Customer Reviews

She's Come Undone

5 star:		(1,054)
4 star:		(310)
3 star:		(119)
2 star:		(119)
1 star:		(174)

 

 

If someone would have told me six weeks ago that by now I would have read and been completely absorbed by the tale of a 257 pound girl named Delores I would have told them they were out of their mind. But strange things happen when I find myself without something to read. Invariably I turn to our home library to consider reading a book that my wife purchased, or perhaps re-reading one of my old favorites. This time "She's Come Undone" caught my attention. "Mine is a story of craving; an unreliable account of lusts and troubles that began, somehow, in 1956 on the day our free television was delivered," said the back cover. "That's an interesting hook," I thought. "And the author is a man delivering a first person female narrative? Hmmmm... may have to give ole Wally a few pages of my interest."

That was all Wally needed. Within just the first few pages describing Delores' perfectly natural early childhood and allusions to her future woes I was engrossed.

This book is about the possibly healing affects we can have as friends and the potentially destructive power we have as family. It is about the undeniable value of positive self-image and the brutal consequences of inappropriate guilt. It is about divorce, it is about AIDS, it is about obesity, and it is about rape and abortion. It is about hope and love. It contains several hundred of the most physically painful pages that I have ever read, interrupted only intermittently with some dark joke made as Delores faces her struggles. In the space of 465 pages Wally brings to life not a classic heroine who defeats all of her foes, but a woman simply trying to survive. Even after a week I feel sympathy for this illusion created by Wally Lamb, and throughout the day I look for her. Sadly, I see her in many faces.

A highly, highly recommended read for anyone who feels they have the stomach for it. While many of the topics addressed should be discussed with teenagers, I would not recommend a young reader going this one alone. There are astonishingly important lessons here. Lessons for all of us.

I picked up this book recently and once I started it I couldn't put it down. This book is written exceptionally well, and the characters and story flow smoothly and realistically. I was stunned when I realized it was not an autobiography, and was written by a man! The first person voice of a female is quite convincing. I was more than impressed with the writing and the story. Any book that can evoke emotions like this does, is worth looking into.

That said, should you read this book? It depends. All of the highlights above are true, but, sadly the overall effect is depressing. I kept waiting for the situation to improve, for the story to pick up, for the victim mentality to end. It doesn't.

I gave the book 3 stars, 5 for writing, and 1 for the investment of several hours into what proved to be a draining and disturbing look into the life of a troubled young woman. I liken the experience to waking up from a bad dream, and feeling the lingering effects into the day. Your call as to whether you wish to jump on board and go along for the ride.

This book was terrific! She's Come Undone is a powerful epic, an emotional journey in the life of Dolores Price. Wally Lamb's Dolores is a perfectly flawed character and easy to get attached to. Brilliant writing, a fabulous point-of-view of a female told through the hand of a male. How did he do it with such spot-on honesty?

She's Come Undone begins in the year 1956 when Dolores is 4 and her family gets a brand new television. Soon, this seemingly normal life begins to unravel, leaving Dolores the product of a marriage gone wrong. While reading this book, I feel this moment of her parents' divorce became the crucial building block of Dolores's downward spiral. And while I do not want to spoil the plot for you, I will say that Dolores lives through some of the most terrible events, and desperately struggles (though at times seems indifferent) to regain the normalcy she once had.

Vivid and emotional, this wild ride pulls your heartstrings and strikes your nerves, sometimes within the same sentence. Pages full of pain and sadness, but also sprinkled with a snappy attitude that had me laughing in my seat. I felt a certain kinship, an almost sisterly devotion toward Dolores, and I praise Wally Lamb for creating this wonderfully real and troubled character.

A friend of mine recommended this book to me before I even knew it was on Oprah's book club list.

Dolores is an absolutely remarkable character. Wally Lamb is a remarkable writer who has an extraordinary gift with character development. Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down.

It is interesting to read about a character who becomes enlightened before the reader's eyes. Dolores deals with so many trials and tribulations that it is hard to believe that she survived to be an adult.

For anyone who wants a good book to read, this is the book. Dolores will touch your heart.

I got this book last christmas from my grandmother. I looked at it and I didn't have much of a desire to read such a big book that would interfere with my busy teenage agenda. But I sat down the nextday and started to read it. And Wally Lamb's amazing attempt at being a man writing a book through a woman's perspective, pulled me away from my reality and caused me to lock myself away in my room until' I was through with it. I kept having to remind my self that a woman didn't write it. This book remind's me much of my self and how hard it is to go through life being a overweight teenager. The charicters that made fun of her such as the two sisters that lived down the road, make me want to reach inside the book and slap them cause they remind me so much as my past and present enemies. I could feel her pain, her obessions, her anger, and I felt like I was there, I WAS HER. I do warn that this book is very adult and complicated, and I don't reconmend it for anyone who isn't mentaly mature enough to handle the grown-up language and situations that engage within this book. I am 15 years of age, but I have been raised in a home where the reality isn't locked up and hiddin away from me so I can stay shelterd from the disturbing truths. I will not tell you the story for I think that you should explore it for your self, but I wanted people know what the book did for me, now go out and read it and find out what it will do to you.

I received this book as a gift. I usually don't like it when other people think they know what I'll enjoy reading, but this time I'm glad I was wrong. My mother-in-law, a big Oprah fan, saw this book on her show and got it for me. I was pregnant at the time and highly emotional, but couldn't put it down anyway, despite the highly volatile nature of some of the subject matter. Dolores Price is a character that is explored in great depth. Childhood disappointments and tragedies lead to a bitter perspective on life in general for this young girl. As the reader follows her into adulthood, the series of personal changes and life events she sees are difficult to escape. Wally Lamb has written a beautiful book and his perspective on the female psyche is uncanny. This is obviously a man with a great deal of respect for women and the variety of challenges we face. Dolores Price is both a heroine and ironically, someone to be pitied at times as well. Her journey will reel you in...

This is the first book I read from Oprah's Book Club. I expected it to be good, and it did not fail me.

Dolores Price, the star of the book, grows up watching her mother coming under the tyranny of her father. When her family fell apart, she had to tolerate life living with her grandma (mum's mum) and almost crazy mother.

An unfortunate incident with her grandma's tenant changes her life drastically. Dolore's mother tries hard to help her by feeding her lots of junk food and letting her watch TV all day.

Dolores grows into a 257 pounds lady and her weight causes her to be an outcast in school and later on, college. Real help came only when she was on the verge of suicide.

How did she manage to turn her life around? Please read it to find out. A very easy reading and delightful story that would keep you captivated from the start. Dolores seems just like what anyone can be - having unresolved issues, emotional luggage, leading to breakdown, help comes, getting back on our feet.

We might not identify with all her problems, but we can sympathise with the pain she goes through, the loneliness and sadness caused from the lack of parental pressence, her triumph over her fears.

Heart-warming. Must read.

My grandmother sent me this book several years ago as part of a birthday gift and it took me several years to even open it. It wasn't my sort of thing, yet when I finally read it I was amazed at the books ability to keep me wanting to read more.

This book centers around a girl named Dolores Price and her trials and tribulations growing up from a very young age to an full grown woman. What made this book so good was that it didn't focus on outlandish happenings, but rather upon things that happen every day to people. This book gave an 'in' to seeing just how people react to events in their lives and how they handle it. It covers so many subjects; parental affairs, domestic abuse, divorce, mental illness in a parent and oneself, rape, bullies, spousal affairs and so much more.

I have read this book several times and can easily pick it up and read it a few times in a row without growing tired of the story. A definate 5 stars to this intelligent book.

This is an account of a journey thorough life's many hurdles and victories. The book is interesting and very readable-a lot happens to Delores Price in these 460 some pages. None of Wally Lamb's narrative is tedious or boring. If anything, TOO much happens to Delores, much more than she herself can deal handle. This book`s initial chapters seem easy going with their reminiscences that include 1950s memorabilia and the description of a hilariously delicious parochial school triumph over bullies that will make you laugh out loud. Shortly thereafter, the book takes very somber turn and then continues in this serious tone to its ending. . At that point one can clearly identifiy this as an Oprah selection, the story of an individual person dealing with the many hurdles of a tumultuous and difficult life.

The crises presented to Delores over thirty some years include parental abandonment (deliberate when her father moves in with a girlfriend and non intentional, when mental illness overwhelms her mother ), rape (by a family "friend "), social isolation (unpopularity in high school and college), lesbian seduction (by a sympathetic fellow victim of social isolation), spousal infidelity, abortion (of a child she really wants) , divorce, and infertility. Five people close to her die during these years. Delores fails to cope successfully with the multitude of problems and dilemmas she faces. Instead she escapes into compulsive behaviors including overeating and vicarious living through television . She succumbs to obesity, depressive mental illness, and carries out a serious suicide attempt. With all these crises one might suspect the novel would be in danger of degenerating into a sobby soap story. That it certainly does not become. Wally Lamb holds our interest in Delores. She is a survivor. Delores faces some trials with which we can all identify. We want Delores to find happiness. We root for her to win those battles with depression and weight control. The failure of her first marriage which was based on fantasy, deception, and compromise on her part is no big surprise. We want to see her find a good solid relationship with the opposite sex.

The novel will bring back memories of the 50',60s,70s and 80s with its allusions to familiar memorabilia from those days for the older reader. Quotes from lyrics we all know from many familiar catchy classic tunes are woven into the fabric of the narrative. Significantly the author never quotes another familiar and very depressing tune from those times about an individual faced with some terrible tribulations who sings " Is that all there is ? Is that really all there is to life?" A happy ending and a generally upbeat and fighting attitude on the part of the heroine keep the events in this novel from overwhelming and depressing us. Highly recommended as a reading experience.

Maybe Oprah picked this book because at some point in it, thenarrator notes that Oprah is one of the most respected women of the80's. Maybe not. Either way, I found myself reading it in my car at red lights, in my cubicle at my temp job this summer, and everywhere in between. I'm a middle school English teacher in the inner-city and I don't find this book to be about "self-pity" or "psychosis," as other privileged readers have argued. They are quite obviously far removed from the tragedy and abuse that so frequently ravages young lives, now, as ever. Nor is "She's Come Undone" dealing with certain "agendas" when it honestly presents rape, gender, size, sexual orientation, mental illness, handicap, divorce, age, race, domestic violence, abortion, death, and adolescent depression. Rather, it is dealing with the hard truths of life. In addition, people seem surprised that a man can write so well in a woman's voice, but most good writers are able to assume varied and complex voices in the creation of fiction, as good actors are able play roles far from their true selves. This novel chronicles pain and suffering and does not offer a quick fix happy ending. I love that. It proves that finding contentment and joy is a lifetime struggle. Dolores is not supposed to stand for all women, all people who struggle with their weight, or any other large population. She is supposed to stand for herself, and if we as readers can connect with her or feel for her on some level (and I would say most can)as we travel with her, then Lamb has done his job. Thank you, Wally, for a book that brought me peace while I read it.