She's Come Undone

By: Wally Lamb

Narrated by: Linda Stephens

Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

"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 Mallomars, 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, 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.

©2011 Wally Lamb (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"A heroine to cheer for....This supremely touching journey to adulthood may remind you of The World According to Garp and other sagas of emotional liberation." ( Glamour)

"There are at least two surprises in store for readers of Lamb's memorable debut novel. One is the author's sex. This male writes so convincingly in the voice of a female, tracing her life from 4 to 40, that you have to keep looking back at the jacket picture just to make sure. The second surprise is how such a string of trials and tribulations can add up to such a touchingly funny book..." ( People)

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

Something About This Book...

The good parts first: I love how uncomfortable Lamb makes the reader in the first section of the book, when Dolores is growing up. Even though we can see that she's had an extremely unfortunate childhood and we can clearly see how her upbringing has affected her negatively, it's still hard to muster up enough empathy to actually like her. To do so would be a charity and for some (like me), doing the "charitable thing" makes my teeth clench in rage. Did I feel like a meanie for not liking her? Sure. But well done to Wally Lamb for bringing that out in me!

Second, the dialogue is so real, so squirmingly accurate that I'd be listening and just want to bury my head in shame because I just couldn't believe a character actually used such a phrase. Perhaps because I'm from the same class of people in the same area of the country, I don't know, but I found the dialogue of Dolores, her family and grandmother deliciously uncomfortable!

Now for the not-so-good parts. After Dolores becomes an adult, things kind of take a turn for the annoying. Dante is portrayed as this utter a** and Dolores suddenly this sweet, fragile, hard working victim, but I think "Come on Wally, why are you being so black and white like this? You're capable of better!" We're now supposed to stick up for the female, oh no, nothing is her fault, HE'S the jerk, end of.

As for the narrator - I adored Linda Stephens in Gone With the Wind and thought no one could have done a better job in bringing a story and characters to life. Unfortunately I went from GWTW straight into She's Come Undone without realizing the narrator was the same. Ms Stephens is a wonderful reader...just not for this particular book. It was just weird hearing her voice.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book.

Drags a bit...

I really enjoyed the first half of this book- interesting to see how events can turn a girls life upside down. What I felt was the climax of the story, I feel should have been the end, or at least close to it. Not everything needs its happy ending.

love it

If you could sum up She's Come Undone in three words, what would they be?

Wally Lamb is masterful, Great language, insight , humor and story.

Have you listened to any of Linda Stephens’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no i haven't

If you could take any character from She's Come Undone out to dinner, who would it be and why?

all of them

Any additional comments?

terrific book

No one can write about dysfunction better than Wally

This book made Wally lamb my favorite author. He can see right into the heart of a square peg in a round peg world.
He understands what it feels like to be a girl that just doesn't fit in. He gets the daily loathing, anger, loss, fear, loneliness, blame and ultimately hope that a girl feels when life has not been "fair".
He knows the scars of the discarded, and their attempts to hide them... what it feels like to not be "normal" in a societal view.
Delores, Wally's protagonist, wins in her own way; Maybe not the way she deserved, but she learns how to love who she is in spite of her life's circumstances.
Thank you Wally, I learned a lot about myself through Delores.
The only thing I would change would be the narrator.

A Captivating book

This is one of my favorite books of all time so it made me a little batty that the narrator routinely mispronounced Vita Marie and some other things. Otherwise I enjoyed the story as I always did.

A tedious tale

It’s the story of a girl’s mostly unhappy life. Her misery was handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter, stoked by lustful inconsiderate and evil men.

Classic Lamb

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is a good listen. The storyline is easy to follow and the performer does a great job.

A Rollicking Roll Through Dysfunction

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, the story was good but just so sad and dysfunctional.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I really liked the main characters grandmother- she was a woman who was doing the best she could and I felt for her throughout the book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I did not care for the narrators tone or the voice she used for the adolescent and adult Delores. It was a little bit distracting.

Was She's Come Undone worth the listening time?

Yes, I probably wouldn't re-listen to the book though.

Any additional comments?

This book is just sad- from beginning to end. If you are looking for a pickmeup story- might want to listen to something else.

One of my favorites

I listened to this over 10 years ago and loved it then too. I think my perspective is very different now, so I am fascinated that I still enjoy it so much. The journey of self-discovery moves me and it highly relatable. I highly recommend this book.

Best Wally Lamb listen

This book is my most favorite of any book I've ever read. I've probably read it 10 times, and it was a pleasure to listen to it.