Under the Dome

A Novel

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Raul Esparza

Length: 34 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when - or if - it will go away.

Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens - town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing - even murder - to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

©2009 Stephen King (P)2009 Simon & Schuster

Another fine King Novel

Some of the early reviews I read had me fearful of the voices and the ending, but I really enjoyed the reader and all the voices made sense and fit well with the story. The ending is good, though not the best ever, and didn't leave me disappointed. I can't wait to see the movie.

Good book, lousy narrator

This is King at his best: big themes, big cast of characters, big ideas. The problem with this audiobook is the narrator. His reading is awkward and his attempts at a New England/Maine accent fall flat, becoming almost faux-British and downright painful. Still, I soldiered through on the strength of King's narrative, not the narrator. Next time use Campbell Scott!! Please!

Very entertaining

This was only my second audio book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There definitely was a political slant to it, and depending on your leanings, you might find it highly offensive or highly amusing. I thought Raul Esparza did a wonderful job doing such a huge variety of characters, although Jim Renney did indeed sound geographically out of place. Like others, I found the ending a little bit of a let-down. There was room for more.

Great listen

Excellent-I wanted to listen again as soon as I finished and Raul Esparza did a great job on the narration. Even with the length it didn't feel like any of the writing was unnecessary.

Long but a great story.

I am a Stephen King fan so this was a natural for me. What was not a natural was the length, this is a long book but worth every second. I loved the character development. It felt like walking tall (movie) meets the twilight zone. An excellent read worth the time. I have quite a large library of books from audible being a member since 2005 and listening to 2 to 3 books per month. This is the first time I have written a review.

Amazing Narrator! Thrilling Story!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, Narrator creates a story in your mind, more vivid than any other audiobook I've ever listened too.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Under the Dome?

The build up of tension, and human reaction during uncontrollable disaster.

Which scene was your favorite?

I loved the scene where PHIL and Andy protect the propane. And cheering them on, but then seeing the disaster that results.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, it was gripping from the beginning all the way through.

Any additional comments?

One of the best King novels ive read. I wish Raul did another King novel. It is amazing that with 40+ characters and every one had a distinct voice that fight perfectly. I was so impressed. With 35 hrs of story the ending was rather anticlimactic and wtapped ip rather quickly. I would have loved it if King would have had an epilogue at the end.

Lovely

Loved it amazing n awesome Stephen king did a awesome job on this book n the narrated Raul esparza is awesome too wow

The king does it again, narrator need some work

My parents are big fans of Stephen King it in my adult life I am now just tapping into his works. This whole back approach to the super normal is a different speed from kings average story. Enjoyable all the same. The narrator needs a lot of work and sorting out which characters have which voices, there are not nearly that many British people in a random town. It seems as though that narrator needs a few more voices in his repertoire, he should work on filling up his utility belt. If you can follow which voice belongs to who, and keep attention because they do change, this is an excellent story but as the king will tell you in his own authors note needs to go a little faster. Also, enemy come uppance needs a little more pizzazz

Disturbed but good

This is basically Lord of the Flies but with adults and on a much larger, more horrific scale.

I will say if you have issues with the political leanings of Stephen King, then you may not love the fact that the "bad guy" in this book uses Jesus and his position as a corrupt politician to manipulate the towns people into getting what he wants.

The narrator wasn't great. There was a large cast of characters so I understand needing to "seperate them" but most of the voice work for the children was annoying, so was a lot of the female voices, the corrupt politician seems to have a southern twang at times but no reason was given for the accent and the northern New England accents would come and go throughout the book.

All in all, I'm glad I finally read Under the Dome, but I don't see myself returning for a second read.

Surfers in Maine

Narrator uses a surfer accent for several of the characters. Strange. Like watching The Californians on SNL.