Dolores Claiborne was the Stephen King book I put off reading for quite a while, not from disinterest, but because I was just catching up on most of his other popular works over the years. Now I've been trying to read his more underrated works or ones that didn't get as much attention according to other Stephen king fans. And this one from what I've seen was considered more of a thriller than a pure horror novel which was another factor of not reading it sooner. Which I do regret in hindsight, as even though it's not my favorite of his works, it's still a great read overall.
Dolores herself is probably one of the strongest women leads in a book I've read so far. Especially coming from Stephen King, as I've found his writing for most of his female characters to be very up or down or neutral in terms of quality or complexity. You really get inside the mind of Dolores and her outlook on everything, including her flaws and take no-shit attitude as she's the main narrator of the story, her story. Due to being blamed for a death of an old frenemy, Dolores goes to a police station to tell her side of the story of how she had nothing to do with the recent crime but reveals more not so hidden dark things about her past that puts a spotlight on how much hardship she had to endure with her ex-abusive/psychotic husband, Joe St. George (main antagonist/villain). The structure of the book is written like a standard first-person narrative style, but the line breaks and the interruption in the story presents itself as being recorded on a tape recorder and we only hear/read Dolores's voice and side of everything. Which would give an extra layer of mystery to what wasn't being said in any other crime thriller, but Dolores herself explains multiple times how she's too much of a loud-mouthed talker and leaves nothing unsaid throughout the book.
I think that the villain of the story, Joe St. George, is one of the weaker villains I've read from King so far. There's nothing inherently poorly written about the character as he's presented in a such a way to get the reader to hate his guts, which King succeeded at for me. But I just found his characterizations and motivations to be very one-dimensional and not that complex. But I think that's also what makes him scary in a way is how believable he is and how many physical and emotional abusers like him are out there in the real world. But compared to King's other supernatural, psychological, and monstrous creations I've read, he just doesn't stand out all that much from the list of other nightmare inducing villains of Stephen King and comes off as kind of generic in the horror literary sphere in my opinion.
The semi-horror elements of the book do kick in through the second half of the book, but overall, still remains more thriller than horror and that's fine. There were a few heart racing moments, but I was more drawn in from wanting to know what happened next rather than looking for that certain scare factor. I enjoyed the book overall and would recommend it for any Stephen King fan who may have overlooked this underrated book or are looking for something that's not pure horror like his other well-known works. Also, going into the book, I knew it had some connection to his other novel Gerald's Game, and I won't say the connection for spoiler reasons, but I've noticed it in the second half of the book and thought it was interesting and haunting to discover it. I personally haven't read Gerald's Game yet, but I just know the basic plot points from videos I've seen of it a while ago, and I'll have to give that a read sometime in the near future.
For any others who've read Dolores Claiborne, what are your thoughts on the book? Did you think Dolores Claiborne herself was and is the strongest female lead in a Stephen King book, or are there other women characters that are just as well written that I'm not aware of? Also, what other books would you consider or be classified as underrated from Stephen King's long list of books?
by GhostPunkVG3