Rating: 
Summary: King Does It Again... Only In A Different Way
Review: If Steven King were to write a book on how to change oil in a car, I do believe that I would buy it, and not be the least bit dissappointed in doing so. The man just has a way with words. Anything he writes is bound to thrill and chill the reader.
Dolores Claiborn is no exception. Though it was not written in the typical Steven King fashion in which so many of us are accustomed, I found it to be a definite don't want to put downer, page turner.
I suppose one of the things that really amazed me about this book, was how Mr. King was able to tap into the female psyche so profoundly. But that's only the tip of the iceberg, as far as this book is concerned. Though it doesn't touch base with horror, as in 'STEVEN KING HORROR', it does have its chilling moments, as well as mystery, heartache and that quirky Steven King humor.
To put it simply, Dolores Claiborne was an OUTSTANDING, FANTASTIC read! I LOVED IT!
Rating:
Summary: Best domestic violence fiction
Review: Leave it to Stephen King to write what I consider one the best fictionalized accounts of domestic violence on the market.
Sometimes there are unusual twists in real life just as in Delores Claiborne, such as the desperate measures taken by Dolores to protect her child from incest and the most unusual string of events that led to an investigation of how Delore's abusive husband died.
Delores Claiborne is an excellent read because 1. it has a good plot, believable and realistic, 2. Good Writing (KIng of course), 3.There are several conflicts going on within the story, societal, mother-daughter, internal conflict within Delores and a moral conflict for the reader; and the third reason this is a good choice for a domestic violence read is 4. the dynamics are there, a layer beneath the surface at times.
Rating: 
Summary: King successfully jumps genres.
Review: Like the short story "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," Dolores Claiborne is more of a character piece than a horror novel. It invites us to get to know the titular character and her strange and interesting life. For fans of King's horror, this may be disappointing, but it still makes for an engrossing read.King being King, after all, the book can't be all rural Maine slice-o-life. It centers around Dolores' confession of a murder she may or may not have comitted, and around a day when a solar eclipse gave her a glimpse of someone else's life (mirroring a similar scene in Gerald's Game). Though the story is told in flashback, King creates admirable suspense. Above all, though, read this for Dolores' point-of-view narration. It's not Pet Sematary, but it's a heck of a read.
Rating:
Summary: "An accident is sometimes an unhappy woman's best friend."
Review: The conventional street wisdom is that the best movies adapted from Stephen King novels are the ones that do not mention they are adapted from Stephen King novels. Of course, if you look at the films "Stand By Me," "The Shawshank Redemption," and "Dolores Claiborne" as well as read the King stories they were based on, you would find that they are atypical works in that they do not have the supernatural elements we have expected from King ever since he published "Carrie." Consequently I am mulling over the idea that in some distant time there could be an emphasis on King's "non-horror" fiction that would study him as an example of a regional author and make an argument that even if he was the best selling author on the face of the planet at one time, that he was actually a decent written (i.e., the Charles Dickens of the 20th century). "Dolores Claiborne" was written between October 1989-February 1992 (future generations of King scholars will have fun studying the overlap of his novels to create some tapestry of analytical insight) and the title character is a foul tempered, foul mouthed, old Yankee who has been living all her life on Little Tall Island off the coast of Maine. The novel is told in the first person by the 65-year-old Dolores, who has just been arrested for the murder of Vera Donovan, the even older richer lady who had been her longtime employer and who suddenly died in Dolores' care under extremely suspicious circumstances. In explaining what happened, Dolores not only tells her life story but also defends herself from the charge that she murdered Vera Donovan by explaining her involvement in the death of her husband Joe thirty years earlier on the day of the total eclipse. It takes a while to get used to the way Dolores talks. Those who have seen Kathy Bates' captivating performance in the film are in no way prepared for how thick King lays on the accent and colloquialisms with Dolores as narrator. But after a while you get used to the missing letters or idiosyncratic spellings employed by Dolores and focus on the story. However, the murder mystery is just the hook for this novel, where the bigger mystery is the true nature of the relationship between Dolores and Vera. It was strange enough that Dolores came to work for Vera, but even stranger that she stayed for decades as the old lady began her descent into senility. Meanwhile, Dolores has been putting up with her drunken, abusive husband Joe. But while she puts up with anything Joe heaps upon her, she is more protective of their daughter Selena. Ultimately, "Dolores Claiborne" is a character study and when the nature of the bond that was forged between Dolores and Vera is revealed, it is true to the characters and their situations. There is horror in this novel, but it comes from real human beings. This is not to suggest that King is making some sort of belated attempt to acknowledge real horror in the real world because those things have always been in his novels; they just get overshadowed by telekinetics, vampires, haunted hotels and the like. But this time there is nothing in the way and the bare boned approach serves both King and his characters well.
Rating:
Summary: "An accident is sometimes an unhappy woman's best friend."
Review: The conventional street wisdom is that the best movies adapted from Stephen King novels are the ones that do not mention they are adapted from Stephen King novels. Of course, if you look at the films "Stand By Me," "The Shawshank Redemption," and "Dolores Claiborne" as well as read the King stories they were based on, you would find that they are atypical works in that they do not have the supernatural elements we have expected from King ever since he published "Carrie." Consequently I am mulling over the idea that in some distant time there could be an emphasis on King's "non-horror" fiction that would study him as an example of a regional author and make an argument that even if he was the best selling author on the face of the planet at one time, that he was actually a decent written (i.e., the Charles Dickens of the 20th century). "Dolores Claiborne" was written between October 1989-February 1992 (future generations of King scholars will have fun studying the overlap of his novels to create some tapestry of analytical insight) and the title character is a foul tempered, foul mouthed, old Yankee who has been living all her life on Little Tall Island off the coast of Maine. The novel is told in the first person by the 65-year-old Dolores, who has just been arrested for the murder of Vera Donovan, the even older richer lady who had been her longtime employer and who suddenly died in Dolores' care under extremely suspicious circumstances. In explaining what happened, Dolores not only tells her life story but also defends herself from the charge that she murdered Vera Donovan by explaining her involvement in the death of her husband Joe thirty years earlier on the day of the total eclipse. It takes a while to get used to the way Dolores talks. Those who have seen Kathy Bates' captivating performance in the film are in no way prepared for how thick King lays on the accent and colloquialisms with Dolores as narrator. But after a while you get used to the missing letters or idiosyncratic spellings employed by Dolores and focus on the story. However, the murder mystery is just the hook for this novel, where the bigger mystery is the true nature of the relationship between Dolores and Vera. It was strange enough that Dolores came to work for Vera, but even stranger that she stayed for decades as the old lady began her descent into senility. Meanwhile, Dolores has been putting up with her drunken, abusive husband Joe. But while she puts up with anything Joe heaps upon her, she is more protective of their daughter Selena. Ultimately, "Dolores Claiborne" is a character study and when the nature of the bond that was forged between Dolores and Vera is revealed, it is true to the characters and their situations. There is horror in this novel, but it comes from real human beings. This is not to suggest that King is making some sort of belated attempt to acknowledge real horror in the real world because those things have always been in his novels; they just get overshadowed by telekinetics, vampires, haunted hotels and the like. But this time there is nothing in the way and the bare boned approach serves both King and his characters well.
Rating:
Summary: a battered wife's revenge
Review: This is a great book, and the film is just as good, in a different way. This is one wife's struggle with domestic abuse at the hands of a drunken, insulting, violent husband. It leads to this desperate woman's disturbing scheme of retribution and murder. Powerfully chilling. In the book, Stephen King tells Delores' story from her own point-of-view, her own regional Maine dialect, her own voice. This gives the story an added realism that is most effective. David Rehak
author of "Love and Madness"
Rating:
Summary: One of King's Best!
Review: This is one of my favourite novels from King (along with "The Dead Zone", "Misery" and "The Dark Half"). The writing is firm, with very potent delivery. It packs a powerful punch and you'll find yourself eagerly turning the pages to find out what other, even more terrifying horror awaits. The "evil" in the story does not come from beyond the grave or from a dark force. Instead, it is a very common "evil" that an ordinary human being is capable of inflicting on another over and over again over the years, in a very cruel, consistent and at times, deadly silent manner. Dark family issues like wife battery, child abuse, incest and what-it's-like-being-married-to-a-no-good-lazy-and-totally-incorrigible-louse-for-15-years, are tackled and portrayed here in a harsh, brutal and very TRUE-to-life manner. As we read, we could actually "feel" the horror that Dolores Claiborne and her young children have to go through at the hands of the cruel husband/father, Joe St George. It's scary to think that if a woman marries the "wrong" guy (like Dolores did), have a bunch of kids totally dependent on her and not enough money to start anew, then she may just be doomed for good. The novel is told in "first person" style i.e. narrated by Dolores during her "confession" to the police after she is accused of murdering her employer, Vera Donovan. Dolores has a lot to confess: she recounts how her husband actually died 30 years ago and the events leading to the recent death of her employer, Vera (is it an accident, a suicide or a murder committed by Dolores?). The reading is made all the more interesting by Dolores' way of "speaking". She's a real motor-mouth but her words are full of sharp wit and humour (though delivered in the most matter-of-fact manner) that you'll find it hard not to grin or even laugh out loud plenty of times. One phrase that seems to be a favourite with Dolores is: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" which she uses when she speaks about the times when others (e.g. Vera, her husband) try to fool her or when they succeed in fooling her her more than once. In reading this book, you'll also feel the utter despair of Dolores and very likely, you'll silently applaud (and even give full encouragement for) what she has to DO in order to get out of her marital hell-hole. She's a great pillar of strength because of her love for her children and a desperate need to protect them from harm. This is a very MESMERIZING novel and one you'll not regret buying! I also highly recommend the movie-version (with Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh in Oscar-worthy peformances) which added a new, interesting dimension to the story by featuring prominently on what happens to the grown-up daughter (Selena), and her relationship and subsequent reconciliation with her mother.
Rating:
Summary: KEEPS YOU HOOKED!!!!
Review: What would you do if you were accused of a murder? What if you were accused of two murders? In the book Dolores Claiborne you go through the whole thinking process of what would I do? Stephen King draws you in from the first page! The setting is on an island called Little Tall. It starts out when the main character Dolores Claiborne a house wife, mother, and cleaning lady, is accused of killing Mrs. Vera Donavan, her long time employer. This isn't the first time people have called her a killer. Her husband was found dead and the people of Little Tall thought she did away with him. They didn't blame her; he always got drunk and would beat her. King takes you through every thought Dolores has and you feel like you're a part of her. I really liked this book! It was different than any other book I've read. Maybe I liked it because it was about a single mother doing what she has to do to protect her kids. I think the character Dolores Claiborne was very brave- she didn't care what people thought just as long as everything was okay at home. She would fight back when her husband would beat her. She also went straight to the police after the death of Vera Donavan. I think in this book Stephen King was trying to shock his audience. He accomplished this. The way he chose to tell the story had you hooked through the whole book.
Rating:
Summary: KEEPS YOU HOOKED!!!!
Review: What would you do if you were accused of a murder? What if you were accused of two murders? In the book Dolores Claiborne you go through the whole thinking process of what would I do? Stephen King draws you in from the first page! The setting is on an island called Little Tall. It starts out when the main character Dolores Claiborne a house wife, mother, and cleaning lady, is accused of killing Mrs. Vera Donavan, her long time employer. This isn't the first time people have called her a killer. Her husband was found dead and the people of Little Tall thought she did away with him. They didn't blame her; he always got drunk and would beat her. King takes you through every thought Dolores has and you feel like you're a part of her. I really liked this book! It was different than any other book I've read. Maybe I liked it because it was about a single mother doing what she has to do to protect her kids. I think the character Dolores Claiborne was very brave- she didn't care what people thought just as long as everything was okay at home. She would fight back when her husband would beat her. She also went straight to the police after the death of Vera Donavan. I think in this book Stephen King was trying to shock his audience. He accomplished this. The way he chose to tell the story had you hooked through the whole book.
Rating:
Summary: A King book That's Just About a Person. Awesome!
Review: When I started reading this book, I was bracing myself for a bad experience--I'd just finished Heart of Darkness by Conrad, which is three big chapters and boring as all get out... And this book is one big chapter. I was also wondering what the "supernatural" plot of this book was--Most other Stephen King books I'd heard the basic gist before I'd begun reading, and this one offered me no clue. I was pleasantly surprised to find, however, that this plot only had a hint of the supernatural, and that it was basically a picture a small-town poor woman grafted onto the character of a tiny Maine island. Normally "mundane" fiction bores me to tears, but this was one of the best books I've ever read. It had the superb characterization of any Stephen King novel--better, in fact, than most of the others--but without the bone-chilling plots that simultaneously sucked me in and repulsed me. I found myself reading the novel, thinking, "This sounds like Mom," and "This sounds like Grandma." I sincerely felt like I knew Dolores. That isn't to say that it's without supernatural elements. The supernatural bears very little relevance at all, but it helps build the mood of the novel and the tension of the climax. Instead of the setting and the characters being centered around a supernatural plot and hook that relates (and indeed, is a metaphor for) some aspect of human nature, it's merely a portrait of a fictitious but nonetheless realistic person, with the supernatural and mundane plot elements centered around a lifelike character and setting. One thing worth note, though, is that this is very light reading for a King novel--I finished less than twelve hours after I started. The brevity of it aside, this is a great book, and it really gives you a picture of what it's like in any small rural hamlet... with just a glimpse of something darker that will satiate any King fan's need to escape the mundane.
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