Rating: 
Summary: A good book about triumph of the human spirit
Review: This has been said a lot about this book but I'll say it again: it is from a woman's point of view but authored by a man. It's amazing what insight he has into a woman's mind. It's about a woman whose life starts to go downhill when her parents divorce when she's young and just gets worse. She's raped when she is barely a teenager and begins a cycle of addiction to food and television. She ultimately hits rock bottom before beginning the slow process of healing and rebuilding her life. This book is at times depressing but you are able to sympathize with the character and root for her.
Rating: 
Summary: Paint-by-numbers emotions/plot
Review: I don't know why people claim that Lamb has captured "women's" voice in this novel. I felt like I could SEE him calculating what to say, how to ventriloquize this main character so that she will come across like a feisty woman that female readers will like. Well, it didn't work for me. I found her annoying, because sometimes she acted in ways that seemed way too dumb for a relatively intelligent, knowing person (judging from her narrative voice) and sometimes her motivations just didn't ring true. Lamb likes to end sections or chapters with some deep-sounding metaphor or epiphanic moment that just doesn't amount to anything at all; it's like something he learned in a fiction workshop (like all that stuff about whales--that's supposed to be so deep and revealing? It's a story about a girl who becomes overweight! And he makes her become obsessed with WHALES!). In fact, the book reads like he wrote it for a class--that's the paint-by-numbers quality. I think the book really flopped completely when it got into the scenes of therapy, with the psychiatrist pretending to be the main character's mother, in the pool . . . I just couldn't believe it was being related with a straight face, and that the main character actually gets mostly "healed" by this . . . just unbelievably schmaltzy. As for Lamb's attempt at showing how he understands what it means to be female (as if there is one female experience for him to tap into, give me a break), well, his passages about menstruation, female bodies, and sex often don't ring true either. (Note that when he has his first-person female narrator comment on, say, Farrah Faucett, he suddenly starts mentioning things like "jiggling breasts." I don't know, for a guy who is trying to sound like a woman, that seems like an out-and-out slip.)
Rating:
Summary: Uplifting and Tragic
Review: My mum made me read this book and I was completely absorbed from beginning to end. The story of Dolores Price is so incredibly tragic and depressing, yet like the scene of a car crash, it is morbidly fascinating and you cdon't want to tear your eyes away for a second in case you miss something. At time I felt like it was all over for the protagonist but make sure you PERSERVERE because it is worth it in the end.
This book really supports the "nurture" argument for human nature and makes you think about how our pasts can shape us into the people we are today.
This book will want to make you scream at times because you really believe that Dolores is a real person...you are made to watch her life unfold tragically but you can't do anything to help her.
Don't give up on this book, the ending is worth it!
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating
Review: This is the first book I've read by Wally Lamb, and I plan to read his others. I literally could not put this book down - I read it on while walking on the treadmill and then stayed up until 3:30 this morning to finish it. This only disappointment I found with this book is that it ended!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely amazing!
Review: I can't tell you how many times I've read this book. Any female with image issues will identify with Dolores, the main character. Lamb may not be a woman, but his prose will certainly fool the reader. Though parts of the novel are admittedly far-fetched, the story itself is so seamless, you'll find it difficult to tear yourself away.
Rating:
Summary: Falls apart in the second half...
Review: The book is initially gripping, and certainly keeps you hungry for more- but about half way thru is moves from the sublime to the ridiculous. The character is so strongly crafted you develop a strong sense of who she is- but that person eventually just vanishes. This is not to say that people don't change, but all the points about Dolores that we come to love or hate or pity move too far into the background. At this same time, the ludicrous story line takes over and is pasted together with unplausable "coincidences", i.e. 'just happens' to recieve pictures of Dante, 'just happens' tere is a vacant apartment across from his, 'just happens' this gigolo doesn't have a girlfriend, on and on... I think this is a book for adolecent girls, not mature women. Disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Characters Brought to Life
Review: This is the first book by Wally Lamb that I have read and it will not be the last. It's hard to say what the book is exactly about without giving away the story. What I will say is Lamb has in incredible style of writing and the story itself is very realistic. Each character couldn't be described better - they are all brought to life by Lamb. If you are looking for a great true to life story...pick up this book.
Rating:
Summary: My very favorite book
Review: This is my favorite book in the whole wide world, and I have read a lot. I was an English major in college and I've read all (or at least most) of the greats, from Shakespeare to Hemingway to Joyce to Steinbeck. I just fell in love with this book from my first reading of it four years ago. Each time I reread this book, I find something new about it to love.Why is this book so wonderful, you may ask? Simply put: it's Dolores Price. What a wonderfully crafted, believable, haunted young woman. Dolores endures a brutal and lonely childhood, a painfully isolated adolescence, and a complete mental and emotional breakdown in early adulthood. Nonetheless, she prevails to become a loving and loved woman despite having more than her share of hardships. In addition to Dolores, this book is jam packed with dozens of memorable and multi-dimensional who are depicted with both brutal honesty and loving care. Her no-nonsense grandmother, weak but well-intentioned mother, and frustrated and despairing father create the core of her dysfunctional family. I found something to love and hate about all three of these characters. Also wonderfully depicted are Mr. Pucci, the high school guidance counselor, Dolores's cruel and self-absorbed husband Dante, and her horrible college roommate Kippy Strednicki. Even the smallest characters in this book were created with care and meticulous attention to detail: the completely nasty "D.P." twins Stacia and Rosalie Pysyk, the sad, lonely, and defeating janitor Dottie, the wonderful hippy wallpaper man and his inspiring family. This book can be uproriously funny at times and can break your heart at other times. I read this story aloud to my husband on a cross-country road trip and could barely get through certain sections. Dolores Price lives through hell and survives in one piece on the other side. A truly wonderful story that I have reread 15 times and always hated to see end.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, but Miserable
Review: The only positive thing I can say about this book is that Wally Lamb definitely paints a picture. Unfortunately, the picture he paints is one of depression, angst and dysfunction. The publisher should provide complimentary prozac with every purchase. It was the most depressing piece of writing I've ever read. I kept thinking that this girl's life couldn't possibly get any worse, but was wrong time and time again. The heroine is utterly stomped on, beaten and tossed about by life in ways that one couldn't possibly imagine. A tiny glimmer of hope in the end was not enough of a reward for enduring the misery of this poor woman's life. It was too deep, disturbing and depressing for my liking.
Rating:
Summary: Worth Reading
Review: Dolores Price is not your ordinary heroine. She has a dysfunctional family, she's obese, and she's not what you'd call someone that's going places. Still you can't help but cheer for her as she gets into one scrape after another and tries to survive this dangerous journey we call life. You'll laugh and cry with her as you read about her school experiences, her dead beat dad, her obsession with television, and her therapy sessions. An interesting juxtaposition of depressing and heartwarming. I applaud Wally Lamb for creating a strange protagonist in exploring the triumphs of the human spirit.
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