|
Imserba Webstore - Under the Dome: A Novel
|
List Price: $35.00
Our Price: $14.50
Your Save: $ 20.50 ( 59% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Scribner
|
Average Customer Rating:   
|
|
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781439148501
ISBN: 1439148503
Label: Scribner
Manufacturer: Scribner
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 1088
Publication Date: 2009-11-10
Publisher: Scribner
Studio: Scribner
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
|
On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when -- or if -- it will go away. Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens -- town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: King does it AGAIN!!
Comment: Wonderful book. I have read almost everything King has written and I especially liked the last 2 books. My favorite King books are, Rose Madder, Tommyknockers, Insomnia and Bag of Bones. I found Under the Dome to be extremely riveting and damn near impossible to put down. Even given the length of this book, King is a sparse, concise, writer, giving just enough details and is never long winded. To me he's an absolute magician, building his characters from the heart out and breathing real life into them. Yes, he foreshadows alot, but I know of no other author that has the page turning power he has, it's almost unfortunate how the reader is so intensely urged onward I feel like I'm reading too fast to absorb the stories at times. An amazingly enjoyable and smart read, he is an exceptional talent in a extremely overpopulated industry, very few authors I deem in his catagory.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great story - ATROCIOUS reader!!! (audio version)
Comment: Classic King as far as the story goes, but the reader is absolutely aweful! Stephen King books which take place in Maine call for a reader who can do a New England accent. This guy has a decent voice and reading ability for the narration, but for the dialog he resorts to muddled, muddy, faux-English accents without consistency.
Who auditioned this guy? It's really taking away from the story for me. Very distracting. Buy the book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Generally good, but a bit of a let down at the end
Comment: Like most people who have posted, I am a true King fan. I have read all the books, starting in the 1970's when I risked my teacher's wrath for reading "Carrie" for a book report. I like his new works quite a bit, I felt like "Duma Key" was the absolute BEST book he has ever written, hands-down.
So, I was prepared to love this book, and was delighted it was so long -- when his books are good, I never want them to end.
I was a bit taken aback at first when I had kind of a hard time getting into the book. It seemed like the notions in the book were sort of outdated; like the fight in the parking lot and the idea that someone would be considered an "out-of-towner"; towns don't have that style of cohesiveness anymore. But I was willing to suspend disbelief, which is usually good enough for me. OK, so the dome idea seemed a little iffy at first, but after I while I was really impressed with the genius of it (when I found out he started the book in the 1970's it all made sense).
(This is off-topic, but Rusty's title should have actually been Physician, not Physician's, Assistant -- don't know why the editor did not catch that).
Anyway, after a while, I literally could not put the book down. He had me especially when the kids found the violet light. I was gearing up for a real good old-fashioned scare-fest, complete with aliens, maybe a UFO, an evil pumpkin King, ghosts, etc.
Well ... the light turned out to be some kind of "Roswell"-style box, and the aliens were very boring, and not at all scary. The Halloween stuff never came to full fruition, either. Also, what was up with the seizures? Was there supposed to be more written about them? I felt like they did not need to be in the book, really.
After a while, I started seeing some technical and grammatical errors, and some cliches here and there which was startling. But I was willing to ignore them all which is saying something -- even the fact that the TV in the fallout shelter could get a TV station without a digital converter box did not make me pause for long.
The end, though -- geez. What a let-down. When they got the spare tires, I looked and was surprised to see that there were not that many pages left. I wondered, what is he gonna do that will end this in a spectacular, yet short manner at this point? Maybe a "Drawing of the Three" kick-*** kind of thing?
No such luck! The end was a disappointment. It seemed like he ran out of steam. I felt kind of cheated at reading such a long book for such a tepid ending. Also, I felt like all the people dying got a little old, especially the drunk guy, which seemed pretty predictable.
Oh well. All in all, this was an entertaining read, just the end got a little rough. He is still the best writer we have in America and I will always buy and read his books, and I think this one is worth reading. Just don't expect a satisfying ending.
One thing I would like to praise is that King did a great job creating characters like real people, with shades of gray. His evil people were not all evil and the good people were not all good. This was great writing, as this is not easy to do. I felt I could sympathise with the baddies and the good people too. I enjoyed that.
Customer Rating:
Summary: 1000 pages too long.
Comment: I love Stephen King, I dont always like his books or short stories, but I appreciate the mans talent and always give him a chance. When I heard about "Under The Dome" I was intrigued. I know that King isnt always about "horror", most of the books that I love of his are about the human condition, the horrors of how people act in certain situations, and he throws in elements of science fiction/the macabre in there for good measure. I love his characters, the way he brings them to life, they stick with you long after you close the book. Randall Flagg, Ben Mears, Louis Creed, Carrie White, Annie Wilkes, Jack Torrance....all characters that are BURNED into my brain. NONE of the characters from this book are memorable. None.
I was severely dissapointed in "Under The Dome", I really wanted to like it but I didnt. I read that it was in Kings thoughts back in 1976, and then again in 1982 he thought of a scenario where people were trapped inside an apartment building and resorted to cannibalism. There was such a buzz about this book, it being such a monster at 336,114 words, but in the end it was a huge let down. The story is about a town, Chesters Mill, that is suddenly surrounded by a huge dome. Dozens of people are trapped inside of it, and the world outside and in must try to figure out what it is, and why it happened.
It started out really good , the first 200 pages or so are magnificent, but pretty soon you are going "okay where is this heading" and "there are way too many people to keep track of" and "I am going to put this down and walk away for a day and come back and see if gets interesting again" IT doesnt. At least not to me. The town of Chesters Mill, and its myriad of Kingesque citizens is just a short story with a REALLY LONG ending that didnt need to be written. Its way to political, its way too wordy, and its just way to boring for me to recommend it to any King fans or people who think that the premise sounds interesting!
Save yourself the money and time and skip this.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good but Depressing...
Comment: and maybe too much so for me right now. At first, i was really into the book but then the cruelity, arrogance and sadism of the characts and the violence of the situation, the very worst in all of us and in life, began to dominate it's narrative. I just do not want to go there. However it is only because Stephen King's writing is so good that it bothers me so much. I do want to know what happens to the well drawn characters but just can not go through their pain in my present mood. But if you are not so touchy yourself, the book is a great,accessible story which sadly rings too true and is very well told... i will pick it up again when my mood improves, the rest of you, enjoy!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
