Rating: 
Summary: Total Eclipse of the Heart
Review: "Dolores Claiborne" reads like one big chapter - well it is (there are no chapters or breaks in the book). Dolores is a 65yr old woman, on trial for murdering her employer Vera Donovan of 40 or so years. Dolores is a woman who holds nothing back. She spills her whole life story, from when she first fell in love in her husband, Joe St George to the fateful day (yesterday) when Vera was found at the bottom of the stairs. We also find out what happened on the day of the total eclipse of the sun almost forty years ago, when her husband Joe dissappeared. Its a brilliant read, and total engrosses the reader. The more the story unfolds the more you love Dolores and even Vera, and despise Joe. Joe is a mean man, he bashes his wife, and makes moves on his 14 (i think) year old daughter, Selena. He also thinks his oldest son, Joe Jnr is a wuss for reading and has little time for him. The youngest, Pete idolises Joe, and Dolores fears he may grow up to be like Joe. Dolores tells all - her love/hate relationship with Vera, hate/hate relationship with Vera and her relationships with her children and the rest of Little Tall Island. I guess the only dissappointing thing is there are really no surprises in the book (maybe one at the end) but its still a great read, purely for the great insight into the character that is Dolores Clairborne. And if you don't like the book, as Dolores would say "frig ya!"
Rating: 
Summary: Unique and daring...only King could write it!
Review: 30 years ago, Dolores Clairborne did an unspeakable thing: she killed her husband. She had her reasons, yes indeed, and the townsfolk always suspected her of doing it...but nothing was proven.Yesterday, the elderly woman under Dolores's care died an accidental death. Now, police think Dolores did it. This is her confessions. Stephen King has written a beautiful, unique, and powerful novel: the confessions of a murderess, trying to prove herself innocent of the crime she is being convicted of by admitting to a past crime. It is the story of a woman who has seen sixty-some years go by, most of them filled with some kind of hardship. It is the story of a woman toughened by life, compassionate yet unflinching in the face of fear. "Dolores Claiborne" by Stephen King is gripping and unforgettable. You've just got to get your hands on it.
Rating:
Summary: Unique and daring...only King could write it!
Review: 30 years ago, Dolores Clairborne did an unspeakable thing: she killed her husband. She had her reasons, yes indeed, and the townsfolk always suspected her of doing it...but nothing was proven. Yesterday, the elderly woman under Dolores's care died an accidental death. Now, police think Dolores did it. This is her confessions. Stephen King has written a beautiful, unique, and powerful novel: the confessions of a murderess, trying to prove herself innocent of the crime she is being convicted of by admitting to a past crime. It is the story of a woman who has seen sixty-some years go by, most of them filled with some kind of hardship. It is the story of a woman toughened by life, compassionate yet unflinching in the face of fear. "Dolores Claiborne" by Stephen King is gripping and unforgettable. You've just got to get your hands on it.
Rating:
Summary: Dolores Claiborne
Review: A truely compelling novel about the story of a women who lived a life of both mental and physical abuse and comes out on top. This is the classic story of domestic violence involving the sickness of alcoholism. King manages to describe this sickness so well that the reader feels as though they are there in Dolores' mind. This women struggles to fit the steriotype of a "good wife" and is constantly being abused for it. The detail in the emotional highs and lows of this novel make the reader feel as though they are walking that fine line between sanity and insanity. Honesty I have never read a book that has this much drama and is still realistic. I recommend this read to anyone who is looking for a good lesson on relationships because King offers plenty in this story of a powerful woman defeating those who wish to push her down. Definatly 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Unlike any other King novel
Review: Dolores Claiborne is unlike any of his other novels to me. If you're expecting a horror story, take that out of your mind. You won't find any supernatural things going on in this book.
DC is told in first person by Dolores herself as she sits at the county police station as she's being questioned in the death of her employer, Vera. Vera's death looks like a murder to the police, with Dolores as their main suspect. Not to mention the fact that Dolores is well known around town for supposedly killing her late husband. In this book Dolores tells us her side of both stories in a way that is very page-turning and suspenseful. You wouldn't think that one confession could fill up nearly 400 pages, but this one does and there's not really one boring moment.
What propels this story is the anticipation to see what is going to happen next. That, and the VIVID story that Dolores weaves with such detail and humor. I really enjoyed the book and now I'm on to Gerald's Game, which is kind of a sister to this book. Even if you're not a big King fan, I'm sure any mystery reader will enjoy this book!
Rating:
Summary: A Compelling Look Into What Drives a Person To Kill.......
Review: Dolores Claiborne(1993). Stephen King's 22nd Novel, Published Simultaneously With Gerald's Game. Between the Late 80's and Early 90's, Stephen King was hard at work with the novels "Gerald's Game" and "Dolores Claiborne". He originally concieved them to be issued in a Two-Volume Set Entitled "In The Path Of The Eclipse" because of the similarities. Both main characters experience Total Solar Eclipses, and for one moment in both stories, are bonded. Both novels portray plotlines about Child Abuse, And Learning to live with the Horrors of your Past. Both Novels stand as some of Stephen King's most ambitious, but "Dolores Claiborne" is more so. A startling confession of the human mind, and the reasons that drive people to murder, present themselves in their full glory in "Dolores Claiborne"'s unending narrative(It has NO chapters or paragraphs), and it is a compelling read from start to finish. In Usual Fashion, "Gerald's Game" and "Dolores Claiborne" claimed the #1 Spot each, and both stand as some of Stephen King's deepest novels, dealing with the demons inside of us and from the past. "Dolores Claiborne" has been made into a successful and emotional movie, Starring Cathy Bates(Star of "Misery"). Read On To Find Out Why "Dolores Claiborne" stands as one of King's strongest novels. Plot- After the mysterious death of Vera Donavon, Longtime Housekeeper Dolores Claiborne is accused of pushing her down the stairs. As she goes in for a Police Interragation, Dolores decides to relate all of the misdeeds in her past. She tells the police that she never killed Vera Donavon, but she did murder her husband over 30 years ago. What follows is her compelling testimony of her troubled past, and what drove her to kill her husband, and most importantly, Why she did. We also learn of her deep friendship with Vera Donavan, and their troubled yet very loving relationship. Dolores relates everything about her past, and in her testimony, irrecovable sins are revealed, relationships are made and torn, and the horrors of the past are revealed in "Dolores Claiborne". Writing- Stephen King's writing in "Dolores Claiborne" is undoubtedly the most original I've ever read. Why, you ask? Mainly because the entire story is a narrative from a Police Interragation, and we read through the records taken at the interrogation. The reader learns everything of her past through Dolores Claiborne's "Yankee" drawl and slurred speech. While it takes a little while to get used to it, by the end of the novel, the unfinished words, the slurred words, and the made-up words seem completely natural, and the narrative flows quicker than most books I've read for THAT reason. Since there are NO chapters and NO Paragraph, the reader is almost FORCED to read "Dolores Claiborne" in one sitting, and I must say, that's not Hard At All! I found myself reading for about 4-5 hours straight just to finish "Dolores Claiborne", and you will undoubtedly do so to. In years to come, "Dolores Claiborne" will be recognized as one of King's best, as it doesn't focus on "outward" horror(Such as Evil Clowns, Possessed Dogs, or Evil Cars), but instead, focuses on the horror(or evil) inside of us all. Overall, I found "Dolores Claiborne" to be an excellent triumph for Stephen King, as his unstopped and troublesome narrative is sure to influence other such books with it's magnificence. Although "Dolores Claiborne" isn't scary, it fully makes up for it with its Mystery, so any "Constant Reader" of Stephen King is sure not to be disappointed. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! FANS OF STEPHEN KING AND MYSTERIES WILL HIGHLY ENJOY "DOLORES CLAIBORNE". DRAMATIC AND UNFLINCHING, "DOLORES CLAIBORNE" WOULD MOST LIKELY BE ENJOYED BY MOST ANY READERS ALSO! Also Recommended- Gerald's Game-Stephen King
Phantoms-Dean Koontz
Mr.X-Peter Straub Thanks For Reading!
Rating:
Summary: Master of horror becomes a master, period
Review: Dolores Claiborne, a strong woman in a small town, finds herself in a pickle. The entire Maine town believes that she killed her husband during an eclipse, years ago. And now she's accused of killing her longtime employer, a bitch of a woman who ran her ragged as long as she lived. This book is Claiborne's first-person narrative, as she gives the mother of all statements to the interrogating police officer.
This book marks many milestones for King, and is very different from everything he'd written before (although a harbinger of things to come). The extended first-person narrative is similar to From a Buick 8, and the strong female protagonist is also a first. But more than those obvious firsts, this novel is amazingly complex, with not one, but two complete storylines supported by the narrative. The two deaths occurred in different times and for different reasons, but the context of Dolores's life gives them an interface that is sometimes subtle, and always compelling. This is the book that first displays the level of storytelling that lifts King up above his horror genre roots.
King has never been afraid to ask his readers to bear with him as he tries something new, and I would think that hardcore fans would enjoy this book for the spot-on voice, the compelling story, and the typical Kingsian flair for language and description. But this book is not for King fans alone. Indeed, the relative lack of blood and guts might make this more appealing for a reader of serious literate fiction, and less appealing for the horror book junkie.
My first thought after reading this book was that King was making a concerted effort to be a feminist, or at least to give the idea of a strong female protagonist it's due. Rose Madder, Gerald's Game, and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon are all later stabs at the same theme, and I think that of the four, this is undoubtedly the best effort (not to take anything away from the other three).
One final note: this book is heavily couched in the heavy-handed colloquialisms of Dolores, and if you're going to be turned off by the constant colorful phrases (think Mark Twain), then this might not be the book for you. But if you can accept the language as Dolores speaks to us, get ready to enjoy a story that will make you really care for this strong, proud woman of Maine.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne Xfers Perfectly to Audio
Review: For those Stephen King fans who haven't read Dolores Claiborne, and for those of you who don't normally listen to books on tape, the Audio version of Dolores Claiborne is not to miss. It is absolutely SUPERB! Because the book is written in a first person narrative, it is perfect for audio. And Frances Sternhagen, reading as Dolores Claiborne, nailed the role. Her accent is right on, and through 9 hours she doesn't miss a beat. While this IS somewhat off the beaten path for Stephen King, it still keeps you on road the edge of your seat. So--if you have a long trip coming up, get Dolores Claiborne and a thermos of coffee, and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Total Eclipse of the Heart
Review: Hell on Earth. This is the expression that best describes Dolores Claiborne's life, the title character of this Stephen King's novel. Told in flashback by her to some investigators we learn little by little what has led her to jail. Dolores's life has never been easy or even nice. Living beyond the shadow of an alkie and mean husband, she could never experience true love and the only thing she does is working. But to make things worse, she happens to have a job at Vera Donovan's summertime house in Little Tall Island in Maine. Vera is known for being repulsive and extremely snobish. But Dolores, who is very brave and not afraid of working, doesn't mind having this job as long as she can save some money to her three kids go to a college. When she discoveries that her husband is doing not so good stuff to their teen daughter Dolores promisses revenge. One day when a Solar Eclipse is coming, Vera gives her some tips that will led Dolores to do things that will change her life forever. This novel is almost a flew over the cuckoo's nest in King's work, but don't be fooled, only those who know just a little about his work would be surprised by this one. Everthing that is so characteristic of his novels is here: character development, a crucial non-returnable point in their lives, and some very unpredictable turns. Some very bad things happens to Dolores, and she does not have telekinectic powers, just like Carrie to help her to solve the problems, so she has to fix things with her own hands. It seems to me that the eclipse that happens in the middle of the novel has a very metaphorical meaning. When the night comes in the middle of the day, people change, they feel freer, they can do things they wouldn't be able to do with the Sunlight or, even, the Moonlight. The complete darkness seem to cover things. I don't think this is King's best work -- 'The Shinning' is much better --, but, anyway, it is a very nice and disturbing novel. The only problem is that it is not divided into chapters or blocks, and this difficults the reading. I understood why he did it -- the whole novel is Dolores's mologue, her confessions --, but we cannot read everthing in one sitting, so it is hard to decide where to stop avoiding missing what we have reading so far. Sometimes you are able to track points when she is moving to a different subject that helps a lot. All in all, it is an interesting novel. And it shows how cruel human beings can be, and what some people make in order to survive. Moreover, not every crime is just a crime.
Rating:
Summary: A King Tour-de-force
Review: I have always felt that Stephen King's writing is at its best when he focuses on character development and pictures of small-town America rather than the supernatural. "Dolores Claiborne" is a case in point.
I was a little startled when I started reading this book to find that the text is all first-person stream of consciousness. Everything is written in dialect, with quite a bit of phonetic spelling. There aren't even any chapter divisions. This style of writing takes a little getting used to, and I thought it might wear thin quickly. It didn't, and the fact that King can keep a reader's attention in this style for so long, without breaking character or style in the slightest, is amazing. King is truly one of America's great authors, despite his attraction to the macabre and the supernatural.
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