Ants Under the Magnifying Glass: Book Review of Under the Dome

 

Under the Dome [UNDER THE DOME] [Paperback] by Stephen King

Gratitude

Thank you to Montgomery County Public Libraries for making Under the Dome by Stephen King available to the public for free.

Description

Okay, let’s start by talking about the elephant in the room—Under the Dome is an elephantine book. At 1,074 pages it is by far the longest book I have ever read. In fact, I started it last year and then had to return it to the library because I had to leave town for the summer. I signed it back out again this year and finally finished!

In Under the Dome, an invisible force field covers the town of Chester’s Mill so that nothing can get in or out. Not just people but air and water, too. While this is rough for everyone, it is an especially bad surprise for Dale Barbara, or as most people call him, Barbie, as has been been warned to leave town after a group of local toughs targeted him. Now he is trapped in Chester’s Mill and his chief aggressor is the son of the unofficial mayor. Unofficial, but Jim Rennie effectively pulls all the strings in the town.

Under these circumstances it’s not just Barbie who doesn’t stand a chance, but the whole town who will be even more under Jim Rennie’s thumb with no one to rescue them.

Very quickly lines are drawn between team Rennie and team Barbie. As the truth about Rennie comes out and he strengthens his police force, it’s unclear if team Barbie can save the people of Chester’s Mill.

Jim Rennie is one of scariest if not the scariest villain King has created. At least in terms of human villains, that is. Rennie easily justifies all of his decisions as Gd’s will. He has no regard for human life or sympathy for others.

Would I Teach This Book? 

Would I teach Under the Dome? I thoroughly enjoyed reading Under the Dome, though it was a time commitment. Due to the time commitment, though, it would not be the ideal novel to teach. It is not worthy of its own course, as much as I enjoyed it.

There are other King books that do similar things, such as Sleeping Beauties, which has the added appeal of being cowritten work. If you have time commitment phobia for the books you read, you might try Sleeping Beauties first.


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