One of the greatest things about Stephen King as an author is that he knows how to sell a plot. Over the past few decades, he's managed to put his stamp on every crazy concept, finding a way to make them essential tales in our popular consciousness. With this in mind, it's easy to see what the appeal of "Under the Dome" was. Considering that he's done everything from possessed cars to evil clowns, the idea of condensing characters to a limited setting makes one think of how much potential King has. What will he do in showing a small town trapped from the outside world, doing everything to not fall apart? Well, it's a good enough book given his knack for briskly paced plotting. However, it's also one of his most disappointing by the end, never giving enough of a satisfying reason for its conclusion. For what it's worth, it's an engaging look into how King sees Obama-era political discourse. However, don't expect anything subtle or satisfying in who we're trapped with.
Like the best of King, the first 20 pages have an incredible impact on the reader. Given that this was written in various drafts over the decades, it's easy to see the early passages as coming from a more sadistic, gore-friendly writer. The setting makes sense as the dome comes down, covering the town. On the outskirts are the unfortunate specimen who are crushed by the frame. The reader finds so much electricity in these pages, the decapitation splattering over the page in brilliant dark humor. This is where the proof of concept begins to make sense. This is why he wanted to tackle the story; for those first few pages that are such a whirlwind of chaos that you wonder how he'll keep it going.
The truth is that there is clearly a point where he transitions from this agile opening into the main plot of a town stuck under a dome. There are definitely exciting questions to be had with the premise, including who put it there and how does anyone get out. It's every kind of proof imaginable, where an airplane leaking jet fuel can't so much as crack the glass. Everything about it makes little sense and it feels like the basis for a conspiracy theory novel. Considering the bulky length that follows, one imagines that this will be a journey into some great reveals, developing plot twists every hundred pages and presenting scares on par with "IT."
That's not quite true. Without getting too far into the actual plot, King's intention with this novel is not to explore conspiracy theories or even understand how to get out of the dome. Even if every character has that underlying motive, the story is more focused on a town of people who are at odds with each other. There are conservative forces who run a newspaper called The Democratic and another housewife who is painfully in love with CNN's Wolf "Wolfie" Blitzer. Whereas King gets away with boomer 1950s culture and references, he feels painfully on the nose with these more contemporary characters, where pop culture references feel more like filler than signifiers of anything deeper of character. It's more of a hollow read on characters, and their dialogue may be among his most painfully eccentric at times.
This is a story of a small town forced to reckon with its own forces. However, it doesn't really feel like we needed 1000 pages to get there. King maybe could've tapped out around 400 and been even better for it. What salacious plot details there are (rape, murder, riots) feel redundant, constantly either being acted upon or referenced in such a manner that it clearly compensates for the large page count. It's a bit of a blow, as there's not one character endearing enough to follow on an adventure this big, even as they hold conversations around tables and form plans to break out of their prison. While the details of meticulously communicating with the outside world have sparks of intrigue, the amount of time between establishment and execution is a bit insufferable.
What this amounts to is a King who is more in tune with his wild side. While he establishes and builds characters in a reliable way, the ending surpasses anything meaningful in their lives. It's a moment that makes sense upon further reflection (maybe we're all being childish), but even then getting to the ending makes you realize how unprepared King was to get there. It merely happens and the book ends with such an abrupt, quasi-happy ending that is on one hand predictable but also frustrating for how deus ex machina the whole experience wound up being.
As a study of society, "Under the Dome" kind of succeeds. Its ability to pull from the growing division between American society is the book's high point. With that said, these are some of the more caricature-driven characters he's created, where sensationalism feels higher than any deeper empathy. For those wanting a satisfying reason for said dome, prepare to throw the book across the room. For those who accept King for the journey he takes you on, this may be an easier pill to swallow. It's good, but again it's overlong and takes too many leaps of logic to ever be a masterpiece. If only the book put in as much though as that gorgeous cover. It might have been evidence that the master still has a few tricks up his sleeve.
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