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.