Under the Dome: Stephen King

Summary from the back of the edition I read:

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day, a small town is suddenly and inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and rain down flaming wreckage. A gardener's hand is severed as the dome descends. Cars explode on impact. Families are separated and panic mounts. No one can fathom what the barrier is, where it came from, and when—or if— it will go away. Now a few intrepid citizens, led by an Iraq vet turned short-order cook, face down a ruthless politician dead set on seizing the reins of power under the dome. but their main adversary is the dome itself. Because time isn't just running short, it's running out. 

Why I read the book:

We started watching the first season of the TV series Under the Dome on June 30th. Once we started the TV series, I could see that this is the type of novel that I would enjoy, if it followed the various people trapped under the mysterious and impenetrable dome, and let us in on what they were experiencing. I knew that the book was very long, and that alone would normally stop me cold. And it is not crime fiction, which is my usual reading. I think one attraction was that it was clear that there was crime and mystery involved, even if it is labeled a science fiction novel. And it definitely is science fiction, even if that isn't clear until much later in the story.

Within a day or two of starting the TV series, I had investigated the book and found out that it was divided into chunks of smaller chapters centered on a character or an event. Knowing that I could read it in chunks and move back and forth between other reading, I decided to try that approach. I went to the local independent bookstore, checked out their Stephen King section, and found a huge trade paperback copy for $19.99, and promptly bought it. Within three days I had gone from zero interest in the book to buying it and starting to read it. I was sucked in immediately, but I did dole it out over many days. I think it took me 23 days to read it, while finishing four other books in the meantime.

How I liked the book:

Reviewing Under the Dome is difficult for me because I am not a Stephen King fan and thus I cannot draw comparisons to his other work. I mention this because I read several reviews by readers who do know a lot about his other novels, and that did inform what they had to say about this one. I have read two Stephen King novels, and both of them were earlier ones (The Shining and The Stand). The Shining I remember fairly well because of the movie; I remember nothing about The Stand.

Under the Dome has a map of Chester's Mill, the small town that is surrounded by the dome.  I love maps in books, and I liked that it had a character list (including dogs). And I really liked the structure of multiple sections of roughly 50 pages each, divided into brief chapters.

I found Under the Dome very entertaining, very engrossing. It was never boring. I thought the characters interesting, but I will admit that a lot of them were not that well-developed. If I had known just how different the characters in the novel are from the characters in the TV show, I might have been put off reading the book. However, once I had read the first 100 pages or so, I was hooked and had no regrets.

There was a large criminal element in the small town of Chester's Mill prior to the descent of the Dome, but it had been fairly well hidden up to that point. The mastermind running the criminal activities in the area is Big Jim Rennie and he is one of the town's Selectmen. People trust him, and when disaster falls, they turn to him. Some are under his power due to various business deals. Once the Dome puts the town out of reach of any law enforcement from outside, he moves to cause unrest in the town, in order to bring the majority of the population to his side and convince them that martial law is the only answer. Obviously, since the novel is over 1000 pages long, this description is very superficial and there is a lot more going on. But the end result is that this science fiction novel has more murder and mayhem than most crime novels I read. However, there is no real mystery element, other than .... how did the Dome originate? and what can be done about it? And, will Big Jim Rennie succeed?

Through it all my favorite part was the examination of how different people react to this shocking and scary situation, with no one to provide answers. There is a very nice portrayal of a newspaperwoman who is determined to write the true story of what is happening at all costs. My least favorite part was the view of most of the town giving into their baser sides when given the opportunity. I would like to believe that people are basically good. However, here Stephen King provides us with a picture of a small town as a hotbed of evil and secrets.

Comparison to the TV series:

At this point, we have watched only nine episodes of the first season of Under the Dome, so I can only make comparisons to that portion of the show. Most of the core characters are the same in the book and the TV adaptation, but often the things that happen to them or their backstory is completely different. There are many characters in the books that are not in the TV series, and vice versa. The connections with the outside world differ in the two versions. The book is very much darker than the TV series.

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Publisher:   Scribner, 2009.
Length:      1072 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Setting:      Chester's Mill, Maine
Genre:        Science Fiction
Source:      I purchased my copy.