Hi friends, I have finally finished reading all 1,479 pages of the large print edition of King's Under the Dome. Whew! It only took me about a month or so. I have to say I always like King's novels, and some are better than others, but this one ranked pretty high. There were some aspects I did not like in the book, but I will mention those later. I will try to summarize the plot of this book in a few paragraphs, if that is possible...King always has a large amount of characters and many plots going at once, but here goes. One fine Autumn day, an invisible dome comes down around the quaint Maine town of Chester's Mill. Animals and people who are standing where the dome came down are cut in two, and airplanes and vehicles crash horrifically where they hit the invisible barrier. The Military tries different tests to destroy the dome and free the people trapped inside, but nothing works. In the meantime, the people in town are having some power struggles, and sides are taken. One maniacal town leader, who is a false religious person, is hiding criminal activities, and is the villain in the piece. He is always praying and talking about God, while he is really just a fraud. He and his son both commit murders, and his son jokes, "the family that slays together, prays together". The hero of the piece is naturally the enemy of the bad guys, and is actually on his way out of town when the dome comes down. There are many characters and subplots, but it comes down to finding out where the dome came from, battling the power struggles, and staying alive. I never got bored with the story, which is always a good thing! However, one issue I have with the book is the author's political agenda. Just like the power struggles in Chesters Mill, we have the liberal and conservative political power struggles. Reading King's work leaves the reader in no doubt of the author's political views. He makes fun of Fox News, and glorifies CNN and its reporters in the book. The most evil characters are the religious people, who of course are ignorant, narrow minded, and false. One of the heroes is a female reverend who has lost her belief in God, (she prays to "Not There" her private name for God), and most of the other "good" characters are immoral people who end up taking hero status. Beware readers, if you are Christian, this book will massively irritate you! I am a true bible believing Christian who knows there are false teachers out there proclaiming one thing and living another. However, just because of a few bad eggs, we cannot tar all Christians with the same brush. Another issue I had with the book is the old "there is no God, but instead there are aliens out there" theme. Yes, with many inner eye rolls, I had to once again, endure the drivel about aliens. Apparently, aliens are watching and enjoy torturing us as if we are ants under a magnifying glass. Yeah. They were kid aliens at that, enjoying watching our suffering not knowing we are real people with real lives. But begging them to show us mercy just might work? It amazes me that intelligent people refuse to believe in God, but they are sure there are aliens out there, and the aliens have power over us. Hmmm. If you like a good horror story, don't get offended easily, and enjoy King's twisted characters, (especially Junior and his girlfriends in the pantry!) this would be a good read for you.
