Far too cutesy and annoying in its delivery, bordering on patronizing. I finished it, but I'm afraid I've already forgotten most of its contents.Far too cutesy and annoying in its delivery, bordering on patronizing. I finished it, but I'm afraid I've already forgotten most of its contents....more
I've invested a lot of my life reading Stephen King. Sure, not every story he writes is going recreate moments like when you were 15 and read The StanI've invested a lot of my life reading Stephen King. Sure, not every story he writes is going recreate moments like when you were 15 and read The Stand cover to cover in a weekend, neglecting sleep, food and basic hygiene because you just HAD to know what was going to happen. No, sometimes there will be a Tommyknockers. And sometimes, too, there will be an Under the Dome.
Oh, Under the Dome. I so wanted to like it, with Its back cover synopsis hinting at another epic struggle between man and his darker side, of man and his response to extraordinary circumstances. But no. The stock caricatures, the graphic and gratuitous violence, the lame-ass ending that completely defies logic, and not in a good way... Ok, granted, that last bit on the ending, The Stand suffered the same left-field wrap-up, but it was infinitely more forgivable because mostly everything that came before was so impressive.
Anyway, who are these people in Chester's Mill and why on Earth do I care about them? Junior is a predictable psychopath, Big Jim is a predictable bible-thumping hypocrite, Shumway is a predictable crusading idealist reporter, you get the picture. You can see their character trajectories well in advance. Justice for the just, punishment for the corrupt, and then a string of middling characters who provide enough fodder for King to write pages of gruesome death scenes without actually developing the main plot line, or getting to the point. Maybe like this review.
In any case, I felt so little for his little cast of dome captives, that this book may as well have been called Bad Things Happening to Trapped Strangers.
It may have been the English translation that made the content of this book feel so disjointed. It may also have been the author's habit of skipping bIt may have been the English translation that made the content of this book feel so disjointed. It may also have been the author's habit of skipping back and forth in time in the narrative. Add to that the fact that the Swedish royal lineage is seriously over-populated with the names Karl and Gustav, and so keeping them all straight requires a kind of clever mnemonic device that's sadly above my pay grade. Finally, it may have been that the reader needs to be above rank amateur in their knowledge of Swedish history to fully appreciate it (many passages indicate he is writing it for a Swedish audience, who are likely familiar with the basics already).
In any event, this was not the book on Swedish history for me. ...more
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