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 catching story. But...

I enjoyed the story, a bit predictable near the end but good. As much as I understand that it has bearing on the story to vilify certain characters, I could deal without reading rape "scenes".

GREAT STEPHEN KING!

This book is as good as all the rest. I really enjoyed it, I've listened to it twice now. If you love Stephen King, you'll love this one. Really makes you wonder, as all his books do! :) Highly recommended.

underrated

one of the most underrated Stephen king novels. not sure how so many people look past this one.

Couldn't stop reading!

If you could sum up Under the Dome in three words, what would they be?

Relatable, Intriguing, Not-like-the-show

What other book might you compare Under the Dome to and why?

I just finished reading A Song of Ice and Fire and am a tad obsessed with it... while waiting for the sixth book to be written and released I picked up Under the Dome. In a way, this book had many aspects that I love about ASOIAF, the characters are complex, you genuinely care about them and have hope that they will triumph, on the other hand there are also the characters that are so horrible that you love to hate them and hope that they slip up and no longer triumph. Another reason that I love ASOIAF is that the story keeps going, even after the main characters die or leave the story. I almost didn't get involved in a non-series book, but this story interested me. I personally do not like the ending to this book... There was so much build up and it was almost like it was ended because he didn't want to make conspiracy theories and went with something relatively safe, also the characters seemed relatively unaffected - years of counseling would be the reality if this actually happened. I wonder how the show will explain the dome.... since they are not doing anything else as the book....

Have you listened to any of Raul Esparza’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to any other of Raul's books, and many reviewers complained about him... I have no idea why. I thought he did a great job at giving the individual characters their own voice and personality. I also read most books at 1.5 speed, and maybe that is why I didn't find it slow as others reported.

Who was the most memorable character of Under the Dome and why?

Unfortunately, Big Jim Rennie - he is a man you LOVE TO HATE... I want the most memorable to be Barbie as he is honorable and someone to look up to, but too many times Big Jim stole the show with his audacity and deception.

Good Read

Very Unique story really enjoyed it. Presents a scenario that I never would have thought of.

entertaining story, overall enjoyable

really enjoyed the story but could not stand the narrator. Accents were horrible and had a really hard time getting started because I found his style so distracting.

Under the Mediocracy

Under the Dome is another novel you can read once and set in your bookshelf that you've dedicated to Stephen King but will most likely never pick up, or even think about after your first read through. King has a habit of starting things off by hurling his reader face first into the thick of his plots with vivid details and exciting narratives. I was captivated after the first few lines and found myself growing attached to the myriad of characters that made up this story. Each one fleshed out into their own believable characters which Raul Esparza hit dead on. This fast paced book has almost no "down time" or slow points and continues to build and build into the 'edge of your seat' thriller that Stephen King is so known for. However He completely axed what could have been another King masterpiece with a rather cope out ending. The ending of the main arc, the dome, came almost as expected and in such a way that readers of From a Buick 8 might feel a sense of deja vu, however one of the plot arcs that the entire book had been building on and pitting the characters against is almost entirely forgotten about. Yes, it does end, but in such an unsatisfactory, anticlimactic way that leaves a sour taste in my mouth upon finishing the book.

Don't get me wrong, it was an enjoyable read, and this loose end for lack of better words did not ruin the book for me, however if asked to recommend a Stephen King book to a fellow reader I'd much sooner recommend other masterpieces such as The Shining, The Stand, Dark Half, The Talisman, and Cell before this book.

Well done

Vastly different from the television series, which I saw her first I rather enjoyed the significant differences and nuances of the characters. The storyline from this book mid lot of sense very logical and nude it the characters from beginning to end

Stephan King did it again

I thought "oh this doesn't look like horror, the premise sounds promising too."
I don't know why I keep blindly trusting king. I should know by now.

good narrator, easy to follow and was surprisingly atomospheric.
would recommend.

Great Novel

This is by far one of my favorite Stephen king novels. I am a truck driver and I listened to this while driving and I loved every second and a didn't want it to end.