Customer Reviews

Dolores Claiborne (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

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Stephen King answers critics who dismissed him as a "slick, horror writer" with "Dolores Claiborne." Written as one long chapter in the first person, in vernacular, King develops a character so strong that you are under the spell of a master storyteller. Cantankerous, blunt but sly Dolores has lived a long hard life. She is neither good nor bad, but has a fierce will and love for her family and a willingness to fight any and every battle to protect them.

The story is a taped interview with the police who suspect Dolores of killing her elderly employer, Vera Donovan, for whom Dolores has served as a housekeeper for over 40 years. Dolores thinks she must confess that she killed her husband Joe over 30 years ago to explain why she could not have killed her employer. As the story rolls, you are fascinated with the interplay between Dolores and Vera. Vera is a match for Dolores, equally strong minded and diverse. (Dolores is convinced Vera went senile just to aggravate her.) Her story of her marriage to the vile drunken Joe and her stealthy plans to kill him are riveting. Dolores can't remember any reason she married him except he had a "smooth, clear forehead." She is stealthy, not because she fears any person on this earth; she just wants to spare her children the knowledge that she killed their father. Nothing goes quite according to plan, and even powerful Dolores suffers long periods of mental exhaustion.

"Delores Claiborne" without monsters or the supernatural and told in an uneducated but perceptive, voice is brilliant. This is one of Stephen King's finest works and well worth the read.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

The conventional street wisdom is that the best movies adapted from Stephen King novels are the ones that do not mention they are adapted from Stephen King novels. Of course, if you look at the films "Stand By Me," "The Shawshank Redemption," and "Dolores Claiborne" as well as read the King stories they were based on, you would find that they are atypical works in that they do not have the supernatural elements we have expected from King ever since he published "Carrie." Consequently I am mulling over the idea that in some distant time there could be an emphasis on King's "non-horror" fiction that would study him as an example of a regional author and make an argument that even if he was the best selling author on the face of the planet at one time, that he was actually a decent written (i.e., the Charles Dickens of the 20th century).

"Dolores Claiborne" was written between October 1989-February 1992 (future generations of King scholars will have fun studying the overlap of his novels to create some tapestry of analytical insight) and the title character is a foul tempered, foul mouthed, old Yankee who has been living all her life on Little Tall Island off the coast of Maine. The novel is told in the first person by the 65-year-old Dolores, who has just been arrested for the murder of Vera Donovan, the even older richer lady who had been her longtime employer and who suddenly died in Dolores' care under extremely suspicious circumstances. In explaining what happened, Dolores not only tells her life story but also defends herself from the charge that she murdered Vera Donovan by explaining her involvement in the death of her husband Joe thirty years earlier on the day of the total eclipse.

It takes a while to get used to the way Dolores talks. Those who have seen Kathy Bates' captivating performance in the film are in no way prepared for how thick King lays on the accent and colloquialisms with Dolores as narrator. But after a while you get used to the missing letters or idiosyncratic spellings employed by Dolores and focus on the story. However, the murder mystery is just the hook for this novel, where the bigger mystery is the true nature of the relationship between Dolores and Vera. It was strange enough that Dolores came to work for Vera, but even stranger that she stayed for decades as the old lady began her descent into senility. Meanwhile, Dolores has been putting up with her drunken, abusive husband Joe. But while she puts up with anything Joe heaps upon her, she is more protective of their daughter Selena.

Ultimately, "Dolores Claiborne" is a character study and when the nature of the bond that was forged between Dolores and Vera is revealed, it is true to the characters and their situations. There is horror in this novel, but it comes from real human beings. This is not to suggest that King is making some sort of belated attempt to acknowledge real horror in the real world because those things have always been in his novels; they just get overshadowed by telekinetics, vampires, haunted hotels and the like. But this time there is nothing in the way and the bare boned approach serves both King and his characters well.

Written in the POV of the title character, and in the local dialect, this story took me a couple of pages to get into, but after that, it was a page turner.

Dolores is a tough and gritty woman and much of the story recounts her dealing with the stern and often cruel woman that she works for during a thirty plus year time span, her abusive husband and the towns rumors that she might be a murderer.

After reading "On Writing" my first King book, I thought I'd try something else and this was a good place to start. I wasn't interested in reading King in the past because I once picked up "Cujo" and happened to turn to a page that was filled with gross descriptions of violence.

But since I enjoyed the movie adaptation of this book as well as several others King has written, I thought it was time to put aside my previous concerns and read one of his novels. I guess if your looking for horror, blood, and the supernatural this book probably won't be as enjoyable as you'd hoped, but it is an engaging story and the main character is likable. I was rooting for Dolores almost from the start.

I doubt many King fans would need to bother reading a review like this, so if you got this far and are wondering if you should give one of his books a try for the first time, I recommend this novel as a good place to start.

When I started reading this book, I was bracing myself for a bad experience--I'd just finished Heart of Darkness by Conrad, which is three big chapters and boring as all get out... And this book is one big chapter. I was also wondering what the "supernatural" plot of this book was--Most other Stephen King books I'd heard the basic gist before I'd begun reading, and this one offered me no clue.

I was pleasantly surprised to find, however, that this plot only had a hint of the supernatural, and that it was basically a picture a small-town poor woman grafted onto the character of a tiny Maine island. Normally "mundane" fiction bores me to tears, but this was one of the best books I've ever read. It had the superb characterization of any Stephen King novel--better, in fact, than most of the others--but without the bone-chilling plots that simultaneously sucked me in and repulsed me. I found myself reading the novel, thinking, "This sounds like Mom," and "This sounds like Grandma." I sincerely felt like I knew Dolores.

That isn't to say that it's without supernatural elements. The supernatural bears very little relevance at all, but it helps build the mood of the novel and the tension of the climax. Instead of the setting and the characters being centered around a supernatural plot and hook that relates (and indeed, is a metaphor for) some aspect of human nature, it's merely a portrait of a fictitious but nonetheless realistic person, with the supernatural and mundane plot elements centered around a lifelike character and setting.

One thing worth note, though, is that this is very light reading for a King novel--I finished less than twelve hours after I started. The brevity of it aside, this is a great book, and it really gives you a picture of what it's like in any small rural hamlet... with just a glimpse of something darker that will satiate any King fan's need to escape the mundane.

This is one of my favourite novels from King (along with "The Dead Zone", "Misery" and "The Dark Half"). The writing is firm, with very potent delivery. It packs a powerful punch and you'll find yourself eagerly turning the pages to find out what other, even more terrifying horror awaits.

The "evil" in the story does not come from beyond the grave or from a dark force. Instead, it is a very common "evil" that an ordinary human being is capable of inflicting on another over and over again over the years, in a very cruel, consistent and at times, deadly silent manner.

Dark family issues like wife battery, child abuse, incest and what-it's-like-being-married-to-a-no-good-lazy-and-totally-incorrigible-louse-for-15-years, are tackled and portrayed here in a harsh, brutal and very TRUE-to-life manner. As we read, we could actually "feel" the horror that Dolores Claiborne and her young children have to go through at the hands of the cruel husband/father, Joe St George. It's scary to think that if a woman marries the "wrong" guy (like Dolores did), have a bunch of kids totally dependent on her and not enough money to start anew, then she may just be doomed for good.

The novel is told in "first person" style i.e. narrated by Dolores during her "confession" to the police after she is accused of murdering her employer, Vera Donovan. Dolores has a lot to confess: she recounts how her husband actually died 30 years ago and the events leading to the recent death of her employer, Vera (is it an accident, a suicide or a murder committed by Dolores?). The reading is made all the more interesting by Dolores' way of "speaking". She's a real motor-mouth but her words are full of sharp wit and humour (though delivered in the most matter-of-fact manner) that you'll find it hard not to grin or even laugh out loud plenty of times. One phrase that seems to be a favourite with Dolores is: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" which she uses when she speaks about the times when others (e.g. Vera, her husband) try to fool her or when they succeed in fooling her her more than once.

In reading this book, you'll also feel the utter despair of Dolores and very likely, you'll silently applaud (and even give full encouragement for) what she has to DO in order to get out of her marital hell-hole. She's a great pillar of strength because of her love for her children and a desperate need to protect them from harm.

This is a very MESMERIZING novel and one you'll not regret buying! I also highly recommend the movie-version (with Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh in Oscar-worthy peformances) which added a new, interesting dimension to the story by featuring prominently on what happens to the grown-up daughter (Selena), and her relationship and subsequent reconciliation with her mother.

Dolores Claiborne is not an easy read. Not because of the language or the storyline. But because of the story itself, which is quite un-King-like. He wrote many books about the supernatural, monsters and the like but few books about the true monsters - human beings. This book's about these monsters and it's more effective and seductive than King's other books. Don't expect any of his "usual" horror here, though.

The book discovers two mysterious death cases and the strange relationship between two woman who seem to have nothing in common. The first death case is of Vera Donovan, the woman Dolores worked for many years and has just died and Dolores is accused of killing her. Dolores and Vera are two women of different backgrounds, and seemingly different lives. The other death case is of Dolores' husband, who died long ago. How the two cases and the two women become intertwined is the key to the book and I don't want to spoil the fun. But this is only the frame.

What's within this frame is a masterpiece. The book is narrated by Dolores who makes a confession. In a one chapter, monologue style. Her confession introduces us to a woman who suffered a lot, whose life was anything but fun; however she possesses a stunning will to live. The characters she describes are vivid and she, herself is unbelievable. The story is a triumph over injustice and false beliefs.

As a man I was surprised how King knows the soul of women and how he knows what women could think of some situations and things (the starting quotation of the book is from Freud: "Woman! What does she want?"). However, the true motto of the book is one sentence from Vera: "Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has hold onto." True. How many people do you know who live this way? I know a lot and after reading this book I seem to show more respect. One never knows what hides behind a façade.

If you want to have a good read, a deep analysis of a soul that's suffered a lot, if you want to have a true catharsis, this is the book to read. You won't regret it.

Once you get used to the broken English of Delores Caliborne, you can really get into this book. I'll admit I was a bit skeptical at first having just read Gerald's Game (which came out right before this and is briefly linked during the solar eclipse scene) and thinking to myself "Oh, Jesus, another chick book by Steve-O! What's he thinking?" Well...Delores Claiborne is a chick book, and she is one tough chick. Not a horror novel at all (that shouldn't worry any real Stephen King afficionado, anyway) Delores Claiborne is a rambling auto-biography of a salt-of-the-earth, tough-as-nails housekeeper who killed off her husband 30 some odd years ago. This is a trip into the human psyche. A brilliant character sketch. This is Stephen King showing us why he is one of the greatest writers of all time. Story. Pure and simple. Ayuh.

Dig it!

Dolores Claiborne written by Stephan King was a very interesting book to read. The book was written in a very interesting manner, it was written in an interview style. The book starts of with the main character talking with 2 interviewers. This way of writing made it much more interesting for the reader. Stephan King described all of the main character's thoughts in the book. You knew what the character was thinking throughout the whole book. This book didn't have any boring moments. It was full of unexpected surprises. While reading this book a lot of thought-provoking questions came to me. One of them was divorce, and how hard it was to have one in the early 1860's. At that time it was a matter of respect from the outside to not have a divorce. The main reason that Dolores did not get a divorce was for her children; she wanted them to have a "real" family even thought she knew that their family was not even close to being called a family. Another part of this story was how Dolores' husband tried to rape his own daughter by scaring her that if she told anyone her mother would try to kill her. Dolores' husband's main goal was try to convince his children especially his oldest daughter that her mother was dangerous. This book was about a women who killed her husband to make her life and her children's life much better and safer. It was about how she thought about being a murderer and how much she cared for her children's safety. Dolores was a very independent woman and she wanted to show her lazy, always drunk and abusive husband that she would be much better off without him. She wanted to kill him because he had hurt her her whole life. It was her way of having revenge. Dolores had sat for days thinking of the best day of killing him and she had finally found it. Everyone in the story knew deep in their hearts that Dolores was to blame but they had no way of proving it because there were no witnesses and there was no evidence. Dolores was a very slick woman but the one that gave her the idea about killing her husband was Vera Donavan, the lady that Dolores took care of as her job. The only weakness that I found in this story was that the author didn't describe Dolores' husband's perspective. He was only on Dolores' side. The author did not let us decide on our own who was to blame and who was innocent. He may have known that we would all be on Dolores' side but I don't think that gave him the right to choose for us who was innocent. I would very much recommend this book to any reader that likes action and suspense. Dolores Claiborne is a very good book I don't think that children under the age of 12 should not read this book because it has some foul language in it. This book should be read so that people can learn to appreciate their family and so that they can understand that there are a lot of father's and out there that do not like their wives and mistreat their children. I would give this book 5 stars and 2 thumbs up!

"Dolores Claiborne" reads like one big chapter - well it is (there are no chapters or breaks in the book). Dolores is a 65yr old woman, on trial for murdering her employer Vera Donovan of 40 or so years. Dolores is a woman who holds nothing back. She spills her whole life story, from when she first fell in love in her husband, Joe St George to the fateful day (yesterday) when Vera was found at the bottom of the stairs. We also find out what happened on the day of the total eclipse of the sun almost forty years ago, when her husband Joe dissappeared. Its a brilliant read, and total engrosses the reader. The more the story unfolds the more you love Dolores and even Vera, and despise Joe. Joe is a mean man, he bashes his wife, and makes moves on his 14 (i think) year old daughter, Selena. He also thinks his oldest son, Joe Jnr is a wuss for reading and has little time for him. The youngest, Pete idolises Joe, and Dolores fears he may grow up to be like Joe. Dolores tells all - her love/hate relationship with Vera, hate/hate relationship with Vera and her relationships with her children and the rest of Little Tall Island. I guess the only dissappointing thing is there are really no surprises in the book (maybe one at the end) but its still a great read, purely for the great insight into the character that is Dolores Clairborne. And if you don't like the book, as Dolores would say "frig ya!"

I can't believe this book wasn't written by TABITHA King. It's an amazing feminist confessional, riveting, powerful, exciting, witty as heck, and you just come to love Deloris by the end. I thought Kathy Bates was superb in the movie role, and I was surprised at how much I loved the film, because the book is deep and richly detailed, yet the movie captured the mood. Stephen King is our Charles Dickens - he champions the underdog. Real treasures, book and man.