Fixed Perspective

I've never read a book over 700 pages in length. I came close a couple times with Bag of Bones, Dreamcatcher, and Duma Key, but on the whole I try to stick to the smaller books. Sometimes I think it has something to do with me holding the unabridged and uncut paperback copy of The Stand somewhere back in the fifth grade. Wait, was it uncut back then? Either way, the book was massive, and not being much of a reader back then, I think I only got through about half when I gave up. The bible-thin pages were enough to turn a lot of people away, to be honest. Like I demonstrated at a recent game-session with some friends, opening up the first pages to a beast of a novel is like standing at sea level with your head tilted up in a vain attempt to see the top of K2.

I read Under the Dome in stages. Seasons, if you will. Scribbled in the inside of the hardcover is a Christmas note from my mother, dated 2009. I don't think I read much of it right away, maybe the first few chapters to see what it was like, but the thinness in my left hand verses the weight in my right as I held the book was all the discouragement I needed. Later in 2010, I picked it up again and trucked through to about the four hundredth page. It was good. Very good. Right away it was clear that any similarity to the Simpsons Movie was almost non-existent. To think that I was actually afraid of that becoming a problem seems almost laughable now.

Through the reading, I kept thinking of the title. Under the Dome. It really said a lot more than those three words. Lately I've started to think more about what the story is about than what's in the story. Obviously not all the time, but sometimes seeing the forest instead of the trees can be helpful. I found myself always wanting to know what the people outside the Dome were doing. In the end I was quite glad not knowing about that kind of thing, and I reminded myself of that each time I thought of the title.

For a 1100 page monstrosity, the book had surprisingly little fat. Sure, some of the scenes could have been left out, particularity one of the town's riots and maybe a few confrontations, but even then it would be a hard thing to accomplish without stretching the tale too thin. Without re-telling the plot, the story revolves around the town under the Dome, mainly Dale "Barbie" Barbara and Big Jim Rennie, who are the protagonist and the antagonist, respectfully. Rennie is probably the only one in town who likes the Dome, as it's the only thing helping him strengthen his dictorial stranglehold on the town. As hearts sink and the body count rises, it's mostly up to a handful of townsfolk (the ones who can see through Rennie's beloved Christian demeanor) to put an end to it.

But what about the Dome? There was still this thing, this enormous invisible barrier between them and the outside world. What I liked about this part of the book was the mystery. The Dome is explained. Not completely, but it's explained. And take it from a guy who just closed the back cover not forty minutes ago; it's not what you think it is. Being a Lost fan, I'm always longing for a good sci-fi enigma, and this one didn't disappoint. Physically, we get a good sense of what the Dome is. Spray water at it from one side, a fine mist comes out the other. It's not air-tight, in other words, but it's damn close. Soon the environment takes a toll, and the Dome started picking up the fine film of life: pollen, smoke, pollution. Eventually, the stars and moon have a pinkish hue to them as they hang in the night sky. The mental side of it, or rather the rational side, is almost vacant. Almost. Personally, I don't mind, but there were a lot who wanted to know why the Dome was brought down, and where it came from. You get some answers, but like any good Lost episode we are left with that feeling of I get it... sort of. Maybe that`s just me.

I'm only a book and 50 pages into the Dark Tower series, but every time a number came up it always seemed to add to 19. How cool is that for all you DT junkies? I'm sure there is a lot more than just numbers lying around, as King's non-DT novels all seem to encompass at least a little from Roland's dreary wasteland.

I enjoyed my time with this book, and it's the first time I've ever read anything so late into the night. Like that anticipation we all felt before the finale of Battlestar Galactica, or that wrenching and twisting sensation in our bellies as we were about to find out who was in the Lost coffin, Under the Dome chimes in with a whole new feeling of awe. It really is that good.