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Summary: Things Are Tough All Over : She's Come Undone
Review: "Love is like breathing you take it in and put it out", that basically means love's about give and take which seems to be a reoccurring theme in Wally Lamb's "She's Come Undone". Lamb uses extreme circumstances, cynical viewpoints, and dark-dry humor to keep the reader interested. Lamb's informal use of language helps to make "She's Come Undone" an easy read. This type of language also lets one into the main character, Dolores' mind.
Dolores starts off as in eight-year-old girl that soon learns things are much different than they seem. When Dolores' mother suffers from the miscarriage of her baby brother, Dolores' mom goes into a severe depression. Dolores' mother's depression eventually leads to the divorce of her parents and Dolores' moving to live with her strict, catholic grandmother. After being a victim of rape at age twelve, she goes into high-school as an overweight, angry, young woman, which eventually leads to her own break down and being institutionalized.
The colorful characters in "She's Come Undone" are sure to make one just as angry as they are to make them smile. The people who float in and out of this book are just as important as Dolores herself. For instance Mr. Pucci, at first he doesn't seem to play a very large part, but by the end of the novel he seems to be the biggest player. The setting in the novel changes but not too quickly. The event all go back to one main event in the beginning of the novel which makes it very interesting because somehow everything is tied into one action.
The pace of the novel stays very much the same, it hardly ever slows down. Dolores seems always at odds with someone, whether it be her mother, father, Kippy, or Jack - but in the end her biggest enemy is herself. Dolores goes through major changes throughout this novel, the interesting part of this novel seems to be seeing how she tries to cope with and grasp the premature death of her mother.
The language in the novel is often humorous, in just the way Dolores views the most extreme of situations. These combinations make the reader want to laugh and cry all at once. The first person, narration of the novel lets one into Dolores' mind and sets a more personal atmosphere with the characters. The way the book is written is as if it were one gigantic flashback on Dolores' life.
All of these factors make this novel worth the time and money. When listening in on Dolores' life it also gives insight on the readers themselves and makes one realize how trivial some of the problems in their lives are. The ending in this book's not exactly fairy tale; but despite all of the endless heartaches one will most definitely close the book with a smile.
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Summary: Learning to forgive yourself...
Review: That's the main point of this book. Sure it's depressing, but it's life. Here's a girl whose delusion led her to starve off over 125 pounds and seek comfort and love in a boy whose face and angelic personality she knew only from a photo on her snobby roommate's dresser...this book is the human condition, seen through the eyes of a girl aged 5, burning paper dolls while her dad has an affair in the the other room. Here's a thirteen-year old whose trusts her handsome neighbor, only to have her life ruined. This book longs to unveil stereotypes, to prove that a family can be simply people who love one another, that life is not punishment, but simple a series of tests to bring us further along in our destiny. This book proves that you need to cry, you need to smile, you need even be insane, to reach that ultimate goal of happiness that wasn't EARNED, but simply occurred! I can see why some people don't like this book.. it is long and sad and there are some weird wordings, but this book reads like a diary, like being a voyeur into a painful existence you either can sympathize with or detest. Wally Lamb geniusly set his novel during the 50's-80's, using the backdrop history to high-light Dolores' unfolding. These events include Kennedy's assassination, Woodstock, the moon landing, Carter's presidency. As the country seems to develop into those crazy nineties, so Dolores develops too. Read this with a box of tissues and break down if you must...but don't plan on eating roast beef for dinner anytime soon. A beautiful, and sad tale of life and all of its imperfections.
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Summary: Well worth the effort
Review: I found this difficult to get into, but it was well worth the effort. It's a long way out of my mainstream reading. One thing I have to wonder about is how the mostly female characters appear to females? I'm male and to me Lamb does a great job of writing a book about women, but I have to wonder what women think on this question.Overall, I never found it a book I couldn't put down, but it wasn't that hard to pick up either and was definitely well worth the effort to finish. It's not a happy story, but it does have a happyish ending, which I think is just the way it should be.
Rating: 
Summary: Sad to say, but it's over-rated
Review: I was looking forward to reading "She's Come Undone" but was sadly disappointed. Friends said it was good, but I'm not on the same page. Sometimes the book was believable, and Lamb did an admirable job of getting into the head of a young, overweight woman, but the plot was flimsy and the symbolism (look out for lots of over-obvious whale imagery and references) was heavy-handed. I don't want to give anything away, but there's a whole section of the book, towards the end, that gets unbelievable. The last few chapters feel incredibly rushed...as if the author wanted to finish the book but didn't want to take the time to do it well. Suddenly we meet a new character who will take on a major role in her life, but he's the most weakly drawn and their chemistry is questionable. I wanted to like this book...but often didn't. I read on the cover that it was 'hilarious,' but it was mildly amusing in parts at best. I didn't hate the book--after all, I finished it--but I don't understand what all the hype is about.
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Summary: If you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen
Review: I give the novel 4 starts because I've yet to read a book (except a classic such as "Catcher in the Rye") that completely touches me and takes my breath away. I've yet to find a character in any work of fiction that I can relate to completely. That said, I loved this book because it was realistic. Note to those who dismiss this book as being "too depressing," "publisher should hand out complimentary Prozac with each copy," "I keep thinking nothing worse could happen to this woman and I am proven wrong time and time again," etc.... I'll critique the book. If you want a protagonist who is scarily realistic (especially considering she was created by a man), and if you'd like to see how a fictional character reacts to tragedy, you'll be pleased with this work. If you turn your intolerant shoulder on anything related to homosexuality, adultery, abuse, and mental illness, pop one of your Disney movies in the VCR and indulge in the oh-so-realistic adventures of Bambi and friends.
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Summary: Excellent!!!
Review: One of the best books I've read on the Oprah list, and in general. Couldn't put it down! An emotional, heart felt look into a girl's heart, soul, and mind, it's hard to imagine that the author is male! I can't wait to read I Know This Much Is True!!
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Summary: Wally Lamb is a brilliant writer
Review: I will echo what many have said before me - there's no way a man wrote this book, I mean why would he even want to??? It's an amazing journey into the heart and mind of a tormented female soul. You laugh out loud and feel like crying while you read it. At times I was downright angry and felt haunted when I put it down. I wish it had ended a bit differently, but all in all I would call this book absolutely stellar. I'm already on to his much longer tome, "This Much I Know is True." I can tell it's going to be even better. I've never been so captivated by a writer's style.
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Summary: Good debut novel based on relentless string of tragedies
Review: ...but in spite of one disaster following close upon the heels of another throughout 7/8 of the book, you end us hooked, rooting for loser Dolores Price to find a way out of her miserable life. Already deeply disturbed by the time she enters grade school, things continue to go downhill for Dolores as her father walks out, her mother has a nervous breakdown, and Dolores is shipped to her rigidly conservative grandmother in Rhode Island. Rape, obesity, self-hate, attempted suicide, a mental institution - what more could happen to this woman? But it's the good writing, the first person POV that somehow maintains a wry, bleak, self-deprecating sense of humor, that keeps us reading through this loooong book. It's worth it.
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Summary: Wally Lamb knows his job
Review: The book starts when Dolores Price is 4 years old; it ends when she's 40. Dolores is not the girl you would fall in love with, honestly. Throughout the first half of the book you keep feeling that her mean and rude behavior, her attitude towards people who love her and care for her is sort of justified by the author because she has had a million problems but the bad behavior of others is not justified so they are potrayed as temperamentally bad people. This is something I did not like a lot, but then oh well.. But throughout the second half, when Dolores emerges as the real person that she is you start liking her. You wish and pray things go well for her so hard, its almost like you're wishing for your own happiness. Powerful book. It might make you sad at times but then, thats life
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Summary: A Quiet Wonder
Review: Bottom line: This is a great book if you're looking for a novel with real-life pain, obstacles, mistakes, flawed love and just plain endurance. I never lost interest in the book and find myself thinking a lot about Dolores and the other characters weeks after I've read it. Wally Lamb did a superb job capturing the torment and frustation of Dolores. I often wondered how he could understand the pain of ostracism, obesity, rape, abortion and just heart-wrenching subjugation as profoundly as he did. This isn't a light-read or a can't-wait-to-turn-the-next-page thriller. It's a beautiful novel that reaches deep inside your soul and helps you understand humanity and inhumanity a little better.
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