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  • Under the Dome

  • By: Stephen King
  • Narrated by: Raul Esparza
  • Length: 34 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (4,766 ratings)
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Under the Dome cover art

Under the Dome

By: Stephen King
Narrated by: Raul Esparza
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Summary

In Stephen King's mesmerizing new masterpiece - his biggest, most riveting novel since The Stand - a Maine town and its inhabitants are isolated from the world by an invisible, impenetrable dome.

Celebrated storyteller Stephen King returns to his roots in this tour de force, featuring more than 100 characters - some heroic, some diabolical - and a supernatural element as baffling and chilling as any he's ever conjured.

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mills, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the Dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when - or if - it will go away.

Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens - town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a selectwoman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing - even murder - to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry.

But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

With some of the most spectacularly sinister characters King has ever imagined and a driving plot, Under the Dome is Stephen King at his epic best. This book will thrill every listener who's ever loved a novel by King.

©2009 Stephen King (P)2009 Simon & Schuster Audio division

What listeners say about Under the Dome

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Typical Stephen King

Most reviews of this book say it's a return to the style of 'The Stand' - which is true - and no bad thing in itself!
Characters - (of which there are dozens) are well rounded and believable.
Plot - Entertaining throughout and frightening in parts.
Interest is maintained throughout the book - although it may have been a slightly better book for being just a little shorter.
Generally - well worth a listen - and well read.
Recommended - try and make the time to listen to this book.

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47 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It gave me a nightmare!

Typically Stephen King; at times disturbing with its graphic and quite brutal imagery, but no denying the skilfulness of the storytelling.

Despite knowing where things were headed, and what was bound to happen, it was still a gripping ride.

I did enjoy this – although it gave me a nightmare about being trapped a few days after finishing it (fortunately, only the one nightmare). This is another of those books which I will probably recall for many years to come.

I couldn't quite decide between 4 or 5 stars. 4 because it was both so unlikely and yet predictable (and it gave me a nightmare!!), but settled on 5 because despite the above, it is well written and the concept itself was thought provoking. In a previous review on a different book, I commented "good idea, poorly executed". This is the opposite: "Simple idea, very well executed".

The narration is solid – good character definition with distinctly identifiable voices.

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26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Another Stephen King...

Is this book good? Yes. If you have read many Stephen King books to date, will this book given anything new to the reader? Not really...
Not to make it sound like the book is unoriginal, it's just the characters and psychoses developed are so similar to those in countless other situation by King. It is thoroughly readable/listenable, and I recommend this book if you like Stephen King, or just a decent thriller! But don't expect something new from the King of horror/thriller writing. People being trapped under a dome? Okay, that's not exactly unoriginal, but that's really only a small part of the book. The framework on which rests the character development and the good and evil elements of the heroes and villains of the piece.
It is a roller coaster ride for sure, and i don't doubt anyone would enjoy this book, if they are considering it, or reading this.
However, if you are new to King I recommend Needful Things, IT, Christine, Cujo, Carrie and even Dreamcatcher as original and exciting stories.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Among King's best

I've struggled with some of King's recent stuff - for me his early works have a sharper edge, but this, I'm happy to say, is back to form. This feels like Stand-era King, in scale and style, and I love it. Raul Esparza voices dozens of characters uniquely - men, women, toddlers, grandparents... how does he *do* that? - but town official Jim Rennie steals the show. Where Cell was oversaturated with the supernatural, here the appearance of the dome on page one is enough to drive the very human chain of events that form the bulk of this long, but utterly engaging story.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely Incredible Writing

I have listened to this audio book five times and shall probably listen indefinately. An amazing piece of work, one of King's best, the character list is immense and yet you get to know them all in detail, you can feel the sun on your face and the dust in your eyes, you can feel pain and happiness in chapters like you are actually experiencing it, you can eagerly and bitterly resent characters yet feel love and safety in others.
The story is incredible and keeps you totally drawn in without allowing yourself to miss a single second. This truly is a masterpiece and wish I could erase it from memory so I can listen afresh over and over.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic King at his best

Have now listenend to this book twice in the past year. Narration is great Raul Esparza is terrific. Large cast in a small town. Some of it was dark and nasty, some is funny and uplifting. But showed what human nature is like when trapped. Some of the cast rise to the challange and of course some sink as low as is humanly possible. Well done Stephen King superb.

Have been watching the mini series on T.V. It's nothing like the book. Not only is the story line different, the towns people are weak and rubbish. The only thing the same is the title.

Stick with the book you can't go wrong. Enjoy.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

This was my first Stephen King novel and i loved every minute of it. Raul Esparza was a wonderful narrator (if only there where a lot more books to choose from with his narration). I recommend this to anyone. My next download has a lot to live up to.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Good Story,Bad Ending

After building up a good story with great characters Stephen King left himself without a plausible ending. I enjoyed 4/5th's of the book but was really disappointed with the finish. I realise that the story could not have a satisfactory conclusion that would keep everybody happy and for myself it was just too convenient.The beginning of the book was interesting and if you didn't think too much about The Simpsons movie, it was a novel idea. Well rounded characters with King's usual mix of the good, bad and the ugly.The story was well told and you did want to know what was going to happen next. All in all a delightful listen, just a shame about the end.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

My first but not last Stephen King

I loved this audiobook, what totally made it was the excellent narration- probably one of the best narrated audiobooks I have listened to and couldn't have come too soon as have listened to some pretty rubbish narrators recently.
It's a great novel and my first Stephen King, great characters and there are a lot of them but all are really well developed. The story is out there but actually it feels really believable, I agree with some reviewers about the ending but to be honest that didn't take away from how great the entire novel is.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Clustermugs Happen Here - watch out!!

This story is essentially about the fact that "the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglee". The "clustermug" reference is to the habit of Jim Rennie, the corrupted 2nd selectman of Chester's Mills, in avoiding cuss words (he is oh so religious). Big Jim is typified by King as the wheeler dealer who worms his way into positions of absolute power, and then becomes so corrupted thereby that he can't discriminate between his ego needs, and the welfare of his community.
His character may be familiar to many who look over the parapet from time to time and he is also the most interesting character.
Chester's Mills is not unlike many closely woven social groups, embodying the best and the worst of human usage and abusage. Most of us would not object to much of what routinely goes on here, and King's descriptions (although seen by some reviewers as over-long) establish the necessary basis for the disaster which is immediately apparent from the start of "Under the Dome".
Whatever moral judgment a listener may be tempted to embrace, such issues are more or less irrelevant, as the events unfold it seems that Chester's Mills is being randomly sinned against by forces beyond our ken.
One always hopes for a happy ending when sh** happens, sometimes there is one, sometimes not - so wait and see - you will have to listen until the end of Raul Esparza's fine reading of this everyday story of country folk.
Raul has a brilliant ear for the nuances of the "yankee" dialect, and to non-American english speakers such as myself, this dimension is really entertaining.
Thanks Stephen you work very hard to get a result - I believe you have one here!

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10 people found this helpful