Under the Dome: Final Notes
I read Under the Dome by Stephen King as a part of the Under the Dome Readalong (#DomeAlong), hosted by Natalie at Coffee and a Book Chick. Go here for more info!
So since I participated in this readalong, and because Under the Dome is such a huge book, I wrote a few posts as I was reading it. I was quite a bit behind, but I managed to finish it on the last day of the readalong!
If you want to check out my notes from the first 1/3 of the book, you can find them here, and you can find my notes from 2/3 of the way through the book here.
**Warning: Spoilers!**
So here are my notes on the final third of the book, as well as my overall thoughts:
- When Rusty first touches the generator and sees the “leatherheads” I was thinking to myself, “This isn’t really who did it, is it? It’s like people wearing leather masks or something!” And for quite a while I thought it was going to turn out to be something else that created the Dome. I’m still not really sure how I feel about that, either. I mean, in a way, I like the idea that it was like how plenty of human kids torture and kill ants on the sidewalk with a magnifying glass, and this was like an alien version of that, but on the other hand, it felt kind of weird to me.
- I like Stephen King’s writing, but I feel like he does some things that just don’t make sense to me. Like I mentioned in my 2/3 notes, this book was interesting but it seemed to just be TOO LONG. And I don’t like the fact that there were several characters with the same or similar names. A few Petes, a couple of Andreas (which is my name so I noticed those!), a couple of Franks, lots of Jameses/Jims, and several Sams or Sammys. I just feel like he could have come up with a few different first names to cut down on the confusion.
- Junior really got crazy there at the end. I guess having a brain tumor will do that to you!
- There are several parts of this book that I have to just kind of gloss over–I can’t really think about them too hard because they’re just too disturbing.
- Major Bonus Points for all the Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, and Batman references. I’m glad that there were more HP references than just that one in the beginning (I mentioned it in my 1/3 notes), because that scene was just so horrible and put a damper on the reference.
- I’m not sure why, but during that final raid at the radio station/meth lab, I was totally rooting for Chef and Andy, even though they were clearly out of their minds. But they obviously weren’t really bad guys, while most of the people who were raiding them were…
- I liked this line: “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a gasp.”
- I’m not really sure how I feel about the ending. I mean, if none of them had escaped, I think I would have been upset, too, but I didn’t really love this ending, either.
- It took me a while to figure out those dates at the end of the book. I thought they were the dates of the Dome, but then I realized that couldn’t be right. So I think they’re the dates that Stephen King wrote this book? But that seems so weird to me. Why not put that in the Author’s Note? It just doesn’t seem like the proper place to put it. And why put it there anyway? Is that something that he always does? I don’t know…
I definitely enjoyed it and I feel very accomplished for finishing it, but I did have a few issues with it. I started watching the TV show, and it’s VERY different, so we’ll see how that goes.
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Shane Morgan
August 3, 2013 at 11:31 amGreat post. I really wanna read and watch the series but sad to hear i'll miss the chance of seeing it with the issue surrounding cbs. Anyhoo, great review once more.
Priya
August 4, 2013 at 4:33 pmI did not finish the book within the days of the read-a-long, as I was well aware I wouldn't. I love that you've compiled the notes you made while reading. When reading such a huge book, I do usually forget every small impression I have during.
First: The idea of the leatherheads is weird and to some people it may even be anti-climactic! But I thought it was a very Stephen King-like idea. It's what you'd least expect and it's perfectly logical; in fact most logical among all the possible theories. Brilliantly simple, don't you think? So, I enjoyed the ending.
However, book seemed too long to me as well and too detailed at times, and of all the characters, few were just unnecessary; even if they were there to make the town realistic.
And lastly, I like that line too. It makes me want to go back and read the book all over again! Nice post. :)
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
August 5, 2013 at 12:29 amI completely agree that King's writing is good but his books are just way too long. A lot of time has to get invested in 1000+ page books.
While I enjoyed Under the Dome I also agree that there were a lot of parts that were quite disturbing!
Bittner
August 8, 2013 at 4:38 pmI am very impressed that you finished Under the Dome! I am way too intimidated to even try starting it, so I tip my hat to you my friend!