Under the Dome - Let's Discuss! *Spoilers*

[thebumblerinblack]

Best King book in awhile. Loved the entire story, even the demise of Big Jim, because it gave me a little taste of the SK horror I really look forward to in his books, creepy animated corpses or ghosts or what have you, anything supernaturally horrifying like that. And by having him be alone when he gets it, it kind of gives you the option of deciding for yourself if he was just going nuts from the stress of his situation, or if it was actually ghosts coming for him. The end of that last scene with Big Jim was the epidomy of the saying "stuck between a rock and a hard place." I haven't hated a storybook charactor that much in quite awhile. I loved it. I would have also loved it if Big Jim was hanged or mutilated in front of the survivors, or burned alive, that would have been nice, too.

I finshed it in like 5 days (and Im not normally a fast reader at all), could not put it down, I felt like I was in there with them. I even caught myself having difficulty breathing while reading the parts where they were sucking fan air through the dome. I thought the story flowed perfectly and that it had a great ending. I think sometimes (bite my tongue) his endings can be a little dissapointing, and was so glad that wasnt the case with this one, what with my brain hurting by about page 1000, I did not want it to suck.
I think by reading it so fast, though, I must have missed where it talked about why they didnt just dig underneath the dome to get out. I think they mention something about it towards the end, saying that it goes down for miles or something, I'm not sure.

There were so many drugs in that story, my god, it made me want to smoke meth, and I hate meth and everything it stands for. Hell, it made me want to do a bunch of oxycontin and then go through withdrawals. I really hope King will churn up many many more stories like this in the years to come, drugs or no drugs.

ps. Do you think that the part where they spit and put boogers in Barbie's cereal symbolizes Ka and the path of...just kidding. Not everything has to symbolize or be linked with the dark tower or his other books. It is fun to look for the links, but sometimes its cool to just take things at face value. Sorry if thats heresy to say that on this forum.

[Kronz]

the dome was a sphere that went an equal distance under the ground

[thebumblerinblack]

Oh okay, thanks. dont know how I missed that.

[flaggwalkstheline]

I enjoyed under the dome very much but I had one decent sized gripe with it: everything happened in 4 days? really? I would have found it to be much more believable if it had happened over like a few months, not such a short amount of time

[Ageless Stranger]

The whole time I read this book, Barbie's character felt like Larry Underwood to me. I don't know why, i just connected with him the same way I guess.

[IWasSentWest]

same here man, same here

[Kronz]

I got a lot more Stu Redman from Dale, personally. Nevermind that Gary Sinise is probably 25 years too old to be Barbie, I pictured him throughout the entire novel.

[IWasSentWest]

now that its been brought up, i actually think i mixed the two characters.

when the chipmunk said that the guy walking down the road was chunky, or whatever he thought, it threw me off with a mental picture for the first couple of chapters. But after i figured out that he wasn't, i definitely pinned him between Stu and Larry.

[Ageless Stranger]

I got a lot more Stu Redman from Dale, personally. Nevermind that Gary Sinise is probably 25 years too old to be Barbie, I pictured him throughout the entire novel.

I can see that. Barbie is ex-military and has a better sense of whats going on, but his age and the fact that he's a drifter short-order cook just made me think of Underwood for some reason.

[Circumvrent]

Hey everybody,

If UNDER THE DOME didn't have references to iPods, Sarah Palin and Lost, I'd believe he had written it in the late 70s/early 80s, with the same passion that drove CARRIE, THE SHINING, PET SEMATARY and THE STAND. I can't remember the last time I read such a long book so quickly.

Did anyone else see parallels between two of the UTD baddies and some real life baddies?

A power-hungry politician with a bad ticker and a dummy he lets be the face of his organization? Nope, doesn't remind me of anyone at all...

Speaking of Rennie... with one of the themes of the book being how far back these families go in Chester's Mills, and how ingrained everyone is in everyone's else's life - Andrea, Rose, and Twitch are blood relations, there's a cop on the PD who's Piper's cousin - I can't recall any mention of where Big Jim Rennie came from. Nothing about his parents, his grandparents, how long he's been in the Mill. It's like he was born from the primordial ooze.

Did anyone else think for a second that the "Leatherheads" were really giant ants? Once they started talking about ants under a magnifying glass, I started thinking about ants taking revenge on us. The shape of an ant's head is somewhat of a diamond; and they may look very geometrical and angle-y (lol) if we were blown up to a large size, and we were very small compared to them.

That's awesome! That's really great. I love the message at the heart of the novel's core; yes, people can be horrible, but when push comes down to shove, more of us are good than bad, and deserving of pity.

[Mrs. Underwood]

I sped through this book. I can't remember the last time I read such a large book in less than a week, but this was one where you couldn't stop. The way the story is constructed and how dire the situation is require that you keep pushing forward. I'm impressed with how epic it was despite being set in one, small town... Then again, why does it surprise me that he can still do that?

Speaking of Rennie... with one of the themes of the book being how far back these families go in Chester's Mills, and how ingrained everyone is in everyone's else's life - Andrea, Rose, and Twitch are blood relations, there's a cop on the PD who's Piper's cousin - I can't recall any mention of where Big Jim Rennie came from. Nothing about his parents, his grandparents, how long he's been in the Mill. It's like he was born from the primordial ooze.

HAHAHA! That's a perfect way of putting it. Yeah, there was this feeling there that Rennie was an outsider who insinuated himself on the town and everyone in it and rose to power because... it was easy. Also, I loved how not subtle it was that he was a car salesman. Yeeeeeah, Rennie basically encompassed the banality of evil in so many ways, which made him incredibly effective. I think he was probably THE most disturbing, disgusting villain King's ever written. And that's taking Flagg into consideration, too!

[Ageless Stranger]

Speaking of Rennie... with one of the themes of the book being how far back these families go in Chester's Mills, and how ingrained everyone is in everyone's else's life - Andrea, Rose, and Twitch are blood relations, there's a cop on the PD who's Piper's cousin - I can't recall any mention of where Big Jim Rennie came from. Nothing about his parents, his grandparents, how long he's been in the Mill. It's like he was born from the primordial ooze.

HAHAHA! That's a perfect way of putting it. Yeah, there was this feeling there that Rennie was an outsider who insinuated himself on the town and everyone in it and rose to power because... it was easy. Also, I loved how not subtle it was that he was a car salesman. Yeeeeeah, Rennie basically encompassed the banality of evil in so many ways, which made him incredibly effective. I think he was probably THE most disturbing, disgusting villain King's ever written. And that's taking Flagg into consideration, too!

I think I might just agree with you on that. I have never hated Flagg/Walter the way I absoluely despise Big Jim Rennie. I know I'm weird, but I actually like Walter O'Dim. I like the way he says things to other characters that only the reader understands.

[Mrs. Underwood]

Speaking of Rennie... with one of the themes of the book being how far back these families go in Chester's Mills, and how ingrained everyone is in everyone's else's life - Andrea, Rose, and Twitch are blood relations, there's a cop on the PD who's Piper's cousin - I can't recall any mention of where Big Jim Rennie came from. Nothing about his parents, his grandparents, how long he's been in the Mill. It's like he was born from the primordial ooze.

HAHAHA! That's a perfect way of putting it. Yeah, there was this feeling there that Rennie was an outsider who insinuated himself on the town and everyone in it and rose to power because... it was easy. Also, I loved how not subtle it was that he was a car salesman. Yeeeeeah, Rennie basically encompassed the banality of evil in so many ways, which made him incredibly effective. I think he was probably THE most disturbing, disgusting villain King's ever written. And that's taking Flagg into consideration, too!

I think I might just agree with you on that. I have never hated Flagg/Walter the way I absoluely despise Big Jim Rennie. I know I'm weird, but I actually like Walter O'Dim. I like the way he says things to other characters that only the reader understands.

For my part... I think I dislike Big Jim more because he isn't honest even with himself concerning what he is. He truly believes he's this awesome crusader who is doing what's best for the town. He will shoot someone and "pray" for them in the same breath, and it's so conniving. Whereas Flagg never minces words about who and what he is. He's a force to be reckoned with who means harm, and everyone knows it. When you can say "at least he's honest" about a guy who crucifies his enemies, that's when you know his competition is truly evil.

[Ageless Stranger]

Yes, Flagg is quite a bit more sinister in The Stand than in the DT series, IMHO.

[Celtic Bear]

I enjoyed under the dome very much but I had one decent sized gripe with it: everything happened in 4 days? really? I would have found it to be much more believable if it had happened over like a few months, not such a short amount of time

No offense sir, but it sounds like you have never been in a big crowd that turned ugly fast. As a veteren of both concert security work and Mardi Gras in the Big Sleazy let me testify: It can happen in the blink of an eye. The scariest part, it becomes one organism, like when a flock of birds all know to turn at the same time... only instead of flying its kicking ass and taking names.

I, therefore, found this book VERY believable.

[thebumblerinblack]

Can anyone tell me what on pages it talks about how far the dome goes underground. I cant seem to find it, and really don't remember reading any part explaining it. I did whip through this book, though, so I bet there's a lot my poor ol' short-term didnt pick up.

[Ageless Stranger]

I think I remember Colonel Cox saying that they had been unable to find the end underground, and suggesting it was a dome under the ground as well as over it. Don't quote me on that though.

[thebumblerinblack]

none quoted

[Jon]

I think I remember Colonel Cox saying that they had been unable to find the end underground, and suggesting it was a dome under the ground as well as over it. Don't quote me on that though.

This, I recall.

[Ageless Stranger]

I think I remember Colonel Cox saying that they had been unable to find the end underground, and suggesting it was a dome under the ground as well as over it. Don't quote me on that though.

This, I recall.

You quoted me on that...

Spoiler:

[Jon]

Naw...I was just stunned that all three of my brain cells remembered.

[Kronz]

"'Whatever. We started in a gravel pit that was already dug down to forty feet or so. I've seen spectrographic images that blow my mind. Long sheets of metamorphic rock that have been sheared in two. There's no gap, but you can see a shift where the northern part of the sheet dropped a little. We've checked seismographic reports from the Portland meteorological station, and bingo. There was a bump at eleven forty-four A.M. Two point one on the Richter. So that's when it happened.'
'Great,' Barbie said. He supposed he was being sarcastic, but he was too amazed and perplexed to be sure.
'None of this is conclusive, but it's persuasive. Of course the exploring has just started, but right now it does look as if the thing is down as well as up. And if it goes up five miles . . .'"

That's pretty much all that's said about it going under and over.

[Mots]

Spoiler:

Loved the book, couldn't put it down and stayed up well into the night to finish it on Sunday (Monday was... strenuous ). I thought it was extremely disturbing, aside from King's short stories, I haven't read much from him, that I found more horrifying (monsters and aliens are one thing, but fellow humans that do atrocities are just too real). I also found myself holding breath when the air became really bad.

For the guy who said it reminded him of Wizard and Glass: YES! I thought that all the time, what with the pink grapefruit moon, the whole sense of everything sliding towards a brutal ending, the vision of the burning scarecrow (in Wizard and Glass, there was something similar, where they burned some straw figurines).

For me the book was "The Stand" meets "Wizard and Glass" meets "Animal Farm".

As for the repeating of the cycle. I am not sure, but I read somewhere that the story actually is not set in 2010, but later. There is a reference to an Obama Reelection sticker from 2012 in the book (the chapter, where Thurston and Carolyn are harrassed by Junior and Frank), so the story could be set in 2013, which would make it 28 years since 1985. I am not sure that it fits though, haven't all the other things that happened during the cycle taken place in or close to Derry?
Also, I think I remember UtD stating somewhere that it is in fact 2010, but I am not sure about that.

[Mots]

Edit: Sorry for double post.

[JRM]

I finished it about a month ago. I did enjoy it but there were SO many things about it I didn't like, such as the climax (what else is new? Lol) and the lazy dome origin, among many other things like the annoying special deputies. Not one of his best, imo, but I did enjoy it.