Under the Dome

Did you ever watch Lost? If not, here's a summary: A group of people on a plane crash onto an island. There are multiple casualties. Then the remainder of the town must band together to survive. Then some people get greedy, some try to establish authority, some just want to know what's going on. They start trying really hard to get off the island, more things happen. We get small filler plotlines for various characters. We get views into their life before landing on the island. People turn on each other. Then it is all wrapped up into a pretty poor ending.

How does this tie in with Under the Dome? Well, in all honesty, it felt just like lost. It started off with an excellent first season (or first few hundred pages). There are casualties, people try to set up a structure within the town. Panic ensues. We get side stories for characters we don't really care about. They start to panic about never getting out of this dome. What about if supplies all dissapear? Lots of slow, tedius chapters in the middle (although I admit they brought some realism into the book). Then an explanation for the dome. Oh, what's that? It's supernatural? Just like Lost?? SHOCKER. Then the ending comes, it starts to build up the tension and suspense again. Then, wow, all wrapped up nice and neat in a little bow. puke

This was my first full length Stephen King novel, and I have to admit I'm disappointed. It started out so strong, dragged in the middle, then had a pretty poor ending. I don't want to say too much without giving away spoilers, but seriously?? That's the ending? The only other Stephen King works I'm familiar with are The Shining (watched the movie), IT (watched the movie), and The Bizarre of Bad Dreams (collection of short stories). The first two both ended with the good guys finally beating the bad guy or monster in the end. This one too, has survivors. The short stories don't all have “happy” endings. I always assumed, with the realism of Mr. King's writings, that there would be realistic endings. Under the Dome was realistic to a point. The ending had TONS of realistic moments, but frankly, I wish everyone had died in the dome. To me, that would have been a satisfactory ending. Instead, the fact that people survived felt too campy. Just like Lost, when everyone reunited. It just wasn't what I expected.