There are books that get me fairly upset, enough to keep me in this state for days or even weeks until I vent about what’s bothering me to someone. Now, you’d think that a book blog is a perfect place to vent. But I have found it’s not necessarily so, mainly because now I am crowded by doubts if I will offend anyone or make people all of a sudden dislike me, so on and so forth. I have been hesitating to write the review for Under the Dome more than ever because I know that this book is liked by majority of readers and I know why I could offend others by disliking the things in it that are the reasons they love this novel so. To make the long story short, my review might be controversial.
Stephen King has written another behemoth. With over 1000 pages, Under the Dome is a story with tons of characters, a lot happening and plotlines to entertain a reader for days. One October day, the town of Chester’s Mill, Maine gets separated from the rest of the world by a mysterious transparent wall. It soon becomes apparent that nothing and no one can get in or out through the wall. It’s called the Dome for a reason too, because that’s precisely the shape of it. Now this little town with big personalities for residents has to fend for itself, with no outside help but also no outside interference. And that means that a scheming selectman Jim Rennie has a free reign and can finally be the ultimate law without consequences. People die, they’re murdered, killed or give up hope and commit suicides. Soon, there will be no more gasoline for the generators and subsequently no more electricity. But the evil reign of Rennie and his “helpers” is not what the residents of Chester’s Mill should fear the most. There is something much more sinister coming their way.
You have no idea how I wanted to read Under the Dome. I was so excited when I got it for Christmas that I thought I would actually fall asleep hugging it. Stephen King is after all one of my all-time favorite writers and Under the Dome was supposed to be a work of art akin to The Stand (which happens to be my most beloved book of his and the golden standard for all dystopian literature). The excitement waned quickly, when I realized that Under the Dome is a crowd pleaser. There, I said it. For the first time ever, Stephen King decided to write a book that would stroke the egos of the majority, instead of coming up with something new, something that’s non-conformist and that eludes the mainstream. The characters are very cliché, I almost couldn’t believe that the most evil, corrupted and power hungry person in the whole book would be a Republican, Christian white male. Really?! Could you have come up with anything more obvious than that, Mr. King? I don’t think so. Political orientations aside, I was most bothered by King taking cheap shots at Christians. I have to be honest with you, I am sick and tired of writers doing that nowadays, especially when it happens to be an author I respect and like for his unparalleled characterization skills. King chose the road of least resistance because who is honestly going to not like reading about this ‘far right, fundamentalist Christian looney’. If you read majority of the reviews, people love it. Well, I hate it because written word is a powerful weapon and Under the Dome propagates a stereotype that happened to be unjust and hurtful.
Technically, King is still somewhat successful. He knows what he’s doing when introducing a cornucopia of characters without having a reader dazed and confused. You will most likely have no trouble with finding your way among the residents of Chester’s Mill. Character development is flawless and I had clear images of each and every person featured in the novel even though the descriptive passages and adverbs and adjectives were few and far between. You want to read a fest of ‘show and don’t tell’? Grab Under the Dome. Despite all of the above however, at the end of the book I realized I couldn’t care less about any of the residents. It was a shock to me because that never happened with other King’s books. One last thing, this is not another Stand. The Stand is a timeless masterpiece and Under the Dome pales to transparency in its light, almost as if Mr. King ran out of ideas and there were no more tricks up his sleeve.
What a disappointing review. =( I have Under the Dome but I haven't read it yet. I had high hopes but you've definitely tempered them with your review - thanks for helping me get past my high expectations.
ReplyDeleteWell I'm not offended, but I haven't read the book, either. And I don't plan to. I read his book On Writing, but that's the only King I've ever read, and ever plan to. For some reason, his books just don't appeal.
ReplyDeleteI am not offended either, but then I have not read more than a few of King´s books. I think he writes good thrillers, but that is that.
ReplyDeleteAnd like you, I think it is too easy to target Christians. They are also used as obvious suspects and antagonists in many Scandinavian novels, and they are very rarely like the people I know in real life.
Write whatever you want, that is what we want :) Sure happy reviews are good, but I need the other ones too. Those that didn't like the book
ReplyDeleteHaven't read the book yet, but plan to. As I have read all of King's books up to this point (with the obvious exclusion of Under the Dome) I feel it should be worth at least a cursory glance. As the majority of Americans are christians, or claim to be, the impact of such a character as that one should be more of a shock than it obviously was, and this could be a massive problem with the book. But all reviews aside, I think King still has an edge on most modern-day writers, and this book is likely to be better than just about any other on the market today. But the jury is still out on that one. ;)
ReplyDeleteI reviewed the audiobook of Under the Dome back in February and as I said there, I feel like I'm in an abusive relationship with King. This is what I wrote:
ReplyDelete"When we first started our relationship together, he was wonderful. He never failed to disappoint, he was intriguing, he had interesting things to say, I enjoyed spending time with him, and even lost track of time when we were together. Then, after fifteen or twenty years of being together, the relationship started to get a little stale, and often we had to fall back on the “good times” we used to have together, and I started looking at other people, even enjoyed spending time with other people. Then, things got violent. He would promise me something new and exciting and I would, like a fool, keep coming back in spite of the fact that I kept getting hurt. However, I kept telling myself that maybe this time it would be different. This time would be more like the early days of our relationship. Yet, in spite of all that I was hurt time and time again, some times painfully hurt. Then, just when I was about to give up entirely on our relationship and begin divorce proceedings, he came to me one more time and told me he was sorry about everything he had done over the last decade or so, and that he really had changed, and look … I can make it just like the old days. Without daring to hope for much, I started to believe what he was telling me and I went crawling back; expecting to be hurt at every turn, but daring to hope that he really had changed."
And, while (as I said in my review) Under the Dome has gone a long way to making me believe he has changed ... I'm still not sure.
My chief problem with the book was "and this holds true for many of King’s longer books (especially It and The Stand), the build-up in the book is much more exciting than the denouement and conclusion. The set-up to Under the Dome is absolutely brilliant, and King constructs some very interesting inter-personal dynamics as things start to unravel but when the novel takes 900 pages to set up and only 100 to get out … it was bound to be somewhat disappointing. When the explanation for the dome arrived, I felt quite let down and it seemed more like an original Star Trek episode-like explanation (with Shatner and Nimoy and the rest) than something from Stephen King. But that kind of deus ex machina is what happens in The Stand and It and so I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything different from a novel of similar length, but I was kind of hoping"
Anyway, when it comes to King, I'll stick with The Shining which I feel is his most perfect novel to date (no disrespect to The Stand) which is saying a lot, since it was his third.
--Sorry to make this so long, I have a lot of thoughts on King as both a fan and an English Masters grad student who has written extensively on King's book.
I read it and understand completely where you are coming from and agree. Plus I was disappointed in the ending. After the big build it up, it just sort of fell.
ReplyDeleteMeghan - I am sorry for lowering your expectations for this book. It may be a blessing though because with lower hopes starting the book, your experience may actually turn out to be fantastic and without expecting much, you'll get a lot in return :)
ReplyDeleteSoftdrink - On Writing was very good IMO, really one of the books to read when you want some advice writing. King's writing in general is very peculiar though and I can see how you're not a fan.
ReplyDeleteDorte - he does write good thrillers, or should I say he used to. His old novels are awesome and that's what made a fan of me. It's interesting what you wrote about Scandinavian writers, I didn't know that. It's saddening to me though.
ReplyDeleteBlodeuedd - you're right and thank you. Good reviews are fun but we do need negative ones too.
ReplyDeleteCowl - as a King reader, there's no doubt you'll read this one as well :) I know the feeling, no matter what the reviews say, the book has to be read. My problem with it was that it actually wasn't controversial but rather obvious with who was the evil one and who the good one. Ah well, as many readers, so many opinions :)
ReplyDeleteBryan - I loved your comment, wasn't too long at all. You had me cracking up at the abusive relationship comparison. it really was funny but it's also a true reflection of how an long time fan of King's books may feel.I know exactly what you mean even though before you wrote it, I hadn't realized that that was the case.
ReplyDeleteAs far as The Shining goes, I haven't read it yet *gasp* but I will and might then change my mind about The Stand :)
Robin - you are 100% right about the ending, probably the most disappointing factor of all, it really just made me think, "huh? That's it?, "That's how it ends?". I really almost laughed.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing worse than a 1000 page book with a disappointing ending! :-0
ReplyDeleteThanks for the honest review. I can understand why you were hesitant to post your feelings. But honestly, reading divergent opinions by various reviewers I like and respect is one of the best things about the book blogging community. :-)
King has been a very inconsistent author for me. I have loved some of his novels, and others seemed like a colossal waste of talent ... and trees.