She's Come Undone

Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: Very compelling story. There were parts when I found myself crying. I wanted Delores to find happiness so BAD! Just when I thought she had found it, something happened to snatch it away again. Her life was a constant, painful struggle. Execellent writing. Oprah was right about this novel

Rating:
Summary: Wally Lamb reinvents the feminine coming of age novel
Review: I am a college university student studying the effects that different novels have on our perceptions of human life in the areas of religion, race, sex and gender. When I noticed that the People Magazine reviewer mentioned that "you have to keep looking back at the jacket picture" just to make sure the author was a man, I decided to give Mr. Lamb a try. I wanted to see just how well a man could actually portray the life of a young girl coming of age. Fortunately, the surprise was on me! Wally Lamb has written a novel which delves into the life of every person who has felt like an outsider, every person who has hidden behind food and alcohol, and used a shield of meanness as a club against the world. Bravo! He has shown that loneliness and fear are not gender specific, nor is compassion and healing. "She's Come Undone" is not just a novel about a woman written by a man, but about how we all deal with life

Rating:
Summary: What took everyone so long??!?
Review: On a Saturday morning about 2 1/2 years ago, I was rummaging through the bargin bin at a Waldens Bookstore in Indianapolis, Indiana. I picked up a hardcover copy of "She's Come Undone". I had never heard of it or of Wally Lamb, but it looked interesting and the price was downright cheap. When I got home I started reading, and the next thing I knew it was Sunday night. It has been a long time since I've been so engrossed in a book. Since then, that book has been passed from friend to friend, from Chicago to DC. Somewhere along the line I lost track of my hardcover version. But I know that whoever has it is lucky to be experiencing that story for the first time. I was excited when I heard that Oprah had chosen it, because that book had no business hiding in a bargin bin

Rating:
Summary: Totally blown away
Review: After three days of doing little else, I have finished reading "She's Come Undone." I am breathless. I simply loved this book. As a 41 year old woman, divorced, battling weight my whole life and suffered the loss of a dear friend who died of AIDS, I was just blown away by this book. I didn't want it to end! Wally Lamb, take a bow--and keep writing

Rating:
Summary: Wally Lamb is a humanist.
Review: I am somewhat taken aback by the the many reviewers who can't believe a man could write this book. It seems as if we have forgotten that boys and men have many of the same traumas and life tragedies experienced by Delores. If a man can write about the fantastic of space exploration or imagine the horrors of war without actually having the experience why can't he be insightful about the sex he has studied and tried to understand his whole life. I found this book to be humanistic. Dolores could have just as easily been a boy named Bill

Rating:
Summary: A book I couldn't put down...and wouldn't pick up again!
Review: Once you start reading this book, you really can't put it down until the end. But does that make it a good book? Entertaining? Enriching? I'm not sure. The reader quickly bonds with the main character, Delores, and feels driven to stick with her through every increasingly tragic event of her painful life. But by the middle of the story, I felt a little like the proverbial frog dropped in a pot of cold water and brought slowly to boil--if I'd have known the depths of sadness Delores was going to experience, I'd probably never gone along for the ride. Lamb is a skilled writer for being able to suck us into his story, but his ambitious tackling of (seemingly) every "hot" subject--from rape to abortion to lesbianism to AIDS to mental illness to obesity--begins to feel like an agenda separate from the characters he creates. The "hope" Delores does eventually find is not a satisfying enough resolution to compensate the reader for going through such an emotional ringer. This is a book I couldn't put down, and a book I wouldn't pick up again

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully Written...by a man!!!
Review: I have to be honest and say that I could not believe that "She's Come Undone" was written by a man! Wally Lamb is superb and writes about a woman's life so well, that all I could think to myself was "how did he know?" I can honestly say that I could have read this book in one day, but chose not to just so that I could be closer to Delores for as long as I could. This is one of those books you won't be able to put down. It touches you in ways that are very personal and real....10!!!

Rating:
Summary: One of my Top Ten Best Ever Books
Review: I swear that I vowed to never again read another Oprah recommended book if this book, She's Come Undone, was just as horrible as all the others she has recommended up to this point. Thank god I was patient for this gem. This is a book you savor. Every moment I read a word, I am engrossed. Delores is the same age as I am, so I can relate to the TV shows and everything else going on in that period of our American history. What a fantastic book. So well written. Somebody below wrote this was an easy read and gave it a low rating. Writing a book that is an easy read is a gift of a very talented author. Well written books that are easy to read and entertaining are hard to find. I cannot wait for his next book

Rating:
Summary: I must have missed something...
Review: This book did nothing for me. I did not bond or identify with Dolores...nor did I like her. She went out of her way to hurt everyone who loved her. Then in the middle of the book, she went through some amazing transformation. She became considerate and insightful. This was probably the worst book I've read in years--thankfully it was an easy read

Rating:
Summary: My Bible
Review: Ok, I know I am probably one of the youngest people to review this book, but just bear with me. I'm a 15 year old male, and a book that chronicles the live of a girl, from being 4 or 5, to mid-life, ususally wouldn't spark my interest, but this did. After the first 20 pages, I became GLUED to this book. I even got in trouble in my Geometry class because I found the life of Dolores Price more interesting that the Pythagorean Theorem. This girl's life is just so funny, sad, weird, and every other adjective. From her mother's miscarriage, her dad leaving, college, marriage, etc., this book never fails to amaze and make the reader feel like they got their money's worth. I loved it. Another good book like this is JACK by AM HOMES. Its about a 14 yr old kid whose father tells him he is gay. Wonderful books, both of them!