Couldn't Put the Dome Down

Last night, I lost a friend. For the last month I’ve gotten to know about 40 people from a small town called Chester’s Mill and last night although all feelings were appropriately resolved, they left me forever. Stephen King’s new book Under the Dome is fantastic. From the beginning you are drawn into the lives of these seemingly simple little townspeople and then the energy, horror and humour of King’s writing keeps your attention at its peak for all 1074 pages.

Under the Dome is about an invisible Dome appearing over a small town in Maine separating it from the outside world. No one, either inside or outside the dome knows what it is made of, how it got there or how to get rid of it. The dome seems indestructible and the townspeople take the reader through their grief, panic, anger and fear. It’s very interesting to see a person’s view of how people would behave if they were cut off from society.

There is a strong morality in this book. It discusses a lot about the human capacity for good and evil. Especially how we as humans need to think about the affects of our own actions and how they may leave an impression on others. I definitely will never look at anthills the same way again. There are also political and ecological themes within the book. King was strongly opposed to the war in Iraq and he used the Bush-Cheney dynamic for the leaders of Chester’s Mill. Also, King is very serious about our ecological problems. He said, “From the very beginning, I saw it as a chance to write about the serious ecological problems that we face in the world today. The fact is we all live under the dome.”

Anyways, without giving any important plot points or hints on the ending I strongly recommend this book. I began this book without knowing very much about it and loved the journey it took me on. I give it 4 mutant monster thumbs up.

If you do read it, say hi to my friends for me.