Under the Dome

A Novel

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: 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

Sure, Steve...

I SO wanted to really LOVE this BIG book. But what happens when books drone on and on? The characters do silly things and the plot takes twists that make you go...huh?

A reasonable effort. Certainly listenable. Just make sure you have a number of "grains of salt" to help you get through it.

Outstanding book, outstanding narrator

This is one of Stephen King's best! His detailed descriptions and understanding of people makes them -- and their actions -- live an breath. I had difficulty discontinuing listening when I had to do other things.

I have been missing Frank Muller, but Raul Esparza was a great choice for a narrator. No, not just a narrator, an actor. Like Frank Muller, Raul Esparza, masterfully creates the characters from Stephen King's descriptions and rivets the listener's attention. One easily hears the shift from character to character in his dialogues.

I will be looking for more books narrated by Raul Esparza.

Excellent!

A painfully tedious read

I really tried to love or even like this book, but I just couldn’t. All the painstakingly narrated details and character development (which also left a lot to be desired) and the story just went absolutely NOWHERE!! I even rewound it a few times thinking surely I had missed something, but no- it just never quite “gelled”... I was surprised to read that so many disliked the narrator. I was always annoyed at Jr.’s drawing out “Barrrrrrrrrrbie” but otherwise, no real complaints. I am a fan of SK, just not of this book.

Not my favorite

While I felt the narration was exceptional, I found Under the Dome less so. To many unanswered questions, too many convenient answers. The ending felt hurried and abrupt. I love King's writing, just not this one.

Meh

The narrator was great, i could really appreciate how the main characters were done.

For me the story was a bit of a miss. I really got into how much I disliked some of the characters and liked some of the others. What I didn't like was the wrap up. No pretty bow, just done.

More than a book

This is a very good story brought to life by a great narrator. It becomes more than a book with the life the Mr. Esparza breathes into each characters voice. It's more than a book, and more than a movie. Incredible.

Not King

Is there anything you would change about this book?

i finished listening to IT and decided to listen to Under the Dome. i finished listening to it because i want to read all of Kings books. the Narrator sucked horribly. i might have been spoiled from IT but come on, he didnt sound like he wanted to read it. he cant throw his voice to do different characters. Climaxes are not so because of the monotone of the narrator.

How could the performance have been better?

get a better Narrator!

Do you think Under the Dome needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

no

ignore the negativity

Amazing story with a down to earth villain. I love the King books and if I chose my Audiobooks based on reviews on Audible I would have never listened to a one. seems most people hate books longer than 10 hours and because of that leave hateful reviews regarding them. One of my favorite listens ever. 10/10

Great audio book

It reminds me quite a bit of the Tommyknockers but is much better written. Overall, the book itself is very enjoyable - the ensemble cast of characters (which is quite large) are all interesting, distinct, and instantly identifiable. I'd give the contents of the book 4 out of 5 stars.

Why is my rating 5 stars then? The narrator. This is the first book I've listened to by Raul Esparza but he's easily one of the best narrators I've ever listened to - he manages to do all kinds of very distinct voices and accents that make the characters (and there are a lot) instantly identifiable. In addition, some of the "voices" he does are perfect (at least for me) for the charcters - Big Jim is absolutely perfect; Junior and Andy Sanders similarly. Great, great stuff.

Great book, until the final plot is revealed

Warning! Spoiler in review!!!:


Let say that this was an amazing book! I have never read or listened to a Stephen King book previously, and perhaps that is partially why I found this book extremely disappointing at the end.

Everything was chugging along great until the book took a totally awkward and very juvenile tact towards extreme alien-style sci-fi. Obviously the Dome itself is a bit sci-fi, but I was holding out hope for a more logical explanation of "secret government conspiracy" or "the dome really wasn't there all along" or something else, maybe even something less concrete, and ending where it is never fully explained. But the whole "oh, it was aliens" part kind of pissed me off. That's a really easy way to wrap up the book, almost too easy.

And my biggest complaint is the total lack of resolution between Barby and Big Jim!! Just as the final climax was coming, the book totally cops out with an Armageddon sequence, and pretty much crawls to a halt after the bomb goes off.

It's a good book, and specifically in the are of length. I always love a really, really long book with a lot going on. This fit the bill. Humanoid aliens especially really turn me off. Total snorfest in my opinion. But I am sure other readers have come to expect that from Stephen King, so I can't fault him for doing what he does best.