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

Slow start, excellent finish

Great book, very graphic, a lot of adult content, and covers some very sensitive topics. Not for younger readers/listeners.

Unbelievable Narration!!

This is the absolutely best narrated book I have ever listened to. Having a different sounding voice for every single character made this better than watching a movie. I haven't watched TV in about 2 weeks since I started listening to this book which is weird.

Stephen King has evolved from a wonderful Storyteller with terrible endings, to an unbelievable story teller with endings that are somewhere between okay and pretty good.

Good but not one of his best

This was a good book, but not one of King's best. I also had issues with some voice choices by the narrator. But, still worth checking out.

Beautiful

This is the best Stephen King book I have ever read, or in this case listen to. I have heard a lot about his style of writing and have read plenty of his books but always tend to start reading, or in this case listening, with a sense of apprehension. Never in my plenty of years of delving into the literary soup that is modern-day media have I ever been so invested both positively and negatively in a series of characters that has been outlined here. The story of the Dome is one that could be cherished by old and young alike not only because of its richness and detail and speed of play but because of the moral implications of what it shows. I think that this is a very accurate depiction of what could occur to a human society in times of turmoil and isolation. This will be a book that I read over and over again just so I can immerse myself in the detail and complexity of such a nice piece of work. this is one of the rare occasions where I feel the necessity to thank the author for such a nice gift to the literary world. thank you Stephen King.

So good!

You cannot go wrong with a Stephen King book! 15 books in Nd he has yet to let me down!

Enjoyed the Story. Didn't Buy Dome Explanation...

Where does Under the Dome rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Under the Dome would definitely rank among the top titles I've listened to so far. I actually enjoyed the narrator as I don't expect much in the way of men perfecting female voice or vice versa so that wasn't an issue for me. It took me a second to grab some of the slang, but only a second. This made for enjoyable listening along many drives to work.

What did you like best about this story?

The structure of the chapters gave the story a faster pace. The way the story was sectioned into these sub-chapters gave the book a cliff-hanger feel throughout, making it very difficult to find a stopping point when I listened. A good thing.

What does Raul Esparza bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

As I stated before, I thought Raul Esparza did a great job with this story given that there were so MANY characters. I love novels with an abundance of role players but feel I may have gotten lost a time or two were it not for the voice presentation. Also, the characters voices remained consistent throughout the book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I would have liked to have seen the 'bad guys' receive more of a payback for all the evil they did in this story. There were tons of evil doers in this town and in my opinion none of them really paid properly for all their wrong doing. I laughed in many places, rolled my eyes on more than a few occasions. I was really hoping that there would have been a better (or more creative) explanation for the dome than what was given. Still the suspense of it really kept me turning pages- er listening avidly. Utterly entertaining!

Any additional comments?

Overall an amazing accomplishment. For such a lengthy work, I believe that listening to the audio version made all the difference in how greatly I enjoyed it.

Very long, very slow, but good

Even though the book is good, it becomes slow and very heavy for my taste.

I enjoyed it

What did you love best about Under the Dome?

The Characters

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I could have done without the reader imitating the generator Alarm Sounds, over and over... I listen at night, in bed and watched my room mate jump each time...

Any additional comments?

I'm sure glad that Prius didn't have Nitrogen filled tires. Many Prius cars are sold new with Nitrogen filled tires. Barbie took a big chance choosing a Prius :-)

Wish I could rate the book and narrator separately

My biggest issue with the reading was one that I hadn't seen mentioned, so I wanted to toss it out there. There are quite a few characters who are children, and every one of them are read like they're morons with head colds.

Also, someone mentioned the political commentary... that person missed the irony, I think. Yes, there are several "types" portrayed in the book, and two of the characters are an aged, liberal, pot smoking professor and his much younger squeeze. They're pretty pompous, and yes, a comment is made about it not being Bush's police state any more...but they're portrayed as annoying, preaching, laughable characters. It's certainly not an endorsement.

If King inserted his own political views in the book, "Under the Dome" would indicate that he's a moderate, irritated by those at the far ends of the spectrum who are sure they know best for everyone else. Besides, the good guys aren't political, and the bad guys aren't driven by politics or ideology- they're only interested in power.

Engrossing story

This is not a horror story. I normally avoid Stephen King books but this is a great sci-fi story about what happens when a small Maine town is encapsulated. The corrupt first selectman (it helps, but is not essential, to have grown up in a small Maine town) attempts to use the dome to his advantage. The ex-Army Captain, with the help of some very smart kids and the editor of the town's newspaper, manage work to thwart him. All told, a very engaging tale.