I think that if I do one book a day this week I might just get caught up with the reviews by the time I get back to work! Yes.... I have just had a very good interview and it looks like I will be starting on 1st July. It's going to be an interesting one as it is a complete change of industry for me but I like a challenge and a change every now and again so looking forward to seeing what the future is going to bring.
I am hoping to keep having time and energy to read and I think I will but starting a new job can be a bit draining at the start so I will have to see how I get on. In the meantime, it is time for another slurp of coffee and then the next review.
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Dolores Claiborne - Stephen King
This one starts in a strange way. We meet Dolores and immediately understand that she is in a spot of bother. She seems to be cautioned for something or other and in an interrogation room with a few police officers and a stenographer. Once we all know where we are it is just one long dialogue of Dolores telling us how we all ended up where we are. The interesting thing about the book is that is has no chapters, no separate paragraphs or real breaks in the story (apart from when she addresses the people in the room). In the beginning I thought this was going to be really off putting, how was I going to stop reading this one? In other books there is a clear end to a chapter and you can promise yourself that you will read just one more chapter and then go to bed. I could not do that with this one so I kind of just read until I felt I had had enough of Dolores talking to me. Once Dolores gets going there seems to be no stopping her.
Dolores has been hauled in by the local coppers to discuss her possible involvement in the death of her employer Vera Donovan. Funny thing is, she actually ends up confessing to the murder of her husband and that becomes as much the focus of the story as the business with Vera. Dolores is best described as one tough cookie. She has not had an easy life and has had to work hard all her life. She is also a woman with a sense of justice and a good brain on her shoulders. She is very protective of her children and wants them to be the best they can be. Her wanting to care for her children is what leads her to kill her husband (and good riddance to him too!). He is a bit of a brute who is good at pretending to be an alcoholic, getting people to take putty on him and he likes to think he can outsmart Dolores and take advantage of their daughter. After only a few pages of reading about their life together you know that this is never going to fly with Dolores. Especially not when she realises that accidents do happen, to all sorts of people, in all sorts of ways. Vera very obligingly points this out to her one day and Dolores then knows it is time to take action. A solar eclipse very obligingly lends a hand in covering up the worst of it. It is fascinating to read how she mentally prepares herself and how at times such a simple woman manges to keep herself together through all of it and comes out the other side. I do not mean that in a derogatory way - she just is simple, her choices in life are simple. She is a simple housewife who decides on what needs to be done and does it! The only sad thing is that in all of it she seems to have lost the unwavering trust of the one person she did the murder for. One of the most entertaining parts of the book is when she gets hauled in for her husband's murder by the local copper and is questioned by some jumped up Medical Examiner McAuliffe. The guy is almost sure he can get this little housewife to confess for the murder. He comes across all high and mighty and pompous but Dolores is ready for him. She has her story straight and keeps her cool and comes out the winner in that fight! The dialogue between the two of them is fascinating and very well written.
The other part of he book is the story of Dolores and Vera. Vera is the local rich lady in the big house and Dolores is the only servant to have lasted longer than a few months in her service... ever! Vera is demanding, feisty, bitchy and a woman who has lost everything. Husband and children (as you find out at the end). One was an accident, one was not. Dolores and Vera seem at times to be just two cantankerous old women condemned to lives their lives out getting on each other's nerves and fighting over stupid little things. Mind you Vera has her ways of being mean and if I were Dolores I would have probably killed her within two pages of meeting her. But.. there seems to be an understanding between the women as well. They are both strong and have fought to protect their families and in that fight things have not always gone to plan. Vera has let what happen to her turn her into a bitter and lonely women. Dolores seems to have been able to let go of what has happened to her and that is the biggest difference between the two of them. Vera is the one who ends up worse off as she has a few strokes and becomes dependant on Dolores for her care. From the stories in the book you understand that Dolores had quite a bit to contend with taking care of Vera. The shit story is hilarious and very eewwy, the dust bunnies are just a bit freaky and in a way touching. Dolores she seems to be able to bear it all. When you get to the end Dolores' story of what happened when Vera died is almost tender and very believable. Vera is at the end of her tether and wants to end it all. Dolores knows she wants to help her friend to let go. There seems to be a real understanding and underlying kindness in the relationship at times. Vera really only trusts Dolores to take care of her properly as she has never let her down in all the years she has worked for her. Dolores with no husband and with the kids having their own lives really only has Vera to look after and protect.
However, there is that little niggle in the back of your mind when you listen to Dolores in the interrogation room telling her story. This is the version of events being told by a woman who has planned and executed the murder of her own husband. In the end Dolores is not charged with any murder and is free to live out her life. She even manages to get some good to come out of it all by spending her inheritance wisely.
The whole book is really just one big speech by Dolores. It is mainly dialogue and description from Dolores on what happened with her husband and Vera. The initial concern of having no chapters is quickly put to the back of your mind by the pace and rhythm of the conversation and events. It flows and rolls along and takes you along with it. The dialogue is good and Dolores is one funny, tough old lady. Hard to believe she is almost 66. The fact that she is brought to life as a character so well so quickly means that you forgive her for doing what she did. You cannot really blame a woman for killing her husband after what he did to their daughter. It is almost as if the fact that she has murdered her husband becomes irrelevant. It just happened to be part of her life and she just happens to need to tell the story. To be honest I just wanted her to keep talking to me. She is a joy to listen to and this is a credit to King.
Title: Dolores Claibourne
Author: Stephen King
307 pages
Hodder and Stoughton
ISBN #0-450-58886-6
Books to be read: 146
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