rushed ending? (spoilers)

[smerdyakov]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post. I'm looking for honest reactions to under the dome, particularly to its ending.

I thought the first 900 pages or so were excellent -- I couldn't put the book down and often found myself grinding my teeth when big jim was in the building. Mr. King set up dozens of possible conflicts, seemed to labor over setting them up, actually: Town divides and then conflict; big jim and the press conference; town figures out what he's doing, some don't believe, etc.

Following these conflicts to their conclusion probably would have taken up another 500-1000 pages, but they also would have made the novel's ending feel less rushed, more coherent. I think more care should have been taken to address these points of interests Mr. king set up earlier in the novel (rather than just blowing them up). I mean, come on: In a page everyone but 32 people die; big jim (the supervillian) dies in a page; they discover what's causing the dome in a page. And yet the first 900 pages really have little to do with leading the reader in a linear way to these conclusions (except for maybe the explosion, but that still could have come later). These are important parts to the novel which just look tossed in. The reason for the dome looks especially contrived (and down right silly). Kid's? really? And some random story from julia's past thrown into the last 50 pages is going to make the kids stop. I'm often fine with mr. king's more creative endings because there's a movement in the story towards explaining them (like in 'it' for example: really out there ending, but there's an effort to explain pennywise in such a way for it to make sense). No care was taken with this one.

I don't know what the deal is: the publisher wanting the book out? overzealous editing? what? Like I said, I thought the first 900 pages were incredible writing, but a lazy ending just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

I'm sorry if this seems like I'm king bashing -- I'm not. I've been waiting to read this one for a long time and was somewhat disappointed. I want to know if any others were as well; and if not, how do you justify what to my eye looks like a rushed ending?

Thanks

[Doc Wilson]

I think these long "mural sized" works are devilishly hard to end satisfactorily. Of the long ones, only the Stand felt perfect to me. I'd give the ending of this one a low B.

[smerdyakov]

Hi doc wilson,

I think you're right. But under the dome is a very localized story compared to the stand (which I also agree had a very satisfying ending). And I know that king wrote in the DT series that he doesn't find endings all that important -- it's the journey, or whatever. I'm fine with that so long as the journey itself seems complete (and all the loose ends are addressed) in the narrative. That just didn't seem to be the case with this particular book.

thanks

[Wayne C. Rogers]

Since I'm only about eighty pages into Under the Dome, I can't comment on the ending. I can, however, comment on the ending for The Stand. Even though it's been like a million years since I read it, I remember the book ending somewhat abruptly. Las Vegas, too, was blown up. I had expected more of a battle between good and evil, and was therefore surprised by the way it ended. Of course, I've had a problem with the endings to many of SK's books, which doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed them, only that the endings seemed a little rushed. I think as long as the journey is enjoyable, one can deal with a lackluster ending. I know the endings no longer bother me.

[Quixotic]

Hello Everyone,
Hello smerdyakov,

I couldn't help taking a look at reviews while I was Under the Dome, and thus expected an unsatisfactory ending as some critics said.

But when I finished the book I was agreeably surprised. *****SPOILERS*****

1) Think of the Dome as a McGuffin, an excuse for Mr King to express more important things, about politics or environmental issues. UTD may be his most political book to date and I really, really enjoyed that.

(In Transformers, the Cube is a McGuffin for a plot, so as not to make you feel silly watching a bunch of robots beating each other's brains out for 2 hours)

2) The reason for the Dome and how Julia defeats is both simple and beautiful. It has a Twilight Zone flavour, chilly, humbling, and philosophical - or edifying.

That all this "cluster-mug" could only be because of a childish game far away in the universe is so straightforward, so simple that it makes you look at the story (and at our condition as human beings, evil and good etc) in a very moving way. All the characters, merely players who strut and frets upon a (tiny) stage...

It reminds me of War of the worlds, The Happening, and McCarthy's The Road (go see the movie, it's really cool). The main characters have really no clues, and are overwhelmed my the crisis unfolding in the plot. This is very "naturalistic" (insofar as we can coin the term in a science-fiction book) and refreshing. Not your average John-Mclane-One-Guy-saves-it-all kind of story.

3) The climax is annouced waaaay long before it actually happens. Chef's garage door opener is like S.K waving a big sign : WATCH OUT, I BET THIS IS GOING TO BLOW-UP ! Nothing contrieved here in my opinion.

[wally wonder]

i think anyone that can hold my attention for a thousand pages and then me wanting more can end it howsomever he(or she) sees fit. but i have wondered about how the plot goes along--i'm thinking other stories here. dunno if the action could be graphed...and dunno what i'm talking about now for sure...endings i guess...dark tower maybe...other stuff...like what...ummm...i dunno...the ending seemed to work for me...why couldn't the dome lift as inexplicably it came to be? isn't that about like everything else...read the obits tonight...bunch of folk in their 80s, 90s...can't ask for much more than that...then you read about the 35-yr-old that passed...or the 10-yr-old. what do you think should have happened?

[Liasis]

it is quoted "His Finest Epic Since The Stand" and yes, it was awesome until the last few chapters... where I felt it was rushed because I kept putting the book down every 3 pages to drag it out....Almost evryone died... even the "baddies", BIG JIM?? HE deserved so much worse.. and "cow-kid" , what happened to him after he was saved?? ....man, I was crushed after this story finished, I waited forever to get a copy here and had to special order a hardcopy....Mister Stephen King...we want more!!

[CTHOMSON]

I finished the book last night and have to agree, the first 900 pages I could not put it down! I was hooked. Then I finished and was very disappointed. This was such a great story and I was also looking forward to a new novel. But as always I will keep reading.

[Srbo]

I also finished the book last night and I found the ending to be great.Big Jim died in one page, you say.
Yes.
And a very gruesome death. No one around him but the ghosts of those who he had killed and his crazy son`s, Carter`s body that he kept tripping over, most importanly, alone...
The one guy who loved to be in company of his admireres, who loved when people applaud him, who even in his last seconds on Earth thought that " he doesn`t want heaven and a meal with Jesus, coz if he can`t sit at the head of the table he might as well skip it"...gets to die alone, suffocating...
I can`t imagine a more gruesome death for him...

And, it wasn`t Julia`s story that saved them, but the story about the ants and the magnifieng glass(sp?), I think.
I think that Sai King wanted to show us what we would feel like if there was something out there that thinks about us like we think about ants.
We can`t believe they bury their dead, we can`t believe they are amazing architects, we can`t believe that they have order in their comunity, just like we do.
So, what do we do ?
We toy with them, and often - we kill them. Just like the Leatherheads killed that little anthill called Chester`s Mill.

But, then again, not even that is the point of the story.
It doesn`t matter how it ended, the point was how we, the human society behaved when there was a crisis, how awfully bad we can get to be to each other...instead of looking for a soultion how to get out of the mess, people wanted power, and it wasn`t only Rennie who wanted it...
Everybody wanted it, including Barbie...if nothing, but to redeem himself for what happened in Iraq...Julia who wanted bombastic storys, Randolph, Carter, Sanders......everybody wanted to be the Chief...
Only, some had a conscious...and stopped bothering the ants on time...

Just my two cents.

BONK.
Silence.

[Bryan James]

Tomato, Tomahto. Potato, Potahto. Let's call the whole thing off.

Not really. I'll finish the book, only because I want to see how the Barbie/Rennie thing goes down. Or to gander at whatever curveball King might throw me. I'm only on p.484, and I've had it before the official release. A book of that volume would normally take me 3-4 days. Less, if it's a "total ripper," as Billy "Bo" Wilder would say.

I'm more than a little underwhelmed at this point. The story keeps moving, and the mystery remains, but this one doesn't quite stab me in the heart like an unexpected stingray as many other King books have.

King has set such a high bar that it's easy to Limbo Under his lesser-but-still-cool works. Goofy analogy, but I'm sticking with it.

I am very glad other folks love it though.

~BJS