We hope you will find at least a book or two to read from these selections.
She's Come Undone (Oprah's Book Club)
Wally Lamb. Pocket (Paperback). 1998. Book review by Joel
This is Wally Lamb's first book. I wanted to read it after reading I Know This Much Is True, which I really liked. I really liked this book starting out as well. But then, the main character gets raped by her upstairs tenant at a young age and for me the book goes downhill. Don't get me wrong, it is very well written, and the characters do and act out things that pay off later in the book. The rape scene sets the tone for rest of the novel. Dolores loses her innocence and has to struggle almost insurmountable odds to get back her humanity.
It's my fault for reading the liner tags saying how funny this book is. It's not funny in the least--it is a very serious book with a very dramatic premise and I'd like to strangle those people who said that in the liner notes because it spoiled the book for me. I kept waiting for the punch line that never came. Instead, she kept getting worse off and ended up getting obese due to depression. She had to undergo therapy, and then she hooked up with a man she had stolen photos of (she worked at a one hour photo lab), and started a relationship that clearly had no future. There seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel because there was no tunnel. Just depression. (I read this to get away from the depressing Brothers Karamazov.)
Maybe I am manic right now and subliminally I am buying these depressing books to swing me back down….I don't know. If I had gone into this book knowing it was going to be a serious read instead of trying to figure out why it wasn't funny….I think I would have enjoyed it more. So from now on, under lessons I have learned: stop reading liner notes, and any author or guest forwards, leave to the end. Publishers should put those at the end anyway.
WOW…I must be on a trail of downer books. I don't know about you but I like my comedy to be funny--not rip you heart out and give it to Mayan priests funny--but really funny. So if you say a book is funny, I shouldn't be all bloody with a chest wound at the end of the book…should I? NO!
Joel.
She's Come Undone (Oprah's Book Club)
. Wally Lamb. Pocket (Paperback). 1998.
Book review by Jane
Joel is a fan of Wally Lamb’s, and recommended that I read I
Know This Much Is True. Then, after he read She's
Come Undone (Oprah's Book Club)
I thought the hero in the book was a girl with gusto. She seemed to survive anything, even her tragic childhood. The things that made her mad in the book were legitimate, and she did struggle through so much stuff. She became stronger for it, though, and the book ends on a positive note.
I agree with Joel that the reviews on the cover of this book mislead. There were some laugh out loud moments in the book. There were cutesy things that happened to Dolores, too. However, her life in general was depressing and full of hardship. This is no Erma Bombeck or Bill Cosby comedy book, filled with lighthearted moments. Most of the laughs came from trauma and Dolores’ reaction to it. I found myself relating to her on many levels. It took Dolores many years to get through the problems she had, and in doing so, she created more problems for herself along the way. If you hadn’t known of anyone who had been through a rape and the struggles they had to overcome, then you may judge her too harshly. But Dolores has spunk, no one can argue about that.
As far as recommending this book, I will mention that I had many books
on order from the library, and when they came in (all at once), I was
up to the part where Dolores goes away to college for the first time.
I could not put the book down to start on my other books, even though
I had more time with She's
Come Undone (Oprah's Book Club)
Jane.
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©2004-2008 by Book Reader's Traverse. All rights reserved.
Do you like this book review? Joel has written for Book Reader's Traverse since its conception in 2004. He often finds his books in unusual places, including hometown shops where he visits, and even dumpsters at times. See his comical bio and picks--Joel's Picks.
Read Behind the Scenes at Book Reader's Traverse--blog