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Under the Dome
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Under the Dome (2009) (edit title/settings)

by Stephen King (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

"Under the Dome" is the completion of two novels that Stephen King attempted to complete in his early days as a writer. The original, unpublished works were titled "The Cannibals" and "Under the Dome." The common thread of a society being cut off from the rest of the world wove the two... read more

Summary edit see section history

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as ''the dome" comes down on... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as ''the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when -- or if -- it will go away. Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens -- town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

Characters edit see section history

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “At first, nothing crossed his mind. He was in that mostly empty-headed state of grace which is sometimes such fertile soil; it’s the ground from which our brightest dreams and biggest ideas (both the good and the spectacularly bad) suddenly burst forth, often full-bloom.”
  • “Give a man or a woman back his self-respect and in most cases – not all but most – you also give back that person’s ability to think with at least some clarity.”
  • “I am not an ant.”
  • “I'm not religious so you'll have to explain to me why people would want Jesus watching them poop.”
    Jackie
  • “In the wider world he might have made more money, but wealth was the short beer of existence. Power was champagne.”
    describing Big Jim
  • “"What's the big deal? If she sees us, we're just some kids goofing around on the town common. And know what? She probably wouldn't see us if she looked right at us. Adults never see kids." He considered this. "Unless they're on skateboards."”
    Benny
  • “But it might have caused him to reflect (for he was a reflective man, in his own way) on murder's similarity to Lay's potato chips: it's hard to stop with just one.”
  • “Ken, this is one f***ed-up fire drill.”
    Dale "Barbie" Barbara
  • “But she knew. It wasn't the money; it was the town. What he saw as his town. Sitting on a beach somewhere in Costa Rica or presiding over a guarded estate in Namibia, Big Jim would become Small Jim. Because man without a sense of purpose, even one whose bank accounts are stuffed with money, is always a small man.”
  • “Grampa loved to walk, everybody knew that. Oiling the joints. Except Norrie didn't think that was all of it, or even most of it. He had started doing his walks when Gramma started getting confused about stuff (no one came right out and said it was Alzheimer's, although everyone knew). Norrie thought he was walking off his sorrow. Was such a thing possible? She thought it was. She knew that when she was riding her skateboard, pulling off some sick double-kink at the skate park in Oxford, there was no room in her for anything but joy and fear, and joy ruled the house. Fear lived in a shack out back.”
  • “'Let's go in my study,' he said, and led the way, head down, lumbering slowly along in his big flat strides. Seen from behind, he looked a bit like a bear dressed in human clothes, one who was old an slow but still dangerous.”
  • “Wear it home. It'll look like a dress.”
    Kayla Bevins
  • “Girls are strong, too. Especially when they're scared to death.”
    Julia Shumway
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • WHEN THE POWER OF LOVE IS STRONGER THAN THE LOVE OF POWER, THE WORLD WILL KNOW PEACE—JIMI HENDRIX.
    Highlighted by 281 Kindle customers
  • I must accept those things over which I have no control. I must turn my adversities into advantages.
    Highlighted by 234 Kindle customers
  • if you were seeing a lot of horseshit, there had to be a pony in the vicinity.
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  • When you eliminate the impossible, the answer, no matter how improbable, is what remains.”
    Highlighted by 197 Kindle customers
  • When dawn was still long hours away, bad thoughts took on flesh and began to walk. In the middle of the night thoughts became zombies.
    Highlighted by 194 Kindle customers
  • If you don’t control your temper, your temper will control you,
    Highlighted by 184 Kindle customers
  • Women buy stuff at sales for the same reason men climb mountains—because they’re there.
    Highlighted by 174 Kindle customers
  • Sorrow for a wrong was better than nothing, Barbie supposed, but no amount of after-the-fact sorrow could ever atone for joy taken in destruction, whether it was burning ants or shooting prisoners.
    Highlighted by 147 Kindle customers
  • America’s two great specialties are demagogues and rock and roll, and we’ve all heard plenty of both in our time.
    Highlighted by 134 Kindle customers
  • “She can’t help it,” he said. “She’s got the soul of a poet and the emotional makeup of a junkyard dog.”
    Highlighted by 124 Kindle customers
Show all 23 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

From two thousand feet, where Claudette Sanders was taking a flying lesson, the town of Chester's Mill gleamed in the morning light like something freshly made and just set down.

Table of Contents edit see section history

The Airplane and The Woodchuck
Barbie
Junior and Angie
Highways and Byways
Lotta Dead Birds
Clustermug
We All Support The Team
The Good of the Town, The Good of the People
Prayers
Madness, Blindness, Astonishment of the Heart
This is NOT as Bad as it Gets
Nyuck-Nyuck-Nyuck
Missile Strike Imminent
In the Frame
Pink Stars Falling
Feeling It
In the Jug
Salt
Ashes
Play that Dead Band Song
Busted
Blood Everywhere
Ants
Halloween Comes Early
Survivors
Wear it Home, It'll Look Like A Dress

Author's Note

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 9 of 10 in Publishers Weekly Bestselling Novels in 2009. (authoritative list)
This book is in New York Times Bestsellers (Current). (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Stephen King (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Scribner
Country: United States
Publication Date: November 10, 2009
ISBN: 978-0340992562
Page Count: 1088

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PS3561.I483 .U53 2009
  • Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

This book contains profanity, violence, and mature themes not suitable for children. Oh, come on, anyone over 12 years old is OK to read this! What's a few swear words here & there, it's nothing huge or throughout the book, my goodness<br>I disagree; there is a lot of strong language and violence in this book and I would only recommend it for mature teens. At one point, there is an extended rape scene that I found disturbing and I'm grown.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

Movie Connections edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • The Stand
  • Just After Sunset
  • Relentless
  • Breathless
  • Haunted Heart Life & Times Stephen King
  • By Blood We Live
  • Pirate Latitudes
  • Blaze
  • The Dark Tower Boxed Set (Books 1-4)
  • Treachery
  • Unseen Academicals
  • The Ignored
  • Dead and Alive
  • Floating Dragon
  • The Midwich Cuckoos
  • Darkness on the Edge of Town

Books That Influenced This Book edit see section history

   
  • Gone Tomorrow
  • The Midwich Cuckoos

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