Stephen King’s latest book, Under the Dome, is about a small town on the East Coast that finds itself encased in a glass dome.
It’s a simple enough idea, but King turns that one-sentence premise into 1074 pages of lightning narrative. The dome is semi-airtight, lending itself to create its own atmosphere, and the mystery of what it is and where it comes from is very engaging. More so than the dome, however, King makes the dome’s inhabitants vastly more interesting. The interactions and clashes that occur within the trapped community had me riveted-during one particularly intense stretch, I found myself reading until 3 a.m.
King’s got a way of putting regular people into outrageous situations (vampires, aliens, giant beasts from other dimensions) and somehow making the people more interesting than their often-supernatural surroundings, and Under the Dome is no exception. If you’re not a fan of King, this may not be for you, because this is a great example of what I love about him-outstanding circumstances, interesting character dynamics, and his “Uncle Stevie” storytelling style.
When books creep into four-digit page counts, they usually enter one of two categories: the “I don’t think I can get through this” category or the “Thank God this isn’t over yet” category. Luckily for us, Under the Dome falls into the latter.
Posted on January 22, 2010
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