Product Description

In this extraordinary coming-of-age odyssey, Wally Lamb invites us to hitch a wild ride on a journey of love, pain, and renewal with the most heartbreakingly comical heroine to come along in years.

Meet Dolores Price. She's 13, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood goodbye. Stranded in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the Mallomars, potato chips, and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally orbits into young womanhood at 257 pounds, Dolores is no stronger and life is no kinder. But this time she's determined to rise to the occasion and give herself one more chance before she really goes under.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3331 in Books
• Published on: 1998-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 480 pages

Amazon.com Review
Oprah Book Club® Selection, January 1997: "Mine is a story of craving; an unreliable account of lusts and troubles that began, somehow, in 1956 on the day our free television was delivered." So begins the story of Dolores Price, the unconventional heroine of Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone. Dolores is a class-A emotional basket case, and why shouldn't she be? She's suffered almost every abuse and familial travesty that exists: Her father is a violent, philandering liar; her mother has the mental and emotional consistency of Jell-O; and the men in her life are probably the gender's most loathsome creatures. But Dolores is no quitter; she battles her woes with a sense of self-indulgence and gluttony rivaled only by Henry VIII. Hers is a dysfunctional Wonder Years, where growing up in the golden era was anything but ideal. While most kids her age were dealing with the monumental importance of the latest Beatles single and how college turned an older sibling into a long-haired hippie, Dolores was grappling with such issues as divorce, rape, and mental illness. Whether you're disgusted by her antics or moved by her pathetic ploys, you'll be drawn into Dolores's warped, hilarious, Mallomar-munching world.

From Publishers Weekly
In this engaging first novel, narrator Dolores Price recounts her life story from age four to age 40. The troubled product of a stormy marriage, she is already sipping Maalox in grade school. Then her father walks out on her mother, who suffers a nervous collapse, and Dolores moves to her repressive grandmother's house in Rhode Island. By the time she reaches eighth grade, she has only one friend: a boarder who eventually rapes her. Anesthetizing herself with junk food and soap operas, Dolores becomes an obese, isolated young woman who attempts suicide during her first semester in college and spends seven years in a mental institution. Oddly enough, this relentless parade of disasters makes for interesting reading. The author keenly evokes his protagonist's profound alienation and self-loathing, endowing Dolores with a bleak sense of humor that keeps readers rooting for her. Ironically, the book itself "comes undone" as its heroine develops self-esteem, at which point an absorbing portrait of a woman on a collision course with her problems turns into a disappointing series of cliches about love, forgiveness and Dolores's ticking biological clock. Nonetheless, this is a promising debut.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Lamb's fine debut novel about the travails of a troubled young woman was originally published in 1992. After quietly drifting into obscurity, She's Come Undone today sits atop the best sellers lists thanks to Oprah Winfrey's on-air endorsement. Lovable loser Dolores Price bounces from one tragedy to the next, retaining only her cynical sense of humor. Abandoned as a child by her father (who later tries to make amends, only to be met with Dolores's stubborn rejection), raped by a trusted adult, and later married to a philandering husband, Dolores nonetheless evolves into a cautious, wry adult. Kathy Najimy's sprightly reading is particularly strong when the narrative hits Dolores's adolescent years. For most popular collections.?Mark Annichiarico, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A quick read despite the 465 pages
The painful story of Dolores Price, a coming-of-age odyssey. Dolores is cynical and sarcastic and imminently lovable. We cheer for her at the same time that we are embarassed by her. An extremely quick read despite the 465 pages.

wasted time and energy
very, very depressing; i too felt violated.....esp since it was written by a man!!! read it for book club read..only 2 people liked the book; one person checked her book out from the local library and i gave her my new copy(since i wasted my money on it) to replace the old copy.....would never, ever recommend this read;

Depressing and crude, indeed.
I agree with what another reviewer said about this book being simply depressing and the character crude. Her life is so bleak and her personality isn't in the slightest bit feminine - which makes me wonder why others are impressed that this is written by a man. Her speech, thoughts, approach and lack of (unfortunately true in this society) a more typical oppressed persona makes it clear right away that this is not written from the mind, heart and knowledge of a female. I was unable to identify or sympathize with her because she didn't think like a girl. Aside from that distraction, the character was just so unlikable! Most of her actions made no sense in the context of this story and I didn't believe this writer knew anything about being overweight either. Unhappy overweight girls do not bring up their weight constantly! They hide from it. This man was doing the same thing men always do - making a joke of it.