Under the Dome

I finally finished this monster book. I mean monster by the size, not that it was a book about monsters, which typically classifies a Stephen King novel. I can't remember the number of pages, but it was large, and I think it was larger than his publication "It".

I wasn't planning on reading this recent publication because the past 5 or 6 King has released have not held my attention at all. In fact "Buick 8" I actually stopped reading half way through. I tried "Cell", "Lisey's Story" and his recent publication of short stories, but just could not do it. For some reason he had lost his luster to me, I was reading "blah" stories that had been done.

I realize that the other books I could not read had ended up on the best seller list, but I think that King is an automatic best seller author. I was a hard core fan, and own many of his books. In fact "The Stand" copy is worn and thumbed through, it will always be on my top list of must haves. When Mom told me that many had liked this recent book, I thought I'd give it one more try. Thanks Mom--you were right!

This was old school Stephen King. Plot takes place in Maine (not too far from Derry, where "It" took place, and Castle Rock was a nearby town--the name of his production company. NOW you understand how hard core I am). There is a large list of characters, namely the entire town, which has the classic small town good and bad guys. Something out of this world happens to this town, causing a "Lord of the Flies" vibe to what happens to society when people are left to govern themselves. His character, The Chef, reminds me of the crazy dude in "The Stand" who sets all those fires. This man is ruled by who he feels is God, just like the firestarter. It ends with a confrontation with an unknown society, and only a few survive.

At the end of the novel were typical King "Author's Notes". I love how he tells where a story came from and developed, and this was quite a shocker, but now I understand why I really enjoyed this recent book. It was NOT a recent book, he had actually tried to write in back in 1976, around the time "The Stand" was released. WHAT??? For some reason this kind of disappointed me. Here all along I thought he was back to writing what I loved, and he was revisiting something he had tried to write in the very beginning. I realize that this story probably had to wait until he was capable of completing it, I understand that. I only hope that I can actually read his next one. I will be terribly disappointed if I can't do that.

Even though I will never stop being a fan, I may not like all his new publications, King is a leader in the publication world. Not only his stories become classics, but he loves to experiment with the media. He has done the typical movie and TV productions of his books, written novellas, released only online or audio books, and now is publishing Manga based on his writings. He knows where to push the limits, and has certainly pushed my imigination past it's limitations and for that I am grateful.