Bracket #12: Under the Dome (2009)

[mae]

Under the Dome, 2009

Please vote for Under the Dome using the following scale:

• 5
• 4.5
• 4
• 3.5
• 3
• 2.5
• 2
• 1
• 0
• Never read

If you haven't read this book yet, please vote Never Read. Feel free to discuss your votes in this thread.

[frik]

Such a major disappointment: 2 for me.

sk

[Iwritecode]

I gave it a 4. I had to subtract one for the ending/explanation of the dome though.

[jsmcmullen92]

Still gave it a 4

[mae]

Someone with a zero, really?

[St. Troy]

1.

Very poor - so poor, in fact, that I'm posting a shitload of my original notes on it in case anyone shares my opinion and wants to pick at the scab of frustration that is the memory of having read Under The Dome:

Notes taken during the read:

Spoiler:

"...a drawn out tale where some of the impact is drained by the usual spoilers – so, kind of like listening to a half decent song at slightly warped speed on a turntable with a worn out belt – what’s the point?"

"UTD isn’t an epic; it’s just a very long book."

"I’ll admit, the story is interesting…but I can’t go so far as to say compelling."

...and more notes from after the read was over:

Spoiler:

A text I sent to my brother-in-law, who'd lent me his copy, and who'd gleefully awaited my reaction to what he knew was an awful book (he'd already told me "I've never even been close to this excited for anyone to finish a book in my life," and not for good reasons):

"- How dumb was this? Let us count the ways:
• Child aliens
• Begging to be left alive
• All of the town crap (the entire plot really) was disposed of in favor of THE DOME JUST FUCKING LIFTING ONCE EVERYONE WAS DEAD
- I mean, Black Hose [NOTE: I routinely refer to Black House as "Black Hose" because I feel like I was hosed over] had a terrible, shameful ending, but at least it was an ending; UTD just said “ok, we’re done now.”
- The progress of the characters and plot points is supposed to mean something and is supposed to define the resolution, but no, there was some abuse of power, people who didn’t get along, then an explosion, a fire, and a classically King ending. Black Hose fell down by introducing totally random shit; here, King just ran out of room, and once the characters literally had nowhere to go he just STOPPED."

Then his response:

"Yup…that's why I couldn't wait for you to finish it. It's the perfect example of King not being capable of writing endings…he just gets tired and says, 'ok, nap time for Stevie.' I liked the book mostly, but I was so angry about the ending...I actually might prefer reading the awful car horror book [NOTE: I think he's referring to From A Buick 8, which I'd recommended to him but he anticipated would be bad]. The big mystery was that basically an alien was burning ants with a microscope on a larger scale? And they could all of a sudden communicate with them? It wasn't just a bad ending, it was a bad ending with holes bigger than the gap in mike Tyson's teeth. I remember seething with anger after giving up all the time to read the book and basically be kicked in the nuts for my trouble."

More notes of mine:

"- …nothing anyone did (Cox, Rennie, Barbara) had ANY impact on the resolution – the exact opposite of the Harry Potter series (and virtually every other written work), where just about every single occurrence and detail could be seen in hindsight as relating to how it all turned out.

To sum up: one of King’s worst endings ever; UTD is not an epic, just a LONG book with MANY characters, MANY relationships and MANY story events that didn’t add up to JACK SQUAT. WHAT A WASTE."

More comments of his:

"Now you see why I wanted you to finish it so bad…I needed to share the misery with someone who would understand the frustration. It's not like reading a book and saying, 'that was a bad book.' It's deeper than that, and it’s a hell of a lot more frustrating."

"...and it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s like the literary version of blue balls…something that starts out so good and just ends up hurting and you wish you hadn’t started in the first place."

[Ben Staad]

The book was a mess, with a huge cast of characters, and little beyond that. Hated it. I read the entire thing but that is just what I do.

[amd013]

1.

Very poor - so poor, in fact, that I'm posting a shitload of my original notes on it in case anyone shares my opinion and wants to pick at the scab of frustration that is the memory of having read Under The Dome:

Notes taken during the read:

Spoiler:

"...a drawn out tale where some of the impact is drained by the usual spoilers – so, kind of like listening to a half decent song at slightly warped speed on a turntable with a worn out belt – what’s the point?"

"UTD isn’t an epic; it’s just a very long book."

"I’ll admit, the story is interesting…but I can’t go so far as to say compelling."

...and more notes from after the read was over:

Spoiler:

A text I sent to my brother-in-law, who'd lent me his copy, and who'd gleefully awaited my reaction to what he knew was an awful book (he'd already told me "I've never even been close to this excited for anyone to finish a book in my life," and not for good reasons):

"- How dumb was this? Let us count the ways:
• Child aliens
• Begging to be left alive
• All of the town crap (the entire plot really) was disposed of in favor of THE DOME JUST FUCKING LIFTING ONCE EVERYONE WAS DEAD
- I mean, Black Hose [NOTE: I routinely refer to Black House as "Black Hose" because I feel like I was hosed over] had a terrible, shameful ending, but at least it was an ending; UTD just said “ok, we’re done now.”
- The progress of the characters and plot points is supposed to mean something and is supposed to define the resolution, but no, there was some abuse of power, people who didn’t get along, then an explosion, a fire, and a classically King ending. Black Hose fell down by introducing totally random shit; here, King just ran out of room, and once the characters literally had nowhere to go he just STOPPED."

Then his response:

"Yup…that's why I couldn't wait for you to finish it. It's the perfect example of King not being capable of writing endings…he just gets tired and says, 'ok, nap time for Stevie.' I liked the book mostly, but I was so angry about the ending...I actually might prefer reading the awful car horror book [NOTE: I think he's referring to From A Buick 8, which I'd recommended to him but he anticipated would be bad]. The big mystery was that basically an alien was burning ants with a microscope on a larger scale? And they could all of a sudden communicate with them? It wasn't just a bad ending, it was a bad ending with holes bigger than the gap in mike Tyson's teeth. I remember seething with anger after giving up all the time to read the book and basically be kicked in the nuts for my trouble."

More notes of mine:

"- …nothing anyone did (Cox, Rennie, Barbara) had ANY impact on the resolution – the exact opposite of the Harry Potter series (and virtually every other written work), where just about every single occurrence and detail could be seen in hindsight as relating to how it all turned out.

To sum up: one of King’s worst endings ever; UTD is not an epic, just a LONG book with MANY characters, MANY relationships and MANY story events that didn’t add up to JACK SQUAT. WHAT A WASTE."

More comments of his:

"Now you see why I wanted you to finish it so bad…I needed to share the misery with someone who would understand the frustration. It's not like reading a book and saying, 'that was a bad book.' It's deeper than that, and it’s a hell of a lot more frustrating."

"...and it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s like the literary version of blue balls…something that starts out so good and just ends up hurting and you wish you hadn’t started in the first place."

I gave it a 3.5 because I enjoyed a lot of the characters. In retrospect, I should have punished it more for the reasons you point out. Probably should have been a 2.5. At any rate, this book makes me think of something King wrote in Danse Macabre. He said (paraphrasing) sometimes its best not to show the monster behind the door, because you can never live up to the horror that the reader (or audience in a movie) can imagine. I think that is the case here. I think I would have enjoyed the book more, if the cause of the dome was never revealed. (granted, people would have been screaming that that was a cop out, but sometimes a mystery is more interesting then knowing the truth).

[amd013]

Hmmmm, for the life of me I can't understand why my text in above post shows up as part of the quote, when it is clearly typed below the [\QUOTE]

[WeDealInLead]

An enthralling read that's instantly forgetful.

[Heather19]

4 Thought it was a very good solid story, until we got to that horrible ending.

[Jon]

I would have given this a 4.5 ...but the cheap..".bail out of this one" ending was just too much.

[Sai Sheb]

Well I liked it... not one of his great works but good

[Jean]

a good solid 4

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

4.5. My favorite of the post accident SK I think.

[mae]

The poll has closed. Under the Dome has earned a FAS (final average score) of 3.566666667 or 71.33%. It received a rating of 4 with 12 votes.