Is Anyone Reading Stephen King's New Book?

[MIGrandma]

I heard about his new book on "The View", then saw it at the store yesterday. It is 1074 pages long.

I think it's called "Living Under the Dome" or something like that.

You know how on the jacket of books they tell what the book is about? This one has absolutely no description. The inside jacket is completely blank.

I hate to spend $27 on the book, and not like it. But if I wait to get it at the library it'll be forever before I get called for it.

I bought "Lisey's Story" and didn't like it so it was a waste of $$. I don't want to buy this one and not like it either.

So, is anyone reading it yet? Is it good so far?

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Review (partial) from the Toronto Sun:

King revoked his retirement clause before it even kicked in, regaining his book-a-year pace in no time. The novels that followed were all good and eminently readable, while Lisey's Story and the story collection Just After Sunset showed King regaining some of the vision and storytelling vigour of his best early works.

Now comes Under the Dome, King's first epic (more than 600 pages) novel since the accident. At just under 1,100 pages it's one of his longest works, second only to the uncut version of The Stand.

The novel opens in vintage King style, with a series of deftly rendered verbal postcards of small-town America. The town is Chester's Mill, Maine, just north of Castle Rock, the county seat and setting of some of King's most iconic works.

Dale Barbara, a.k.a. "Barbie," a decorated Iraq War vet turned fry cook and drifter, is making his way out of town after an altercation with some of the local (and well-connected) toughs. High above him Claudette Sanders, wife of First Selectman Andy Sanders, is enjoying a flying lesson behind the controls of a rented prop plane, while just down the highway a nervous woodchuck stops to assess Barbie.

Barbie is staring at the woodchuck when something happens that makes him question his senses: the woodchuck is cut cleanly in two by an invisible blade. Seconds later, the airplane crashes into an invisible force thousands of feet up in the air and explodes on impact, scattering clumps of burning debris and two shredded bodies over the highway and fields at the side of the road.

Barbie quickly realizes that the roads leading in and out of town and the surrounding farms and forests have been sealed inside an impenetrable, invisible dome. More havoc ensues, including a catastrophic logging-truck crash outside the dome.

It's a spectacular montage of surreal violence and bewilderment, and with a thousand or so pages left to go the average reader can hardly be blamed for wondering if King can sustain the effort.

He does. As the residents of Chester's Mill begin to understand the terms of their bizarre imprisonment – no one gets in, no one gets out and the air and water won't last forever – the horror switches from the cosmic and surreal to the domestic and political.

Small towns in King's work are hothouses of unsettled scores, power games and complex loyalties kept in check by propriety, dependence and the law. Remove the restraints of law and amplify the town's internal stresses and suddenly the monsters in the closet are emboldened to test out the daylight.

The monsters in Under the Dome are human – mundane, mediocre but no less frightening for it. Ruling the bestiary is one of King's best villains, Second Selectman "Big Jim" Rennie, a used-car salesman, fundamentalist Christian and possible drug lord who knows everybody's business and puts that business to work for the Lord as Big Jim knows Him. Jim knows an opportunity when he sees one. The dome may be his best chance to fix the town's problems and deal with its liberal troublemakers once and for all and he's not about to let that chance pass him by.

King draws readers into a not-so-subtle but depressingly believable political allegory about the perils of conformity and right-wing populism. The town's rapid descent into a hillbilly police state feels so inevitable it might have pre-ordained by the constitution, but King lines up a motley band of reluctant, flawed do-gooders to battle Big Jim's allies.

Under the Dome does more than give an extended "screw you" to the Palin-era Republicans, it showcases King's prime talent: the ability to evoke an utterly familiar and quotidian world invaded and illuminated by a manifestation of the uncanny.

This is King's best novel since It, maybe since The Stand. Good thing he didn't retire the word processor.



James Grainger is the author of the story collection The Long Slide (ECW Press).

[Sgt Mickey]

Not yet but I want too.

[Christine]

I haven't yet, but I will. The Washington Post gave it a VERY good review over the weekend.

Costco has it for about $19 and Amazon has it for $17.49 I believe. I wouldn't pay full price for it.

[Halloweenqueen]

It's on my Christmas wish list!

[mickeylove2]

It comes out on Oct. 24th for download on the Kindle...so at $9.99 I will be ordering it

[Jennasis]

All I can think about when I saw the premise was The Simpsons Movie.

[Nik's Mom]

I can't wait to read this book. I'm a big fan of his. I saw him on The View last week. He actually started to write this book in the 70's, but he did joke about The Simpsons movie. I think he said one of his kids pointed out the comparison.

[legalsea]

Originally Posted by mickeylove2

It comes out on Oct. 24th for download on the Kindle...so at $9.99 I will be ordering it

I believe you mean December 24th. I too will be kindling it.

[mickeylove2]

Originally Posted by legalsea

I believe you mean December 24th. I too will be kindling it.

oops, yup you're right...my brain must have been taking a coffee break!

[Pixiedust34]

I just started An Echo in the Bone which is another huge book that'll take me a good, long time to finish. Once I'm finished with that, I'll be looking for the Stephen King book at the library.

The Stand is my favorite King book. I hope that this one is good. I enjoy some of his books, but I have a hard time getting into a few of his stories.

[luvwinnie]

To my dismay, I haven't enjoyed one of his books in a long time and usually don't even try anymore. The Stand is one of my all-time favorites...Needful Things too.

[kristilew]

I used to love his stuff, and I keep hearing this book is like "vintage" King, so I am putting it on my Christmas list. I have high hopes.

Pixiedust34 - I just finished my second read-through of Echo in the Bone. I love love love DG's books, but was a little disappointed the first time through EitB. On second, slower, read, it is excellent. There's a lot of little clues and subtle stuff, so you are right to take your time!

[MAGICinMYHEART]

I ordered it pre-release from Amazon it was one the the new books that was part of the Book Wars between Amazon, Wal-Mart and Target for $9.00.

It's the first hardcover book I have purchased since I bought my Kindle.

I started reading it and so far it's GOOD.

[Poppinsme]

Bought it.
Read it.
FABULOUS!!!!!
King is BACK to his old style of writing. Enjoy!!!!!