Under the Dome

A Novel

De: Stephen King

Narrado por: Raul Esparza

The “propulsively intriguing, staggeringly addictive” (USA TODAY) novel from master storyteller Stephen King—a #1 New York Times bestseller.

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 experience. “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).

©2009 Stephen King (P)2009 Simon & Schuster

Good book poor narrator

As other critics of Raul Esparza have mentioned, he hasn't much of an ear for Maine (or French) accents. Moving on...

Stephen King's writing seems to reflect the arc of his life. He's a horror writer who's simply not afraid of the same things he was afraid of 25 years ago.

From the social horrors of a young person in Carrie through the absolute terror of losing a child in Cujo and Pet Sematary he's traveled through a cultural panic in The Stand and now has arrived in his 60's facing retirement in Duma Key and now in UTD is just satisfied to have survived.

Those of us who are longtime King fans and have had to wait a year (or so) between novels come fresh to the feast each time and have tasted them one by one. Later readers can hippity hop from one to the other and sort of get too many flavors at once.

Sorry, folks. Stephen King is entitled to change his focus and his voice. Vote with your dollar but keep in mind that if you're in your 50's or 60's like King (and me) you're likely to re-read some of his earlier (scarier?) work with a sense of indulgent amusement and ask yourself "Can this really have scared the crap out of me the first time I read it?"

Disappointed

Seems like the author phoned this one in. Not one of his better works, tending to drag on and developing too many side plots that lead us nowhere. Would have been better if it ended sooner. It was painfully long considering the lack of exciting material. I wanted it to end sooner so I could begin another, hopefully more interesting read.

Struggled to finish

Way too much filler and fluff for no reason! The story ended predictably and was guessed in half the time/pages.

Long. . . but the ending is worth it

This is not a King horror book, but one that makes you think. This is one of those books that makes you think, "would/could this really happen to people stuck under a dome?" It might if the right people were in place. This is a fun listen. It is a bit long, but the ending is worth it. The characters are well-built. However, there are a lot of them which can make it a bit difficult to keep track. I look forward to listening to this one again in the future. I'd highly recommend it.

Sucks you in

First off Raul the narrator was awesome. He tackled and conquered the vast array of characters in this King novel.

The character, Big Jim's voice will forever be etched in my memory of this book. Man I hate him.

This was the first fictional audio book I listened to and like any good book I found it impossible to put down.

If you can set aside the 30 something hours it is well worth it.

EXCELLENT NARRATION!

. . . and a nice return to form for Stephen King, an ensemble epic in 'the Stand' fashion his writing is as nimble and acute as it has been in years.
I have to disagree with the previous reviewer, however, the narration in this is a standout, easily the best I've heard in a long time. he gives the characters (of which there are numerous) distinctive voices that are easily identifiable (which helps with such a large cast) and also very true to the hew of the characters. Not monotone in the least, sound quality is crystal clear and he delivers with a good ear for tone.
I would definitely download another audiobook from this narrato again.

Fascinating, incredibly well-written story

This story is one that made me cringe a lot, there is so much human tragedy, evil, suffering and then triumph in this storyline, I found it very painful at times. The writing is complex, extremely compelling and combined with the narration paints a vivid picture in your mind. You feel the pain, you live and die with the characters, its brutal! That is also what makes it brilliant. I consider it a "can't miss" audiobook but won't listen to anything so heavy for a long time. I think this is Stephen King's best work in a very long time.

Great book; great narrator

This book is very good - engaging as are most Steven King books, but not as outlandish in the SF aspect. More prosaic than most in the details.

I typically don't notice the narration unless it's poor, but I have to say that Raul Esparza was awesome here. It's hard to describe, but the characterizations were distinct without being silly and over-the-top as often occurs. Mostly though, he used really great vocal inflections: I think that they were those that I would have used mentally had I been reading the text.

A new Believer

I must admit I haven't been a big King fan in the past but this book, Under the Dome, has truly made me a believer. His characters are astonishingly human, his bads guys evil almost to their very core, and his descriptions made this story come totally alive. It took me 2 weeks to "listen" to this book and I was enthralled each and every step of the way. His story never lets you down. I shall definitely be "listening" to more King soon.

A great story that has a strange end.

At its core the story revolves around an extraordinary event that causes fantastic power struggle between a town select man and a wandering vet with PTSD. The meat and potatoes of the story is Game of Thrones in rural America, but like a lot of King's stories he doesn't know how to end it effectively. The ending doesn't wreck the book, but one can't help but be disappointed with the way this incredible story wraps up. However, I still wholeheartedly recommend the book to Constant Readers and the occasional King Dabbler.