This is one of those novels by Stephen King that I didn’t read as a kid, and well, I don’t really think I could have and made much out of it. My brother read it when he was like 12 and that’s kind of funny to think of now that I have.
It’s an odd book for Stephen King and is similar to Rose Madder to a large degree and Gerald’s Game to a very large degree of being a book pretty much devoid of supernatural elements. Instead this is a book about murder, the human heart, darkness in human souls, and plenty of other more ordinary evils.It’s also odd because it’s written as a deposition given to a local sheriff’s office in the wake of a death of an older woman. Dolores Claiborne is giving her testimony and includes the murder of her husband, whom she killed and hid his body down a well.
The book is also apparently written with very few breaks in the text, which I will have to trust, but this was an audiobook so I didn’t notice. What is funny about this audiobook though is that it included little sound effects elements like water being poured and other little moments that Dolores talks about in her narrative.
It’s pretty interesting and obviously Stephen King tries his darndest to be a sympathetic creator of female characters and has some success. As always, the most successful part of the book is the distinct voice of Dolores Claibourne who’s upstate Maine-ness comes through strongly.
(Photo: https://www.amazon.com/Dolores-Claiborne-Novel-Stephen-King/dp/1501143808/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3QV6X6KY4Q7BU&keywords=dolores+claiborne&qid=1560890926&s=gateway&sprefix=dlores+%2Caps%2C185&sr=8-2)