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It is a typical October morning in Chester's Mill, Maine: glorious weather, a perfectly blue sky, and quiet. Then, all hell breaks loose. Inexplicably, and simultaneously, a plane falls from the sky in flames; a woman's hand is severed; and a farmer's John Deere explores (with him on it). A few moments later, a pulp-truck crashes spectacularly. Somehow, an invisible and impermeable barrier—exactly following the town's perimeter—has descended upon the town.
Life under the dome quickly becomes a hothouse—with the best in some people and the worst in others flourishing. There are unambiguous heroes and villains, from a supremely corrupt local politician to a very enterprising newspaper reporter. The situation under the dome deteriorates by the minute: supplies of everything are diminishing quickly, the citizens are panicking, and the police force, under the control of the diabolically devious alderman Jim Rennie, implement their own version of martial law. Meanwhile, Barbie, brave Iraq war vet and short order cook, and a band of intrepid pals engage in a race against time to find the source of the dome and raise it before there's nobody left alive in Chester's Mill.
Under the Dome is filled with a marvelous and enormous cast of over 100 characters. King's trademark idiomatic language is pure pleasure to read. "Nowhere in Mr. King's immense body of work have his real and fantasy world collided with such head-on force" (The New York Times Book Review).
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
November 10, 2009 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780743597319
- File size: 991329 KB
- Duration: 34:25:16
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- ATOS Level: 5.1
- Interest Level: 9-12(UG)
- Text Difficulty: 3-4
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Reviews
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In King's new novel, THE STAND meets "The X-Files" when a solid but invisible dome descends over a small Maine town. Those inside are trapped in a new civilization of their own making. Raul Esparza attempts to do justice to King's epic, but hearing King read his author's note at the end of the book demonstrates how miserably Esparza falls short of an authentic Maine accent. Narrative passages, delivered without an accent and with impeccable timing, keep the long story moving. However, the dialogue of the primary antagonist, described as a lifelong Mainer, does not sound realistic. Esparza's children and women also fare poorly as they are voiced inconsistently and bear little resemblance to the author's details on their origins and character. R.L.L. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from September 14, 2009
King's return to supernatural horror is uncomfortably bulky, formidably complex and irresistibly compelling. When the smalltown of Chester's Mill, Maine, is surrounded by an invisible force field, the people inside must exert themselves to survive. The situation deteriorates rapidly due to the dome's ecological effects and the machinations of Big Jim Rennie, an obscenely sanctimonious local politician and drug lord who likes the idea of having an isolated populace to dominate. Opposing him are footloose Iraq veteran Dale “Barbie” Barbara, newspaper editor Julia Shumway, a gaggle of teen skateboarders and others who want to solve the riddle of the dome. King handles the huge cast of characters masterfully but ruthlessly, forcing them to live (or not) with the consequences of hasty decisions. Readers will recognize themes and images from King's earlier fiction, and while this novel doesn't have the moral weight of, say, The Stand
, nevertheless, it's a nonstop thrill ride as well as a disturbing, moving meditation on our capacity for good and evil.
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