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Failure to suspend disbelief
"Under the Dome" is the first novel by King I've read, so I'm in a comfortable position because I don't have to compare it to the others. :-)
There are a few things I liked and there are some I didn’t.
I liked the idea of people trapped in a place, not actually knowing why and how long it’s gonna last. It’s not really new (remember ‘The Cube’ ?) but still, I always find such a theme gripping.
I enjoyed the idea of aliens playing their games with humans. Not new either, if you’ve read a few si-fi novels.
I know a lot of people were disappointed with the ending, but ‘salvation through compassion’ solution is rather original.
Yet, the novel has flaws that made the reading annoying at times.
A good book is supposed to create in our mind this peculiar feeling of ‘suspension of disbelief'. "Under the Dome" did suspend my disbelief regarding the supernatural dome but failed when it came to the human reality and psyche.
Have a look at Barbara – he’s so unbearably passive in his waiting for Big Jim to put him in jail. So are the other anti-Big-Jim citizens but you’d expect more from a Vietnam veteran, didn’t you, or did I watch one Rambo too many? And this is the man the federal government burdens with a mission of finding a generator and possibly saving the city?! May God bless America if such a sissy was the best man to find.
Unfortunately, Barbie’s friends and supporters are equally lifeless with ‘let’s-first-watch-what-Big-Jim-will-do attitude. Neither are they intellectually strong. They somehow cannot add two and two and realize there’s something serious about the kids’ prophetic dream of fire just because some of the children’s visions have already come true. Do you need an intellectual giant to notice this?
Throughout the book I had a feeling that it was Big Jim who actually deserved to survive, as he was the only one who acted, made plans, anticipated and showed determination if a situation called for it.
Now, I know a lot of people in America don’t think much of the federal government, but can we truly believe that the feds would put the fate of the town in the hands of a single man? Barbara or Rambo, never mind, but even an idiot would try to make sure this mission is not over when one man fails. Can we believe they would assign only a single military, Cox, to communicate with the dome prisoners, or again, did I watch too many hostages-taken movies?
Finally, the question of communication between the citizens within the city and the outside world. Well, I haven’t been to America for a decade and perhaps things are different there now, but if we, people in a small Polish town, use the intenet to exchange messages on a daily basis, why don’t they do it in Chester’s Mill? Don’t they have a local forum, or a message board, where people freely exchange opinions and the word spreads like wildfire?
The Internet communication with the outside world in the novel is also reduced almost to nothing. Strangely, the people – even the ‘elite’ who oppose Big Jim – are little interested in the origins of the dome, except the ending where the situation kind of forces them to show some interest in the nature of their prison. In the real world people would discuss the nature of the dome, search the Internet versions of newspapers and exchange opinions. And almost each day would bring new theories.
The explanation why King made the book so ‘internetless’ is maybe because he conceived the book in the 70’s. But why didn’t he care to handle the issue by shutting the Internet off by the dumb and cruel feds?
Besides, my impression was that Chester’s Mill people live almost in a world without cell phones. They do call someone occasionally but they don’t use them to the extent people really do today.
With all those things in mind, I couldn’t suspend my judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative. That’s why I won’t call ‘Under the Dome’ a good book. On the hand, I did get to the very end, which suggests the novel doesn’t belong to the ‘worst books’ category either. Interestingly, it may be the first book I’ve read when the writer succeeds with the supernatural elements and fails with the human world.
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Re: Failure to suspend disbelief
After watching Survivor last night, I couldn't help but to think of Jim Rennie as Russell and Barbara as Rupert lol. Even the heros other than Rupert seemed to be similar to most of Barbie's friends... a bit more outspoken than sheep but not by much. I guess Sandra was most like Julia.
Originally Posted by Bryan James
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