of grey and turns people into predator and prey is extreme and at the same time it feels totally real. Turn on the news and you have no illusions about what a terrified mob or a powerful lunatic are capable of.
What I didn't like was the ending, I feel it did not add any new insight or closure.
simo_hamzaoui's review against another edition
2.0
How do you rate a book you don't like but could not drop ?
I finished this book out of spite rather than anything else!
I finished this book out of spite rather than anything else!
naokamiya's review against another edition
1.0
I need to do myself a favor soon and make this not the longest book I've ever read. Fuck.
crocketraccoon's review against another edition
1.0
Pretty disappointed all the way around. Don't want to repeat the problems others have had with it - characters, plot, etc. However, I do want to comment on how sloppy it felt. I don't feel like any of it was well thought out. Just thrown on the paper. I overlook a lot with King b/c I love what he can do with characters. However, there was none of that in this book. I didn't care about a single character in the book.
karinalesmi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sydfreeman's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Heads up: this one has frequent and graphic sexual assault scenes involving women and police. Not a surprise in a King novel, but it was more than I expected going into itÂ
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Animal death, Sexism, Death, and Rape
Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia
hyperashley's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Drug abuse, Child death, Death, Blood, Animal death, Rape, Suicide, Police brutality, Gore, and Lesbophobia
krobcecil's review against another edition
4.0
A propulsive examination/damnation of small town life in modern America, this is one of the most overtly political King novels I've read. It offers AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH level examination of anthropogenic global warming, and a succinct summation of the SHOCK DOCTRINE, without ever sacrificing narrative entertainment. I also admired King for humanizing the worst of his characters while, concurrently, demonizing the best of them. I enjoyed this so much I'll even forgive him for resorting to his standard deus ex machina ending due to its thematic relevance, and subtle as a jackhammer (but equally affective) message. From the sixth grade to my senior year I read every King book starting with PET SEMETARY, then gave up on him after INSOMNIA. A few years ago I read, and liked, CELL; but didn't feel the need to fill in the decade long gap (and mile high stack) between it and INSOMNIA. After UNDER THE DOME though, I not only feel compelled to catch up with King, I have the same sense of excitement for him I had when I was 12 years old, up past my bedtime, and wondering what horrors awaited me on the next page.