She's Come Undone (Oprah's Book Club) 
asked by mags on November 8, 2006 8:34 AM
Oprah Book Club® Selection, January 1997: "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." So begins the story of Dolores Price, the unconventional heroine of Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone. Dolores is a class-A emotional basket case, and why shouldn't she be? She's suffered almost every abuse and familial travesty that exists: Her father is a violent, philandering liar; her mother has the mental and emotional consistency of Jell-O; and the men in her life are probably the gender's most loathsome creatures. But Dolores is no quitter; she battles her woes with a sense of self-indulgence and gluttony rivaled only by Henry VIII. Hers is a dysfunctional Wonder Years, where growing up in the golden era was anything but ideal. While most kids her age were dealing with the monumental importance of the latest Beatles single and how college turned an older sibling into a long-haired hippie, Dolores was grappling with such issues as divorce, rape, and mental illness. Whether you're disgusted by her antics or moved by her pathetic ploys, you'll be drawn into Dolores's warped, hilarious, Mallomar-munching world.
Reviews
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This is one of those books that you keep on your bookshelf, mark pages and passages which you'll know you'll want to go back to (or the entire book, which I know is due for a reread very soon).
reviewed by success06 on November 15, 2006 11:26 PM
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Every time I re-read this book, I find it equally difficult to believe that a man could have given a female character such a realistic voice...
The story begins when Dolores is four years old, a child of 1950s Connecticut, slowly growing aware of her parents' marital troubles. After further family issues result in her move to her grandmother's Rhode Island home several years later, Dolores discovers that just about everyone she meets has the power to hurt her.
By the time she's a teenager, Dolores is so emotionally troubled that she no longer lives, but exists. Despite her mother's and grandmother's best efforts, Dolores prefers to remain within her past, seemingly almost enjoying her role as the perpetual victim.
Eventually, Dolores discovers that craziness and tragedy are merely a matter of perspective, and it's up to her to turn things around.
I've re-read this book at least half a dozen times, and pick up on some new detail every time. It's become one of my all-time favorites.
The story begins when Dolores is four years old, a child of 1950s Connecticut, slowly growing aware of her parents' marital troubles. After further family issues result in her move to her grandmother's Rhode Island home several years later, Dolores discovers that just about everyone she meets has the power to hurt her.
By the time she's a teenager, Dolores is so emotionally troubled that she no longer lives, but exists. Despite her mother's and grandmother's best efforts, Dolores prefers to remain within her past, seemingly almost enjoying her role as the perpetual victim.
Eventually, Dolores discovers that craziness and tragedy are merely a matter of perspective, and it's up to her to turn things around.
I've re-read this book at least half a dozen times, and pick up on some new detail every time. It's become one of my all-time favorites.
reviewed by faithfulone on November 21, 2006 5:06 AM
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Have you ever been so enrobed in a great movie or book that subconsciously it seizes your thoughts to the point that you are no longer aware that you are in fact watching or reading? Such was my experience with Wally Lamb's addictive (as addictive as mallomars?) and heartbreaking story of Delores Price. Wrapping myself so tight into Delores' life, I managed to lose all sense of myself, and eventually wound up pleading with her to fight against her self-destructive behaviors- I cared about her that much. Delores is large- with pain and with endearing qualities, and yet she's hollow at the same time. Amazingly, MISTER Lamb (who'd have known he was a he?) manages to tell a story about a woman barely surviving life's circumstances in a funny yet sad, gritty yet delicate, innocent yet destructive story. As I took the journey with Delores, I wound up yelling out loud to her, "Don't do this to yourself, you deserve more." Why introduce us to such a tragic girl? Because we all manage to manufacture our own dead ends, just as Delores seemed to do repeatedly, but if we keep on keeping on, as she did, life's resolutions can become bigger. Lamb creates an extraordinary character in Delores, and in those around her, and as we route for her to "lose the weight" she carries, we feel better that we too can swim with the whales.
reviewed by ibook on November 26, 2006 12:16 AM
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This is another fun book from the world of psychology by the author of "I Know This Much Is True". Actually, it's Lamb's debut novel, and a very well written one at that. "Undone" is the story of fat girl Dolores and her 40-year search for happiness in the midst of family breakup, mental illness and loss. The most memorable part for me was Dolores's diet where she finally conquered her eating addiction by imagining that all her food was spoiled and covered with mold--a lot cheaper and likely more effective than the current range of diet fads.
reviewed by steelers on November 26, 2006 5:46 PM