Dolores Claiborne

by Stephen King

By her own account she's an old Yankee bitch, Dolores Claiborne: foul temper, foul mouth, foul life. Folks on Little Tall Island have been waiting thirty years to find out just what happened on the eerie dark day her husband, Joe, died - the day of the total eclipse. The police want to know what happened yesterday, when rich, bedridden Vera Donovan, the island's grande dame sans merci and Dolores's longtime employer, died suddenly in her care. With no choice but to talk, Dolores Claiborne talks up a storm. "Everything I did, I did for love, " she says, and this spellbinding novel is at once her confession and her defense. Given a voice as compelling as any in contemporary fiction, her story centers on a disintegrating marriage's molten core, where the mind's unblinking eye becomes huge with hate and a woman's heart turns murderous. It unfolds the strange intimacy between Dolores and Vera, and the link that binds them. It shows, finally, how fierce love can be, and how dreadful its consequences. And how the soul, harrowed by the hardest life, can achieve a kind of grace.

• ISBN10: 0451177096
• ISBN13: 9780451177094
• Publish Date: 3 December 1993 (first published 12 November 1992)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 25 October 2004
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Imprint: Signet Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[cornerfolds]

Dolores Claiborne definitely was not a typical Stephen King book. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I picked it up because I needed an audiobook for my commute to work and school, but I ended up making up excuses to listen to it longer than that.

King really brought all of the characters to life. At first, I didn't think I'd like Dolores, but halfway through the book I wanted her to succeed. I hated Joe to the point that I found myself scowling while driving down the road - hopefully not too many people saw it. I felt terrible for Vera. King made me so uncomfortable when he described how she was on her bad days. But at the same time, I loved her as a feisty younger woman. At any rate, I felt invested in all of the characters.

The only thing that I thought was weird was that Dolores sat there for 6+ hours talking and drinking and never had to take a bathroom break... AMIRITE???

Overall, great book! I would definitely recommend it.

[Jo]

I read Delores Claiborne after being lent it by a mate who thought I would enjoy it, despite the fact it's outside my comfort zone genre wise. I was originally doubtful about how much I'd enjoy it, sure it would be a long ol' slog to get through and not particularly looking forward to it, but my mate had lent it to me, so I had to give it a go. Turns out it wasn't that bad.

I originally found the way it was written pretty annoying; it's written colloquially, and it takes a while to get used to. This also made the story drag quite slowly for me at the beginning. The first part, where she talks about her employer, Vera, didn't seem to have a point. She just describes what the character is like, and then jumps to talk abut something else. It makes sense later, but the language along with what seemesto be pointss character introduction made i t difficult for me to get into. However, once I did get used to it, I found it made the story more credible; Delores seemed more believable because she tells the story throughout in her dialect, you could really hear her talking. I thought it worked really well in the end.

The book could be slightly annoying in that Delores didn't tell her story in chronological order, and would sometimes to back and forth disjointedly, but that's how it built tension and eventually had you sitting on the edge of your seat wanting to know what the bloody hell happened. Despite the fact I wasn't a big fan of Delores the character - I just didn't warm to her - you become more sympathetic towards her. The more she tells, the more you come to realise what a tough life she's had, and what a git of a husband she's married to. Ooooh, you have no idea how much I hated her husband, Joe! I just wanted her to get right on with it.

All in all, not a bad book. It becomes a gripping, un-putdownable read despite an iffy beginning, and one I would highly recommend.