Oh Lord Jesus, it's a fire (or how I finished Under the Dome)

So I finally finished Under the Dome, the 1074 page book by my all-time favorite author, Mr. Stephen King. If you are still reading it and don't want to know what happens, go check out what's happening on YouTube. I hear the new One Direction video is out. (You're welcome) For the rest who have finished or who care, here we go.

Let me start by mentioning that I purchased this book LAST spring (2012) and started reading it on the auto-train on the way down to Disney last summer. I read some more of it lying by the pool at our hotel. And read a little more on the train ride back. I may have gotten to page 100, but then I put it down and never picked it back up again.

Until late May of this year. I decided to participate in the #DomeAlong, a group reading of the book with a bunch of other bloggers, hosted by Coffee and a Book Chick. This, in preparation for the miniseries on CBS. I posted my mid-way post here and am now ready to talk about the whole shebang now that I've finished reading the whole thing.

This is the first Stephen King book I've enjoyed in years! To be fair, there are a bunch that I either haven't read yet (11/22/63, Full Dark, No Stars) or have started but just lost interest (Duma Key, Just After Sunset) and some that I never, EVER intend to read (the entire Dark Tower Series**) but this is probably the best book of his that I've read since The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Yes, it's been a long time since I've really LOVED anything by King. Don't get me wrong, Black House was good, I loved revisiting Jack Sawyer, but it didn't grab me the same way that such old standards as It, The Stand and my favorite, The Talisman, grabbed me when I read those so many years ago. I've read each of those books at least 2 times. I may re-read The Talisman again soon too, if only to read about one of my all-time favorite King characters, Wolf (right here and now!)

Ok I'm digressing. About those little **'s up there, I'll say that I did read the first 3 books in the Dark Tower series and just couldn't stand them. I just did NOT want to pick up another book in the series, because I didn't care about any of the characters, I didn't care for the plots, I just did not like them. And that, of course, is MY opinion and I'm not hating on anyone else who thought they were the bees' knees or the cat's pajamas. If you loved them, good on ya! I'm happy for you! They just weren't my cup o'joe.

 Now getting back on the subject of Under the Dome: I. Loved. It. I cared about the characters, I wanted Julia and Barbie to hook up, I wanted Rusty and Linda's family to all make it through, I wanted the happy ending, and with the exception of about 780 residents of Chester's Mill dying, I got my happy ending. I was sad that Audrey the dog died, and that Benny and Ernie Calvert and Aiden and Thurse all died but to me they weren't as important to the story as Rusty and Linda and Julia and Barbie. I was so happy that Joe and Norrie survived too. Part of me wished that Big Jim's death was more tortuous and horrific. In the end, he deserved worse, but the image of him dying in a darkened room surrounded by the very people whose deaths he was responsible for was delicious. Very King-esque.

The huge fire that overtook most of the town from the explosion at the radio station was edge of your seat stuff! Just imagining the whole town being wiped out by a traveling wall of flames and heat was horribly entertaining. 

I couldn't help but make the connection with the aliens from this book to the alien from Dreamcatcher. Dreamcatcher's alien got inside you and controlled you, but these aliens basically put people in a situation and then watched how they handled it. Dreamcatcher's aliens were gross, these aliens were not as scary as described, but I was happy that Julia was able to connect with one and convince it to let them go. Maybe it's too neat and tidy a package, but in the end, things worked out. I like a happy ending. So sue me. But now I'm really looking forward to how they are going to go about making the miniseries even remotely similar to the book. I said this before and I'll say it again. In both the book and the show, there's a dome and a town under it. That's pretty much where the similarities end. So I'll try to enjoy the series (I'll still have Mike Vogel to appreciate as Dale Barbara) after really enjoying the book and try to keep them both as separate entities.

The opinions expressed in this blog are mine. If you don't like them, if you don't agree with them, don't try to change my mind, and please don't be argumentative. Homey don't play dat.

Under the Dome, Halfway There

If you're reading Under the Dome, Stephen King's 1074 page, 5 lb. book and you're less than halfway through, stop reading this blog post, because I will be discussing details and don't want to piss anybody off with spoilers. If you're NOT reading it but are watching the miniseries, you can keep reading because there's nothing for me to spoil. So far, the only similarity between the book and the miniseries is that there is a Dome. And a town. Under it. If you're not reading the book OR watching the miniseries, go read my friend Tracy's newest entry In the Powder Room, it's hilarious.

So here I am, at the halfway point of the book Under the Dome. Barbie was just arrested as a result of being framed by Junior Rennie (who is MUCH cuter in the miniseries than in my imagination while reading the book). In the show, he doesn't strike me as the necrophiliac he is in the book, but they changed that because necrophilia doesn't play very well on CBS. Fox News, maybe, but not CBS. Big Jim Rennie is a great protagonist, much like Pennywise the Clown (IT), Morgan Sloat (The Talisman), Randall Flagg (The Stand) and The Overlook Hotel (The Shining). He controls everything, pulls all the strings and wreaks major havoc to remain in power.

I know King loves to knock off major characters at the drop of a hat, but I was so sad to see Big Jim kill Brenda Perkins (sorry if this is a spoiler, I did warn you). I wanted her around long enough to help Barbie and Julia overcome the evil Big Jim but alas, what I want matters not to Stephen King. Now that she's gone and Andrea Grinnell has tossed the incriminating papers off the table and onto the floor, no doubt hidden and forgotten about until later in the book, I'll biting my nails until that important bit of evidence against Big Jim has been found. Good thing I grew my nails out in preparation for all the nail biting I'm going to have to do.

Moving on to the rookie 'cops' who raped Sammy Bushey, I hate them all and while I'm glad that Sammy shot Georgia Roux and Frankie DeLeppses, I just wish she'd have stuck around longer and had the opportunity to kill the other 3 rapists. But again, that's why King is a multi-gajillionaire who writes amazing novels, and I'm an office manager who writes a blog. Poorly.

In my juncture in the book, Rusty and Linda are in the basement of the Bowie Funeral Home examining the bodies of Angie, Dodee, Coggins and Brenda Perkins. Rusty is JUST about to see something different in the manner in which Coggins was killed but I had to stop to run 15 somewhere, so I'm hanging on the edge of my seat until I can get back there and see what he's found and if it will exonerate Barbie.

Ah, Barbie. Dale Barbara. I do enjoy reading about him and the actor who portrays him in the series, Mike Vogel, is fairly easy on the eyes, so I'm seeing him in my head and maybe enjoying his character a little more than I should.

So I'm crushed that he's been arrested with half the book left to read. I'm praying that his butt isn't rotting in jail for the rest of the story while Julia and Rusty are left to deal with everything going on. What I'm hoping is that the remaining selectman, the Keystone cops (with the exception of Linda) and the dumbasses who are at Big Jim's beck and call screw up badly and good triumphs over evil. However, this IS a Stephen King book and I've been a King fan since I picked up The Shining in fourth grade at St. Ann's and read it in the back of Sister Catherine's classroom when she wasn't looking. So I know better than to assume everything will be tied up in a nice little package with a bow.

I'm not yet to the point where Halloween happens, so I'm not reading any blogs from those who have finished the book, so don't leave me any comments on what's about to happen or I'll come to your house and eat all your food. One thing I'm disappointed in with the series (ok there are a TON of things I'm disappointed in but that's the subject of another blog) is that they cast Jeff Fahey as Duke Perkins. I really like Jeff Fahey and would've liked for him to be cast in another role, a character who would be around for awhile and not killed off in the first 45 minutes of the show. I IMDB'd Jeff Fahey and found that he was born in 1952, which makes him 61 years old. DAMN. He's one fine looking 61 year old man. I pictured Duke as an older man, probably late 50's to early 60's but NOT NEARLY as hot as Jeff Fahey. I was picturing in my little brain an actor like maybe Tom Bosley or Wilford Brimley (yes I know they are both older than 60 but I don't think EITHER of them are hot so they'd be much better in the role of Duke).

Anyway, overall I am LOVING the book and can't wait to read more. Whether or not I will finish the book prior to the end of the miniseries has yet to be determined. When I'm reading, I'm not cleaning the house, shopping for groceries, working, running the kids hither and yon. When I'm reading, I'm lost in the book. And I haven't really been lost in a book in a very long time. Maybe when the Harry Potter series was hot. I miss reading on a regular basis. But I also miss a clean house and a good home-cooked meal. Life's all about juggling. But this summer, Under the Dome is my wonderful obsession and I'm enjoying being lost in it.