Very engrossing, but all in all it's a combo of... (Possible Spoilers)

[The Walkin Dudemar]

These are the previous works that came to mind when reading Under the Dome:

The Simpsons Movie (everyone says this)

Peyton Place (much like Salem's Lot, small town intrigue plays a huge role)

Jack Reacher novels (Not only does Reacher play an offscreen role but Barbie the government troubleshooter is very much in his mold although much less action-oriented)

That original Star Trek episode with Clint Howard as the little boy alien toying with the Enterprise crew (The Leatherhead kids)

The Dukes of Hazzard (Rennie gives off a definite Boss Hogg vibe)

Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" (Rather heavy handed global warming allegory going on.)

The Day After (Apocalypse hits smalltown USA.

and finally, Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who ("We have little lives, too" compared with "A person's a person, no matter how small")

I read the whole thing between Thursday and Tuesday. It moved right along, but the whole OTT Leftist screed vibe kind of turned me off. I really had to laugh when Burpee's remembered moment of greatest shame turned out to be him drunkenly mocking a weeping Hillary Clinton while watching her on TV.

I'd say the most interesting character was a fairly minor one - I really liked Sammy Bushey. King took a pretty unlikeable archetype, a drug addled "town pump" and made her fully developed and sympathetic and quite noble in a very small amount of allotted narrative with very little backstory. I don't think too many people with a striking dichotomy of character like that actually exist in reality, but he did a good job imagining her.

 

[morgan]

I'd say the most interesting character was a fairly minor one - I really liked Sammy Bushey. King took a pretty unlikeable archetype, a drug addled "town pump" and made her fully developed and sympathetic and quite noble in a very small amount of allotted narrative with very little backstory. I don't think too many people with a striking dichotomy of character like that actually exist in reality, but he did a good job imagining her.

Sadly, I have known several people very similar to Sammy Bushey. Drug addicts (especially methamphetamine users) often become almost inhuman, more like a character in a book than an actual human being. Their decency and kindness is taken over by addiction and seen less and less frequently. Combine poverty and drugs, and it looks quite similar to the bleak picture SK describes. I've often wondered how he captured this epidemic so well. UTD is incredible.

 

[The Walkin Dudemar]

Well, you mention the negative aspects of drug addicts, and from what I have seen of them, I agree. However near the end of her arc, Sammy showed this inner kindness and consideration for others that I would not really expect to see in someone in her position. I'm thinking particularly of the scene where the old man who lost his son and wife gives her a ride and she sincerely consoles him. That's what I meant when I said I didn't think too many people like that exist in reality. As you pointed out, in reality the drug addiction takes over the positive side. (Although it was stated she avoided meth. She was strictly a boozer and pothead.)

As I said, I liked her character and thought she was one of the most memorable of the book, but I felt the early scenes of her torturing Bratz dolls, getting high and ignoring Little Walter were perhaps more realistic to that type of person than the idealized later scenes of her.

Another influence on UTD I just thought of is the old Twilight Zone episode, "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street".

 

[Sundrop]

Well, you mention the negative aspects of drug addicts, and from what I have seen of them, I agree. However near the end of her arc, Sammy showed this inner kindness and consideration for others that I would not really expect to see in someone in her position. I'm thinking particularly of the scene where the old man who lost his son and wife gives her a ride and she sincerely consoles him. That's what I meant when I said I didn't think too many people like that exist in reality. As you pointed out, in reality the drug addiction takes over the positive side. (Although it was stated she avoided meth. She was strictly a boozer and pothead.)

As I said, I liked her character and thought she was one of the most memorable of the book, but I felt the early scenes of her torturing Bratz dolls, getting high and ignoring Little Walter were perhaps more realistic to that type of person than the idealized later scenes of her.

Another influence on UTD I just thought of is the old Twilight Zone episode, "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street".

But some do exist......my brother was a severe drug addict, but he would give a person in need the shirt off his back, and he couldn't stand to see another human hurting. You can't judge people based solely upon whatever battle they happen to be losing......

UTD was a fantastic story.

 

[Pucker]

I believe it was Jose Luis Borges who said that there are really only four stories in the world . . .

or some rough equivalency of that.

 

[GNTLGNT]

...my favorite combo....