For those who missed the Middle of the Road post in June with the other participants' links to their thoughts, click here.
Overall, a great read, although I wouldn't rank it up in the top five, I would definitely put it in the top ten for me of King books I've read. Yet again, King brings the character of a town into the spotlight, where it almost develops its own personality, and the characters within fall to either the good side or the bad. The only difference is that no one can physically leave the town, caught under a dome that can't be penetrated by even a nuclear missile.
Here are my thoughts for the last half of the book:
- HATED Big Jim, Junior, and Carter the most. Ugh.
- Loved Barbie, Rusty, Julia, the kids.
- What is THE DEAL with Stephen King and his oddball, bizarre love/sex scenes? They come out of the blue and never seem to make sense. I'm glad Barbie and Julia got together since I felt they were suited for each other, but really? When they first made out? What smart and feisty woman likes to be sharing one of her most private and sad moments of her life, and then all of a sudden has the guy's hand on their chest? In the middle of the conversation? And that's okay? Huh?
- Randolph, Randolph, Randolph... Even Big Jim told you to bring the Kevlar.
- Usually the strong kid character saves the day, and to a certain extent this happened in the story earlier on with Joe and his friends who were important to the story. In the latter half, it felt like Joe, Benny, and Norrie were completely forgotten, which was a disappointment.
- My heart breaks every time a dog dies in a book. I was heartbroken for each that passed in this one.
- I loved this story, but I didn't really care for it when sections would be written as though a narrator from a play were giving us the lay of the land.
Passage of Note:
"... Sorrow for a wrong was better than nothing, Barbie supposed, but no amount of after-the-fact sorrow could ever atone for joy taken in destruction, whether it was burning ants or shooting prisoners." (p.1072)
What did you think? Enter the link to your write-up below, and don't forget to visit other participants and comment on their thoughts. I'm planning to watch Under the Dome sometime this week/weekend and I'm still going to use #DomeAlong on Twitter to post my thoughts, so hopefully I'll see you over there!
THANK YOU for reading with all of us!
Congrats on finishing, Natalie! I'm ashamed I was a fail at this readalong -- I bought the book and it didn't grab me the first time, and I just didn't pick it up again. Maybe I was afraid to be afraid? Hope you're having a great summer!
ReplyDeleteLoved it! Had a lot of fun with this one, and I don't think I would have picked it up without the DomeAlong. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYeah, the change in narration was a jolt and didn't seem necessary at all. These characters were definitely less nuanced than some King books but I suppose some people really are mostly bad or essentially good so I guess that works. Loved watching the town fall apart and the guessing game of what might happen next, never knowing who might die. Did not see that fire coming at all, although I suppose I should have suspected it might happen. Overall, a fun, surprisingly quick read that made me think.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting. It was a lot of fun!!!
ReplyDeleteAlso can you delete my link #2... it goes straight to my blog and not to my Under the Dome final post. Thanks!!
DeleteI've really enjoyed your posts on this book. I plan to read it soon, hopefully by the end of the year. I haven't read many of King's books as an adult. I read several of his books when I was in high school and they scared the beejezus out of me...I had some nightmares but enjoyed his books. I recently read IT! I didn't like clowns before I read it and I definitely don't like them now!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to reading some of King's less gory but possibly more frightening books, such as this one.
Great final post, thank you!
I'm so glad you hosted this readalong or I may never have gotten to this monster of a book ;) Thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteEven though I got a little shouty, I'm glad I joined your read-along. It was great fun! I wasn't shouting alone :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sorry I read the book (and I was happy for the nudge to join in on the challenge), but it's not one of my favorites. Hoping to get my review posted later this week/weekend. So far behind these days...
ReplyDeleteThe dog dying broke my heart too!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for hosting! I'm so glad I decided to participate because, really, when would I ever have brought that brick of a book down from my shelf and attempted it without something like this?
ReplyDeleteI love that you wrote down your notes--I did that, too, but I decided to break it up into 3 parts. And I totally agree with all of the things you wrote, especially the one about the switch to a narrator. That was so weird, and I really felt like it brought me out of the story. And I'm totally with you on the kids thing--Joe, Benny, and Norrie were great characters and there needed to be some kind of closure with them! And I was expecting Ollie to save the day at the end...
Great notes, and once again, thanks so much for hosting! :D
If it wasn't for this read-along I probably wouldn't have picked the book back up. So thanks for the incentive and the kick in the butt to finish reading it. LOVED it and put my final post up in your linky just now.
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