discuss Under the Dome - with spoilers

[aurora]

Since several people said they'd be interested in a discussion in WOT?*'s other thread, I'm starting a new one with spoilers.  I read the book a year or so ago so I won't remember all the details, but I felt like there was something I was missing in understanding the end.  Was it really just as "simple" as some space alien children playing with the town like human children play with ants?

Also, one of the things I really loved about this book was the amazing character development.  Both the good people and the evil ones were multidimensional.  Big Jim was really interesting to read about (perfect for anyone who loves a conspiracy theory!), though Junior was obviously disturbing.  I thought the emphasis on the kids who helped solve the problem was also interesting - Scarecrow Joe and the other two.  The story about Sammy and her baby is sad enough that it stuck with me more than some of the more major storylines.

Other thoughts?

[WOT?*]

I came over to discuss but this thread was by mrsbro not WOT?* so I need to go back and read it. I always confuse us too.

[Nonny]

May 23, 2013 20:59:48 GMT -5 aurora said:

  Was it really just as "simple" as some space alien children playing with the town like human children play with ants?

Yes, because as I said in the other thread Stephen King writes shit endings. 

I have to say this is one of the more disturbing books of his though, because I can totally see a weak small town police force being bullied by the local "big shot" and ending up with a roving band of rapists. 

[mrsbro]

I felt a little let down with the ending being aliens. I *knew* it would be aliens, and I'm not sure what else would have been a valid source other than aliens, but I feel like aliens was too easy.

Also. Rennie. Really. That's how he gets it in the end? Alone in a bunker. Really. WTF. I was so mad!

[aurora]

May 23, 2013 23:11:54 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

I came over to discuss but this thread was by mrsbro not WOT?* so I need to go back and read it. I always confuse us too.

Oops - so sorry!  I hope I didn't spoil the book for you.

I'm also glad I wasn't the only one who thought the aliens were a bit of a cop-out.  How can SK have so many great (and crazy) ideas and yet write such endings? I do hope the Dark Tower's ending isn't in the same vein after he worked on the series for 20 years (I've only finished the first 5 books of that one)!

Nonny - I agree with you that the fact that everything (except the aliens and the dome) was completely plausible in this book makes it a lot more disturbing. 

[MrsAxilla]

May 24, 2013 9:20:49 GMT -5 aurora said:

May 23, 2013 23:11:54 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

I came over to discuss but this thread was by mrsbro not WOT?* so I need to go back and read it. I always confuse us too.

Oops - so sorry!  I hope I didn't spoil the book for you.

I'm also glad I wasn't the only one who thought the aliens were a bit of a cop-out.  How can SK have so many great (and crazy) ideas and yet write such endings? I do hope the Dark Tower's ending isn't in the same vein after he worked on the series for 20 years (I've only finished the first 5 books of that one)!

Nonny - I agree with you that the fact that everything (except the aliens and the dome) was completely plausible in this book makes it a lot more disturbing. 

Yeah, the ending was kind of a cop out....then again, what other explanation would have been better?

The DT ending makes sense, but it is completely unsatisfying!!! But in a good way - lol! After I finished, I spent hours on DT forums reading theories.

[whitepicketfence]

I hated the ending of this book. I mean, I understand that thr idea of the aliens works, but I think that was what I disliked so much. It was so utterly uncreative. SK is such a brilliant, imaginative writer that I expected more from him. Aliens were toi predictable.

I did enjoy reading about small town life and could absolutely see how a sheriff and his band of rogue police officers could control one of these towns. I just love SK's character development; each of his characters are so complex. It makes for some good reading.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using proboards

[aurora]

May 24, 2013 19:03:22 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

May 24, 2013 9:20:49 GMT -5 aurora said:

Oops - so sorry!  I hope I didn't spoil the book for you.

I'm also glad I wasn't the only one who thought the aliens were a bit of a cop-out.  How can SK have so many great (and crazy) ideas and yet write such endings? I do hope the Dark Tower's ending isn't in the same vein after he worked on the series for 20 years (I've only finished the first 5 books of that one)!

Nonny - I agree with you that the fact that everything (except the aliens and the dome) was completely plausible in this book makes it a lot more disturbing. 

Yeah, the ending was kind of a cop out....then again, what other explanation would have been better?

The DT ending makes sense, but it is completely unsatisfying!!! But in a good way - lol! After I finished, I spent hours on DT forums reading theories.

I certainly don't know what other explanation would have been better, but like whitepicketfence said SK is so creative overall that I think he could come up with something a lot better than I could!

As for DT, I can imagine myself spending a lot of time on forums about that once I finish, too.  I know I spent a ridiculous time online reading about HP between books 5&6 and 6&7!

[MrsAxilla]

Man, I forgot about what assholes the Insta-cops are. It's only like the first scene with them and I hate them so much!

[Nonny]

I totally expected the ending to be a huge lame cop out, so I can't get too worked up about it being aliens treating us like ants. In my experience SK's books either end with a cop out, the protagonists wandering off into the sunset, or everyone crazy/dead. I kind of think he never really thinks of the ending while he's writing, because he gets lost in his own story and character development. And that's OK, because it results in an overall enjoyable reading experience (until you get to the end).

If you look at some of the better book to movie translations of his work (Shawshank Redemption and The Mist) the screenwriters completely retooled his endings to make them more satisfying. I kind of wonder how they'll address that in the upcoming mini-series.

[Nonny]

Dupe... seems to be doing that a lot to me today.

[mala]

I agree, cop out ending. I feel like he could have still done aliens, but done it in a different way that would have been more interesting. Like instead of kids it was adult aliens wanting to see how we react or something. Or even no aliens and have it some crazy experiment by some offshoot branch of the government. Maybe a private company doing experiments that gets out of hand or stolen and abused. There could have been so many different ways of resolving it.

I am so mad that so many characters died. That pissed me off. I'm not usually a SK reader, and really wasn't expecting it. His characters are so vivid, and we spend an insane number of pages getting to know them, becoming invested in their lives and then oh hey they're all dead. That made me so mad.

[MrsAxilla]

May 30, 2013 7:05:22 GMT -5 mala said:

I am so mad that so many characters died. That pissed me off. I'm not usually a SK reader, and really wasn't expecting it. His characters are so vivid, and we spend an insane number of pages getting to know them, becoming invested in their lives and then oh hey they're all dead. That made me so mad.

lol!  SK does that all the time.  I've been known to cry.

[sam20]

I think my favorite character of the book is the farm kid that hid in the potatoes during the explosion. I don't know why but the relationship between him and the soldier kind of stuck with me.

I was also unimpressed with the ending. Like the lady (or was is the guy? It's been a yr+ since I've read it) just asks the alien kid to stop so it does? Meh. Total let down.

I'll be interested to see how it translates on to tv.