Seriously Disappointing Ending

[rjt65]

hey ---to each their own on opinions but i liked the ending, though like u i would have loved an ass kicking for Big Jim !@#$% torture! but that says something about the ending, no? got ya thinking a lot.

appreciate your way of explaining your thoughts as well. (friendly to us king lovers!--thou shall not criticize the king!! ;-) but no one is perfect and to be truthful we all have one or 2 that we differ from the majority on.

Point is i think this is one of the things that make King great and re-readable. (I have read all books 2 -40 times) his endings and journeys are not the one we want, we think will happen nor expected....

so many movies and book have endings and lines that I predict--- what good is that?

B-o-r-i-n-g

Hail the King!!! ;-) and welcome to the board!

[JennyBenny]

The ending worked for me- I just finished it yesterday- and I really enjoyed the way it all came together. I got the impression that Big Jim died more of asphyxiation rather than his heart condition- that his heart condition maybe acted as a catalyst to his hallucinations which motivated him to run out of the fallout shelter and into the poisonous air. If you think about the "ending" as being maybe the last 200 pages or so, I especially appreciated how Jr. ended up and really loved the way The Chef and Andy Sanders took out the makeshift cops at the raid. As vile as The Chef was, I was actually rooting for him there at the end when he was taking out the little militia raiders. I actually teared up a bit when Audrey the dog died, and felt exhilarated that Olly Dinsmore actually made it in spite of the agony he had been through in burring the rest of his family.
I totally agree that the whole marketing angle of comparing UTD to the Stand is pretty lame, but it is what it is... And I think that in a way the Stand seems to be a more plausible event as compared with UTD.
Overall I just love the way SK takes you from big picture to minute detail within his stories. The contrast and similarity of our insignificance and our significance as beings. The beauty and the ugly within us all.....

[SharonC]

I loved the ending. So many complicated theories go through your head while reading it and then to discover the sheer simplicity of it all? Genius, I thought. The Stand is still my favourite book. I think it always will be. But this book rates very highly with me.

[fushingfeef]

Finally finished! I thought the air from the tires was brilliant, and I thought the ending made complete sense and was satisfying, based on the redemption aspects of Julia Shumway's and Dale Barbara's backstories. It was great to see Jim Rennie going out like that, alone and scared. I got goosebumps when Junior pulled him into the afterlife, great stuff! I was sad to see Thurse go so quickly and almost as an afterthought, and same with Sloppy Sam Vedreaux. The bond between Pvt. Ames and Ollie Dinsmore was a cool and unexpected direction for the story. I can't wait to see a movie of this one, it was really pedal-to-the-medal the whole way, and after that explosion things really went nuts!

[cfin5256]

Been awhile since I've had time to visit, but finished UTD recently and was too excited to resist. It didn't supplant It or The Stand as my favorites, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The ending was a bit disappointing to me at first as well until I had time to digest it and see the beauty of it and how perfectly it tied into the ants under a magnifying glass theme that had been established. As far as Rennie's ending I have a slant on it, and maybe I'm just looking at it wrong, but it seemed a just reward in that, IMO, he was undone by his own philosiphy. He had taken Carter under his wing and started to impart his 'nuggets of wisdom', for lack of a better term, on Carter. Once they were in the fallout shelter, Rennie had sent Carter to check the outside air, and after noting that the air was toxic and unbreathable, Carter debated with himself on how much to tell Rennie. Taking to heart Rennie's lesson to 'always look out for yourself first', IMO, in an attempt to make things easier for himself, Carter told Rennie that the air would make you sick but it was breathable; though he suggested they should wait before venturing outside. After Rennie had killed Carter and then been confronted by the ghosts of his own black deeds, I assumed he had rushed outside to escape because, although he knew the air was bad, he was under the impression that it was breathable per Carter. Because he had been put in the no air situation by being forced to kill Carter, who was 'looking out for himself first', and because he had run outside, of all places, believing Carter when he said the air was 'breathable', I felt that the way he died was more than fitting. Especially with being welcomed into the afterlife by Junior and the ghosts of those Rennie had killed.

Probably made a mess of trying to explain my opinion , but hopefully the point I'm trying to make can find it's way across anyway. And thank you SK for another incredible journey.

[Icantbelieveireadthewholething]

Ok Seriously now. Reading that makes me feel a little bit better about how Rennie died. But come on he was so obnoxious and irritating throughout the whole freaking book I wanted to see Cox or Barbara put that "rhymes with witch" in his place once and for all. Yes I know all those people in Chester's Mill Died when the radio station blew up but they all died believing what that no good Rennie was feeding them. I would have rather of had them all know the truth about that rat and then die....that would have been justification for me on that subject anyways...I disliked how book ended in all. It was a great ride and I suppose I am that constant reader that sometimes pushes through the pages like its a chore just to see where it all ends. It's not always a good way to read these books but what are you gonna do. As I read this one through to the end I couldn't help but sit by and watch helplessly as the pages dwindled and absolutely nothing was happening with the dome situation. When the bomb went there was only 93 pages left. It was obvious the military wasn't going to be able to do anything so to me anyways the only logical option would be to get the leatherheads to let them all go...or everyone would die of the pollution....I don't know I am not a writer and am no professional and I love SK's books don't get me wrong....but IMO you can't write an ending where the last remaining survivors are rescued and all that has been wrong is now right in 93 pages....

But on a positive, I loved the ride there. Poor Ollie I just about cried for this kid....altho I think calling him a young man would be better suited for his actions. I also enjoyed the events leading up to the explosion...so not all is lost I suppose...thanks for reading my ramblings

oh and giving people and animals 1 liner deaths like "The Everetts' golden retriever had died in the night quietly and without fuss, as the little Js slept on either side of her". Yikes thats bad what next 3 pages later... "Thurston Marshall sat beside the covered corpse of little Aidan Appleton who had died with terrifying suddenness" oops too bad so sad lets move on to 4 pages later couldnt possible get worse...."Thurston Marshall is dead," she says. Ok now I am really blown away what could possible happen next 7 pages later... "Benny Drake died an hour ago." And 24 pages later poof the dome is gone....and everyone is saved!! kinda lame if you ask me.... and yes i am a little mad right now.

[Chairslinger]

Hello everyone, first post on these boards. I just finished Under the Dome and had to talk about it. Got it from my library and burned through it in a little over a day. Dark Tower excluded, I would say it's easily his best book since Bag of Bones. And while I don't think it quite matches up to The Stand, I think the two stand as great bookends to King's career. While The Stand wasn't his first, and I am sure UTD won't be his last, the Stand was his first epic, and UTD might be his last(we'll see). See, while I was reading and enjoying the book on it's own, it's hard not to appreciate the contrasts of the two. In one we see a small group of people having the whole of the world opened up to them and having to rebuild civilization. In the other, we see a small town cut off from civilization, and descend into near anarchy. In one we see a supernatural, avatar of evil as the main antagonist. In the other we get to see just what some piddling used car salesman can do if things go wrong(and all the more chilling because I doubt there is a person here who hasn't met a Big Jim in person....).

Anyway, I thought the ending was good. The must frustrating and dissapointing part was also probably the best. I found myself rooting for Big Jim to survive in the bunker to face justice almost as much as caring about anyone surviving. And I think that is the brilliance of killing him off. While the book has many strong points, I think the best is showing an abridged(because of radical circumstances) version of how a lot of real life dictators have grown to power. And you know what? A lot of times there's just no happy endings there. Or even satisfying ones.

After feeling genuine frustration over Big Jim "getting away", it makes me feel like I maybe have the smallest inkling of just how it felt for people to find out that Hitler had gotten away with a bullet in the head after putting the world through so much.

I also found the aspect of the aliens to be well done. I don't know about you guys, but I have watched enough sci-fi to see the "aliens bottle up people to do a test on them" done to death. I found the idea that it was just a bunch of kids getting thier jollies to be original. The final confrontation reminded me both of IT with the Ritual of Chud, and The Stand where Frannie poses that question that just doesn't have a satisfying answer. In UTD there was no remorse or silverlining, they survived on the whim of a being who maybe felt an ounce of pity.

I also liked the theme running from cruel children(the aliens), to young male thugs(Jim's army), to someone who has been through that tunnel and out the other side(Barbie). As a guy it's not the most fun thing in the world to read the numerous references to young males being the problem, but it's hard to dispute that when it comes time for despots to recruit, it's usually the young males in line.

All that said, I didn't think the ending was perfect. It was rather sudden, for one thing. But all my complaints are for the small, side stuff. I thought the whole Ollie thing was kind of pointless. I thought Andy going all junkie commando was a bit of a stretch. I thought the litany of deaths at the end was just a little too flat. I suppose it gave an impression of hopelessness, but Benny dying with no reaction from Joe or Norrie? A little too rushed. The big stuff though, no complaints.

[Blane]

I myself was surprised at how fast it ended. I am used to Mr. King taking several pages to give the aftermath of the action. I wasn't disappointed at the ending, unless you could say I was disappointed that I couldn't find out what Barbie and Julia's plans were. It would have been interesting to find out what every individual thought about the experience in the dome after they had had time to digest it.

I also wanted more from Rennie's death. Not because I didn't think it was fitting, but after all the trouble he caused and self-righteous he was, I just wanted him to realize in the end that it really was all his fault. But I guess it was more realistic for him to never come to this realization. It seems that some people never accept the truth, no matter how much evidence you put in front of them.

About the aliens and begging for their lives... I guess I was hoping for some clever way of getting out of it that would leave me thinking, "Why didn't I come up with that?!" But when I stopped to think about it after the book was over, it may be the perfect ending. No, it doesn't have the drama, action, cleverness, or personal sacrifice that most of his other books have had, but it does fit with the main theme of the book. To me, the main theme was about power and abuse of that power. You see this constantly throughout the book. You have Barbie and what he did when he was in the military. They were given power of some other men and abused that power for their own wishes. You had the incident when Julia was a kid on her way home from school. The other girls had power over her and abused it as well. Jim Rennie has power over his town and his people and he abuses it, both before the dome comes and after. The "cops" of the town have the power to uphold peace and order, and abuse this continually throughout the book. And finally, the alien kids have a power over all of them, and they abuse it for a game.

So, in the end it is fitting that it is compassion that saves them. I am sure that even the alien kids understand that. They may have power over everyone in the dome, but everyone has someone else that has power over them. Everyone has felt the sting of being treated wrongly by someone else. And like Julia said, as a group they may not have stopped, because in a group it can be hard to speak out even if you know something is wrong. But if you are in need and can connect with just one other person, you force them to put their values ont he line. Everbody thinks that they are a good person. If you put someone in a position where they have to confront a choice to do something good, bad or nothing, you force them into a position where if they make a bad choice they challenge their own notions about how good they are. Maybe there are a lot of people who didn't like this way of saving them because it isn't very realistic. It just doesn't seem like there really is a lot of compassion out there when someone is in need. Everybody is just more focused on themselves.

[Snaggletooth]

Them darn expectations........they'll ruin a good book every time.

[cell_hell]

i literally just finished this and thought id visit here to see if i wasnt the only one feeling like the ending was a bit sudden?! it almost felt like 850+ pages of build up that all got solved in like 4 pages!! after reading posts over in this thread, im not disappointed with the ending or angry about it, after all there really was two ways it could end, either they were released or they died so one of them was coming, but what i felt slightly disappointed at was just how fast it was over.... and now im almost mourning that it is!! for the last two weeks this book has totally engulfed my thoughts, i literally finished it about 20 mins ago and already im finding the thought there isnt any more kinda distressing. i don't really feel like i've got proper closure if that makes sense?? then again, i've got more closure than i had at the end of Cell.... i read that almost three years ago and i STILL find myself pondering about the possibilities that could have happened!! anyhow, without getting sidetracked, despite the ending being a little abrupt i don't think it taints what was an amazing book to read.