Title: Under The Dome
Author: Stephen King
Pages: 1074
Let me start by saying that I have adored Stephen King for many....many years ;) Some of my favorites are Misery, Salem's Lot, Night Shift and The Tommyknockers. However, it has been quite some time since my last King experience.
The characters in this book were many (35 at my last count) but the most notable were Dale Barbara...aka Barbie, Big Jim Rennie, Junior Rennie, and Julia Shumway.
For myself, the lasting impression awards go to...Insert drum-roll...
Rusty Everett, a Physician assistant who reluctantly takes over the hospital after the town doctor dies. He bucks the system...I like that ;)
Sammy Bushey, a young single mother doing the best she is capable of doing to take care of Little Walter, her son.
And Scarecrow Joe, 13 year old boy genius. His questioning mind uncovers the secret of the dome ;)
The story explores how the "average" small town might react if cut off from the outside world and placed under extreme environmental duress. Doubtless what our own environment could become, but at a much faster pace. All of which takes place in a fictional little place called Chester's Mill and as you may have guessed, under a transparent impenetrable dome.
Kings ability to describe the depths and heights human beings are capable of reaching if given the chance has always been one of my favorite things about his writing. And in this he did not disappoint. He covers the gambit. Drug abuse, murder, even necrophilia. All of which are not gone into so deeply as to be disturbing. King also has a tendency to lighten the heavy subject matter with humor.
At times I didn't feel I needed to know every thought that every character was thinking. I wanted to cut to the meat of the story. If I wasn't so damned obsessive I probably would have skimmed, but who am I kidding? It completely goes against my nature and therefore....can not happen ;) But I also found there were moments I could not put this book down. Chunks of pages that flew by until I finally found myself at page 1074.
And as I closed the cover I felt that pull that tells me I've enjoyed a book. The one that makes me a little bit sad I had to leave the people of Chester's Mill behind to go on with their lives and I with mine.....
