Under the Dome question

While one may quibble about the ending, it was the development of the story, the "pedal to the metal" intensity that King held for all those many pages, that really got my attention. I've read quite a few of his books, and this one, of the ones I've read, started out extremely tense and just ratcheted that up the entire rest of the book.

His allusions to the reason for the dome had been seeded throughout the story, so it wasn't like it was a huge letdown for me. More, I felt he was attempting to show that there are (could be) beings so advanced in the universe, that they would see us as little more than ants with which to play.

The ending was actually secondary to the story, for me--what I felt he was doing was showing the "evil that men do" approach, when one man feels he has absolute power in a place where that didn't exist before. So yes, I felt fine about the ending.

The ending was typical Stephen King in that endings do not seem to be his strong suit. But while it was lackluster, I felt the book itself was great. He definitely knows how to make you hate characters.

I agree with the consensus here that the book is way too long. I read it all, and enjoyed it, but it really could have been 400 pages shorter. And I couldn't help wondering where were the parents of these alien brats? If they were so evolved and all-knowing, wouldn't they have realized what their kids were up to and a put a stop to it immediately?

As probably everybody here, I was definitely dissapointed with the ending. The characterisation was good, not perfect, and the whole book sometimes seemed too long for its own good. I'm not one to shy away from a thick book, but this one could have been shorter without losing much...Changing the editor is a great idea, someone e-mail SK :)

Anyhow, it wasn't all that bad, I liked the idea from the beginning, that's why I got it.

i liked Kings original idea of the "dome" sealing a tower block rather than a small town. i think that would have lead to far more tension - especially as his original title for it was The Cannibals.

I felt this book, which I listened to on audio was way too long, even for King. Enjoyed IT much better.

Yes, I think he could have done better with the ending, but given the whole, crazy story, I easily forgave him for it. I was more disappointed that the story was over, than with how it ended.

I would have to agree with the majority - I was a little disappointed in the ending of the book. I actually had it figured out probably a little over a third of the way into the book. I did really enjoy the book and he created some great characters in it that you actually had feelings for (whether it was feeling bad for them or hating them).

I enjoyed the book even with the weak ending

I'm thinking King probably had a better idea in his mind that he wanted to give all of his attention to, but didn't want to put UTD away like he did 11.22.63 all those years ago and therefore wrote what came first to his mind. Maybe he didn't feel inspired by any way of ending it, and could only see one way out. It could have been better. Maybe if one of the characters had been sucked into that little box thing that was sending out the flashing beam and ended up having to stay and sacrifice himself for the alien kids' amusement. At least it could have ended on a bit of a cliffhanger.

But hey, who am I to tell King how to end his novels? I've only had one published!! :o)

I Loved this book! I do no not think it was too long, in fact I could have used another 2000 pages.... I could keep reading it and reading it and reading it! Further more anyone who is "disappointed in the ending after 1000 pages" doesn't get the point. In a book like this the point is the story, not the resolution. I could not have liked the book more, a town of nearly 2,500 residents reduced to ash with what, 28 survivors. LOVE it! Give me 99% death and I'm there baby!

Ending wasnt great but having read almost all of King's works this one was definitely not the worst. The Stand takes the cake for that one. Like this book though the Stand has a great build up only to fall flat. Stephen King is an author i really apreciate and i think he does a better job with lots and lots of characters then he does with just a few. But when he does this the endings tend to be a bit disapointing.

i enjoyed reading the book. Thought it was a bit too long though. SK took took his time in setting the scene. The ending was dissapointing to me.

Dani wrote: "I was totally disappointed by the ending of this book. I invested over 1,000 pages to have a resolution that took all of just a few pages. It seemed like a cop-out for King to blame it on bully ali..."

I had the same reaction Dani. Endings have never been Stephen's strong suit but man it was a wild ride up until that point.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Under the Dome" from beginning to end. The ending is what it is...if you don't like the ending perhaps you will enjoy the next one that you read.

The book is about characters. The dome and its mystery are only the stage for the characters to play their roles. So I'm totally fine with the ending.

I'm somewhat disappointed with the end of the book. I agree with Cheryl in that Big Jim and all of his accomplices did not get what they deserved- in fact, I'm actually kind of disappointed with the whole alien thing in general. I also think that the main characters' deaths were a little too much, but that's just me.

But despite all of this, I do not feel like the 1,00 pages was a waste of my time. I really enjoyed learning about the town and all of it's inhabitants, and I liked how detailed Stephen King's writing was.

I totally agree with you on that one! The ending did nothing for me either. I enjoyed every page until then.

I also agree! Great book except for the ending!!

I just posted the same thing about Girl, Gone. Loved the book, hated the ending . . .

Also agree very diSsapointed enjoyed the rest of the book tho

The fact that it was so cliched and so predictable aggravated me. I mean anyone could've written this ending. It definitely wasn't clever. SK isn't the best with endings.

I specifically came here to discuss the ending. Stephen King can take 7 pages to describe someone's shirt, but ends an 1100 page book like that? I invested a month of my life in reading this book and it ended like that?

I understood the good versus evil battle, but it seemed like there was no payback for the evil doers, the good were the ones who suffered the most. Big Jim and Junior got off way too easy, I wanted Pennywise to climb up through a sewer and torture them. What the heck was that crap about the leatherhead and Julia and the sweater and the bandshell memory? That was so confusing to me. At that point I didn't care to figure it out. I was also really mad that they killed off the little boy Aiden and the Golden Retriever, totally not necessary.

Don't be mad because you didn't like the ending. Be happy that you enjoyed 1100 pages of this superbly entertaining novel!

On Under The Dome, I read this book because I promised a young employee in our company that I would. I have no idea if this is typical of Stephen King if so, his writing needs editing. The story is quite compelling, but I felt he had no idea where he was going with the book and that he just grab the ending out of the air because it was time to end the story. The story was less about begining and ending than about some movie type bad guys. I have a lot of books to read before I read another Stephan King book and also my IQ needs time to restore itself, I think reading this book dimished it by about 5 points.

The story was amazing. I loved reading through everyone's eyes.. and felt that SK did well with each character- as to be expected with SK.
However, I have to agree.. the ending was really not a SK norm. SK describes his story-telling as if each story is alive, and begging to be written. He feels more like the pen, than the mother (giving birth/life), simply writing what *is* already true. I like this perspective of writing, and feel that maybe.. with a bit more "musing juices" SK could have written a better ending for such an awesome story..

I can't like this book at all because King, whom I've worshipped for years, could have done 400 pages, what he did in 1100, especially with the lame pay off. Ugh. I was so disappointed. Utterly and completely. Yes, there was good writing, and good characters. We expect that. But dang if I can like a book that waxed on way too long with alien bullies, and a crap ending.

I ended up enjoying "Under the Dome" as much as any other novel Stephen King has written since his accident. I remember putting the book down three or four times before finally committing to reading it cover to cover. Once I got past the first 150-200 pages, the multiple sub-plots began to merge into a single cohesive story line.

King could use a good editor because of many of his books since his epic "The Stand" have been overly long. At 800 pages, "Duma Key" was just about the right length with the right number of characters.

880 pages of '11/22/63' and 1100 pages of "Under the Dome" tested the limits of tedium. You don't need a cast of 100+ fully developed characters to tell a good story.

I can't help but thinking that the only reason King writes 1000+ page novels is to justify the $30 retail price of the book. Also epic length books have a better chance of being optioned into a lucrative television miniseries.

King's first book "Carrie" was a mere 206 pages, which would be a novella by the current heavyweight publishing industry standards.

King's early books like "The Shining" (528 pages)and "Salem's Lot" (672 pages) were epic length, by prevailing industry standards, when they were published in 1977.

The latest publishing industry trend is encouraging authors to write stories in the trilogy format or even larger expanded formats to create a lucrative franchise to market to the film industry.

As the "Harry Potter" series has so aptly demonstrated, there is a large crossover audience of readers who will also attend each film version of a multiple volume book franchise.

I cant help but agree with the majority here on this page. I really enjoyed King's characterisations throughout and the way his writing keeps you interested in each character, but to end the book with the way he did here was a cop out I think. I'll still his next one, no matter how many pages though.

I agree with all the above. While I am a huge SK fan I feel he sometimes cops out on his ending and rushes on to the next book. His first books were everything we readers love but the latest ones seem rushed. However I will always read all his books as they come out.

Loved this book, which I read with increasing excitement, wondering how it could possibly end??? Answer - disappointingly. :(

I am not a S.K. reader, but I loved loved loved 11/22/63 and therefore got inspired to tackle The Dome. I wish I could agree with Carol: “Don't be mad because you didn't like the ending. Be happy that you enjoyed 1100 pages of this superbly entertaining novel!” because she is right in theory… but BLEH! The ending so sucked it just brought the whole thing down.

I agree with the consensus of the premise of the book. The fact that alien children could put a city under the dome is ridiculous. How in the world would they know the exact boundaries of the town? Wouldn't this suggest that no city is ever safe from these children since they believe that the people in Chester's Mill are toys? The ramifications are that earth becomes a giant playground for alien cruelty. So silly. (As an aside, what is up with King's use of abbreviations? Annoying.)

Dani wrote: "I was totally disappointed by the ending of this book. I invested over 1,000 pages to have a resolution that took all of just a few pages. It seemed like a cop-out for King to blame it on bully ali..."
I saw this same ending on a twilight zone episode

I didn't read the book, but I saw the tv series and was disappointed in that ending, so I wont want to read the book then. No point in being disappointed twice. lol

I bought five or six novels a couple of summers ago with the intention of reading them all over the long summer holiday - The Dome was one of them. I hadn't read a King novel for years mainly because of the heavy time commitment required for one of his books. However I relented on this occasion and bought and read it over that summer holiday. The spines of the other books I'd bought remained unbroken which turned out to be a real shame for me as The Dome really disappointed. I don't mind books that end weakly, that sort of peter out leaving things unresolved. No, I can live with that if the journey there was enjoyable, interesting etc etc. What really galled was the utter stupidity of the ending. I've read John Wyndham, I get the child across the universe thing - but in King's hands it was supposed to work on some metaphorical level: that no matter how advanced a race is their kids still have the capacity to be little shits. I read 1000 pages for that! Dear God get that man an editor! He claims he gets a lot of his help/inspiration from his wife - well maybe the answer is to get him a new wife instead. Aliens pouring boiling water down the pavement cracks!