In Under the Dome
Writers can do anything in fiction, just as long as they earn. Sound easy? It's not. Well, not nearly as easy as it sounds. If it was, every hopeful whoever put pen to paper or filled his recycling bin with reams of discarded drafts, heavily marked with corrections, edits and notes would be a bestseller. We'd have no need for editors, and not nearly so many critics.
In Under the Dome, King earns almost every bit of this crazy situation. From the moment the dome appears and the body count at it's sudden arrival starts to rise to the cat and mouse games the various groups begin to play with each other as lines of power are drawn in the sand, King takes us for a grand tour in this surreal landscape. The characters, good and bad, smart and stupid, are engaging and we want to know how they are going to react to this situation they've found themselves in. We're along for the ride because they behave in the way real people, good and bad, smart and stupid, might behave in such a situation. They might not. We'll probably never know, because I'm pretty sure an invisible, impenetrable force field is going to cut off a small town in rural New England. The point is, King makes us believe that this is how they would behave.
I did find a bit of the novel unsatisfying, though in small pieces. First was the nature of the dome, how it got into place, and ultimately how the characters dealt with it in the climax of the novel. I'll not touch on that any more, as I despise any form of spoiler, except to say, this little stumbling block is not nearly large enough to derail my enjoyment of the book. In fact, it doesn't really have anything thing to do with the book's brilliance in any way. This book is about the characters and their reactions and choices to the situation, not about "solving the problem." They do, at least some of them do, and it creates moments of conflict, but it's just one situation amongst many in life under the dome. The other thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the religious undertones throughout the book. Several of the "bad guys" are very fundamentally Christian, though non-denominational. One of the "good guys" is also, though secretly an agnostic at best, suffering from a massive doubt in her faith. By the end of the book, only the bad guys are true believers and a lot of the screwed up things that happen in the book happen "in the name of god." Religion and faith have nothing to do with the outcome of the book, and it made me question why there was so many thematic elements wrapped up in religion when, at the end of the day, it didn't have anything to do with the resolution of the story.
Yes Under the Dome, has some issues. It is not King's best work. However, King on a bad day - which this certainly isn't a bad day for King, just not the best day - is still pretty darn good. Want a good read that will keep you turning pages? This is it, though be warned, like in many Stephen King novels, really screwed up things happen to decent people. Looking for a near-perfect example of brilliant characterization? This is your book. I recommend it to the reader who enjoys a good story as equally as the reader who is seeking to study the crafting of great fiction.
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