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

disapointing ending

I was disapointed in the ending.. Story line was not what I expected from the title. But It was interesting read.. Was like reading a soap opera.

Great book, garbage narrator.

This narrator needs to never narrate a book again. When he's just narrating, he's super soft spoken and boring, no emotion whatsoever, like he's reading a shopping list. When he's voicing characters, they are all laughably terrible. This book is set in Maine, but most of the women, for some reason, he gives them like a weird English accent. Then an Italian guy sounds Jamaican one second, then African another. Some guys sounds like Forrest Gump.And all the kids for some reason sound like super congested, mentally challenged nicktoons. Most characters just sound like they have problems,. This guy was really ruining my enjoyment of this story, which I thankfully read before trying this audiobook. I don't like this guy's narration, that's my opinion.

Decent story, not so decent performance

I thought the story was good but not great. There was a lot of build up in the plot line but I felt the ending fizzled out and failed to wrap up all the loose ends.

I think the performance leaves a lot to be desired. For one, most of the characters seem to either have an English or Irish accent or are so annoying you grow to dislike them simply because of the way they are narrated. For example, one of the characters is an 8 year old girl but comes across as a 3 or 4 year old when narrated.

Maybe I'm just being overly critical but having just listened to King's 11-22-63 the bar was set pretty high, both in terms of story and performance.

Good but lacking in the end.

overall, I really enjoyed the story, but I thought the ending had a lot to be desired. I just expected much more. Almost every aspect of the story was written in intricate detail, but the ending was just kind of there. I just felt a little let down by the ending.

Stephen King and Raul Esparza--PERFECT!

I had a wonderful time with this book--it is classic Stephen King. No one does twisted small town like he does. Even though there were 100 characters, I was never disoriented.
Thanks to Raul Esparza's amazing narration I couldn't have hated the bad guys more feverishly and pulled for heroes more completely. He is remarkable and perfect for this book. I was sorry when it was over. Get it, you won't be sorry!

WOW! One of his best. I couldn't stop reading!

This is definitely the Stephen King of old. I had almost given up on him the last few years but this book is one of his best. It takes real talent to keep you completely engrossed for over 34 hours. The more I read, the less I wanted to put it down. The narrator did a great job as well. He did have problems with a couple of the characters accents, but not enough to distract from the story. I very seldom re-read a book but will do so with this one.

Under the Dome

If you like Stephen King then buy this book. It was 34 hours for less than $20. King does a great job developing his characters but there are too many to keep track of. It was slow in places but a good listen for the money.

Loved the sum of the parts

I agree, this is not The Stand (would have given the story three and a half stars if I could have -- but not four). Still, King's trademark cast of many characters (most either very, very good or very, very bad) and the way they react under pressure kept me hooked from beginning to end. The explanation behind The Dome is a bit disappointing, but in a way perfectly explains what the novel is about: human nature -- and how quickly society can come apart when faced with unknown duress.

I was an avid King fan years ago and stopped listening when his novels seemed to be aimed at younger and younger audiences. I was glad I decided to listen to this one.

Raul Esparza was a brilliant narrator. This was the first time I have listened to one of his reads. Will have to keep an 'ear' out for others.

Scintillating story

Scintillating story; narrator could have done better with some of the voices. Many of them sounded like drunk surfers. Not cool. Other than that, awesome.

Loved it!

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

One of Stephen King's best!

What did you like best about this story?

Sucked you in!

Which character – as performed by Raul Esparza – was your favorite?

He was great in creating all the characters! Quite a talent!

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

Yes!