Under The Dome - Spoiler and Discussion Thread

[Becky]

A thread to discuss the book once you've read it! I've come up with a few suggested questions but if there is anything else you want to talk about go ahead.

Have you read Stephen King before? If so how do you think this compares to the rest of his novels? If not do you think you will read any more?

What did you think of the plot in general? Did you have other ideas about what was going to happen or did you manage to predict the effects of the dome?

What did you think of the narrative style? Was it hard to keep up with what was going on when the narration kept swapping to other people?

Was the book too long and dragged out or were you gripped all the way through?

Where you disappointed with the ending? Did you like the fact that it was aliens or do you think there could have been a better explanation?

[Sophia]

I just finished Under the Dome and I loved it. I've read most things Stephen King has written and this holds up pretty well, though it's not in the top class like It or The Stand. It reminded me a lot of The Stand, actually, with the whole good vs. evil vibe and the massive cast of characters. I love the way King likes to link his novels together and leaves little easter eggs for his fans - did anyone else notice the symbol from It on the box?

There were only two ways the novel could go in the end - ether the dome stays in place and everybody eventually dies, or the dome is lifted and a select few survive. King is rarely that bleak with his endings, so it was always going to be option number 2. Because of all the premonitions the children were having it wasn't hard to predict what might happen.

I love the way King gets inside the head of his characters, and even though the cast was huge, each character had a very distinct personality that made it easier to follow who was who. I still found it a bit confusing at times with some of the more minor characters - there were just so many of them - but I managed to follow most of what was happeing OK. I didn't feel like it was too long; thre's no way you can tell a massive story like that without it being a hefty read, and I would have hated for him to skimp on the descriptions or plot just to make it shorter.

I always think Stephen King has trouble with his endings, and he did the classic thing again where he has this amazing climax and then at the very end it all goes a bit flat (he did the same in It and loads of his other novels). I did think the scenes of the fire at the end were some of the best he's ever written and really exciting, but the idea of alien children was a bit odd and didn't quite work for me. The aliens didn't have a very big part in the story though - it was mainly about how human beings react under pressure, while also being a parable about our treatment of the environment. I loved it :-)