Stephen King's "Under The Dome"

[kortick]

Was it the book about the Marilyn Manson type rock star who buys a ghost on Ebay and gets more than he expected? That one is Heart Shaped Box. 20th Century Ghosts are short stories.

[Danny]

Was it the book about the Marilyn Manson type rock star who buys a ghost on Ebay and gets more than he expected? That one is Heart Shaped Box. 20th Century Ghosts are short stories. starts with some people at an airport thats snowed in or something and they start telling stories, like i said its been maybe 4 years since i read that first 20 pages, i remember it was red with white text on the front.

[kortick]

not sure what book that is. Heart Shaped Box by Kings son Joe Hill is about a rock star who collects bizzare items. He has paintings done by Gacy, a chessboard that was owned by Crowley and other things like that. He has two dogs named Angus and Bon. Then one day he comes across an internet auction about a lady selling the ghost of her step father and he buys it. Things go wrong very quickly after that. Cool first novel, worth reading. IMO.

[paulannett]

It's hardly the most original plot in the world. When I was 15 I wrote a script telling of the same kind of incident. A town sealed off by an invisible barrier (which cars crash into, people walk into etc etc) does it's best to survive. But there's something in that woods that's stalking the townsfolk. Finally, as supplies run low, rivalries worsen and panic spreads etc, the town turns on eachother. Not only did I write that 7+ years ago (heavily inspired by Lord of the Flies which I read for my GCSEs), but I have since watched several shows (including The Outer Limits) which details the exact same kind of incident. I'll pass.

[Tricky]

So is anyone reading this at the moment then? I picked it up last week & am approaching a third of the way into it now (and its a thick book!). Im enjoying it a lot too, everything is fleshed out in the usual King way & the plot is definitely intriguing even if it has been done before as described above. In Kings own words he tried to write this book back in the 70's when he was a lot younger but said the project was far too ambitious for him then,but he decided to give it another go now he's a older & more experienced. Its got me hooked at the moment so heres hoping he hasnt cocked the ending up!

[Arcades057]

Without ever having heard anything about this book: The military are the bad guys. There will be a Bush-like evil guy in it somewhere; bonus points if Cheney is also in it. There will be a retarded person/genius kid. The ending will suck.

[Danny]

tried getting into it, made it about 10 chapters and so far its absolute rubbish. it doesnt even read like a stephen king novel, either he's just reprinting another old story he never got out before the stand or he really does have ghost writers, because this is not the same storyteller who wrote the mist or christine.

[Tricky]

Without ever having heard anything about this book: The military are the bad guys. There will be a Bush-like evil guy in it somewhere; bonus points if Cheney is also in it. There will be a retarded person/genius kid. The ending will suck. Actually Obama is in it, so far king hasnt referred to him by name, but a fat racist town selectman refers to him in his thoughts when the president is mentioned as "the one with the terrorist middle name". The military arent bad guys as such, although they have cut the roads off into the town. Im enjoying it anyway,even if others arent

[sammylou]

So I guess it's not really scary or even horror, it is Stephen King, so I thought I'd post here. Has anybody else read King's newest book? Just finished and was wondering what other people's thought were and wanted to chat about it. I thought it pretty good. My biggest gripe with the book was the ending...I really didn't buy the whole "the alien kids feel sorry for the pathetic earthling" thing.

[capncnut]

Threads merged. The search function is not there for show.

[Tricky]

I enjoyed it, the ending could have been a little bit better but other than that it was pretty good! the whole story surrounding Junior was the most gripping part of it. I expected Barbie was going to do a bit more arse-kicking than he did too, but he was still a decent character. I started to worry where the ending was going when I was about 20 pages from the end & it didnt appear to be getting towards any kind of conclusion, so it felt a bit rushed, but I guess it still finished the story off acceptably

[DubiousComforts]

Without ever having heard anything about this book: The military are the bad guys. Actually, the protagonist in Under the Dome is a decorated, former military man. This is one of King's best novels and a very compelling page-turner. For an apocalyptic thriller, I found it far more suspenseful than The Stand or Cell. The premise is simple and the sci-fi aspect is kept to the barest minimum, really just a set-up for an elaborate study of characters in which King skewers every current political and social issue imaginable: greed, corruption, police brutality, abuse of power and authority, class struggle, terrorism, domestic violence, religious extremism, gun control, climate change and the environment, substance abuse, addiction, etc., etc. There has been some criticism in regards to the ending, but I believe this is due to readers failing to realize that the actual climax occurs with about 100 pages left to go. Under the Dome has far more in common with Lord of the Flies than any of the other "influences" being mentioned. There are a few brief nods to Obama, both positive and negative, but this story isn't about celebrity; the mirror is firmly pointed inward and the monsters are us. Have you read his book of short stories "just after sunset"? some pretty cool ones in there, especially the one called "N" which is nothing short of brilliant & genuinely creepy! This story is available as a 30-minute comic/video, though I'm not sure if that's such a great idea... N

[sammylou]

hope this is a reutrn to form, but he can only have so many novels left before he has no more average joes in maine being caught in a wierd occurence stories to sell. Haha good point. Even though I'm a big King fan, I have to say many of the stories do follow that template. ---------- Post added at 02:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:38 AM ---------- My bad on the second post, btw. I forgot to search.

[DubiousComforts]

Haha good point. Even though I'm a big King fan, I have to say many of the stories do follow that template. King simply sets his stories in places that he's familiar with, just as most Lovecraft tales take place in New England, Romero's living dead films are set in Pittsburgh and Godzilla only invades Japan.

[EvilNed]

... and Godzilla only invades Japan. And thank heavens for that!