"Under the Dome" by Stephen King - a review.

Under the Dome by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I just finished "Under the Dome" tonight.  I'm struggling with what rating to give it ... between 3 and 4 stars, as I was quite disappointed that it did not move me like "The Stand" did.

A lot of Stephen King's writing has either gone downhill, or has just stagnated.  I had quit reading him when he moved from innovative horror to gore-for-gore's-sake, but had high hopes for "Dome".  It is much improved (i.e., less gory) over his work in the last few years, but still very dated-sounding in his supposedly "hip" references.

I guess all this can be considered nitpicking, since I must admit that I was tied to the book for the last third of it, wanting to find out WHAT or WHO created the Dome.  I was slightly disappointed at the ending, but I got some enjoyable hours (and I do mean HOURS) of reading out of it.

Somewhat Recommended, IF you can commit yourself to a 1,072 pages (in paperback format), as well as trying to keep track of dozens and dozens of characters with similar-sounding names.  Also, the denouement at the end was sort of wimpy and anticlimactic, in my opinion.  After all that you go through to get to the end, you sort of want something more amazing or exciting than ... what it was (no spoilers here!)

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Guest Artist

Peaceful Pond, by Carol Poplaski

Carol is a "former lurker" on the QuiltArt list, and I had told her I would post a picture of this artwork, as she didn't have a blog set up.  Since then, she has set one up, at http://carolpoplaski.blogspot.com/.  She describes the above piece:  "the reed leaves are trapuntoed, the cattails are unique threads, the water lilies are folded origami and the border is beaded to give it a subtle shimmer in the light, like water gets".  Thanks for sharing this, Carol!