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She's Come Undone

Average rating: 4/5

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She's Come Undone

by Wally Lamb

Washington Square Press | December 1, 1996 | Trade Paperback

"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...."

Meet Dolores Price. She''s 13, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood goodbye. Beached like a whale in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the Mallmomars, potato chips, and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally rolls 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 really going belly up.

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. At once a fragile girl and a hard-edged cynic, so tough to love yet so inimitably lovable, Dolores is as poignantly real as our own imperfections. She''s Come Undone includes a promise: you will never forget Dolores Price.

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Reviews

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 3/5

    "good"

    Reader1

    4 months ago

    received a ton of books for christmas. i decided to choose this one to start off my reading frenzy. always heard people buzzing about this book.

    i've never read a book where the protagonist is depressed extremely overweight. this is exactly the point that drew my interest. no more slim, athletic and attractive leader let's here a story from someone who is real. meet dolores price

    this book is moving, depressing, shocking and exciting. you will cry and cheer for dolores' life. the author is excellent at being the voice of young woman.
    good story to get into, easy read and a lot of emotions will run through you. i couldn't wait to get to the end to see where her life would take her.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 4/5

    Surprised by how much I loved it!

    SM

    5 months ago

    I really did not like the book throughout most of the first half and I did not think that I would finish the book. I had trouble "digesting" the main character, Dolores.

    However, at some point, I cannot pinpoint it, I became truly engrossed and I began to love the main character. I was sucked in, and I couldn't bear to put the book down.

    I'm so glad I stuck with this book.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?
    Tanya Eubanas

    Rating: 5/5

    Phenomenal.

    Tanya Eubanas

    2 years ago

    Wally Lamb writes amazingly. He manages to portray the darker side of humanity with such ease and incredibility that he can make you want to laugh. cry, and feel disgusted all at the same time. He is a one-of-a-kind author.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?
    Lisa

    Rating: 5/5

    Excellent Read!

    Lisa

    12 years ago

    I loved this book! I didn't want it to end. I loved Dolores' character. I would have liked her to have the baby she so much wanted though. Very well written. I couldn't put it down!

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From Our Editors

Delve into the extraordinary world of 13-year-old Dolores Price. In She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb has created a comical and bittersweet heroine who tries to come of age in the sixties, when hippies and pot are the last thing on poor Dolores' mind. No, 13-year-old Dolores has to contend with a mentally-ill mother, an abusive father and the fact that she was raped in a dog pound by a local DJ. She spends her "glorious" teenaged years eating and eating in front of the TV. When she reaches the weight of 257 pounds as a young woman, life still holds misery - but Dolores isn't going to give up that easily. She's determined to give herself one more chance to find herself and her place in the world.

From the Publisher

"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...."

Meet Dolores Price. She''s 13, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood goodbye. Beached like a whale in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the Mallmomars, potato chips, and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally rolls 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 really going belly up.

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. At once a fragile girl and a hard-edged cynic, so tough to love yet so inimitably lovable, Dolores is as poignantly real as our own imperfections. She''s Come Undone includes a promise: you will never forget Dolores Price.

About the Author

WALLY LAMB''s fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Pushcart Prize XV: Best of the Small Presses; The Best of the Small Presses; The Best of the Missouri Review; Streetsongs 1: New Voices in Fiction; Northeast and The New York Times Magazine. He is the recipient of an NEA grant for fiction, and is a Missouri Review William Peden fiction prize winner. A nationally honored teacher of writing, Lamb lives in Connecticut with his wife and their three children. He is currently at work on his second novel.

Bookclub Guide

Reading Group Discussion Points

  2. How does Dolores'' life parallel her mother''s and how does she ultimately triumph and move beyond her tie to her mother''s failures?

  3. Discuss the significance of water in the novel - as a symbol of both Dolores'' breaking points and eventual recovery.

  4. How is religion, particulary Catholicism, treated in the novel? Is it a legitimate source of strength or simply another crutch to avoid dealing with the real problems in Dolores'' family?

  5. Death, in many forms, frequently occurs in the novel. What is the impact of death on Dolores and is she ever able to move beyond the initial tragedy of her baby brother''s death?

  6. Throughout her life, no matter where she is, Dolores always feels like on outsider. What perspective of reality dictates her actions - is Dolores misguided or is she a victim of her circumstances?

  7. How is Dolores'' sexuality used to reflect her voyage in society Is her path in life guided by her dysfunctional relationships with men, beginning with her father, or are the men in her life simply potholes in her quest to search for her identity?

  8. Dolores'' earliest memory revolves around the day her family received their first television set. Discuss the prevalence of popular culture in the novel, both in the shaping of Dolores'' identity and the world she lives in.

  9. Whether talented or not, many characters in the novel express themselves through some form of art. Does "art imitate life" or does "life imitate art," and how is art used to give life to the characters and their emotions?

  10. Dolores frequently encounters people in her life who mirror family members who have disappointed her over the years. What is the role of the family and how does Dolores ultimately compensate for her losses through her relationships with caring outsiders?

  11. Dolores is both adored and loathed for her unconventional appearance. How is body image treated in the novel and how does it affect Dolores'' growth and placement in society. Is her problem with social assimilation unique to her experience or a symptom of our society''s definition of beauty?

  12. Discuss the significance of Dolores'' mother''s flying leg painting. Her mother is killed before she really gets a chance to fly -- what facilitates Dolores'' ability to finally accept her mother''s failures and create her own wings to fly towards a better future?

  13. Much of the attention of She''s Come Undone has focused on a male writer''s ability (or inability) to write authentically in the voice of a female character. What other male fiction writers of the present and/or the past have experimented with women''s "voices''? What female writers have written in the voice of males? Is it appropriate for fiction writers to give themselves such "gender-bending" assignments? Is it politically correct? Is it a more socially acceptable task for writers of one gender than for the other?

  14. Wally Lamb has described "good literature" as writing that explores the imperfections of the world and "kicks readers in their pants, shakes them out of their complacency about a world that needs fixing." Do you agree or disagree with this definition? How does it apply to She''s Come Undone?

Trade Paperback

480 Pages, 5.31 x 8.25 x 1.29 in

December 1, 1996

Washington Square Press

English


0671003755
9780671003753

From the Critics

The New York Times An ambitious, often stirring and hilarious book.

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