Kind of reminds me of The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty.

I feel like I've met that woman, who comes across like the result of a mating between Robert Mitchum and an Irish setter.

Seriously, one of the best books I ever read. I fell in love from page one. When I made the transition to Kindle, I cleared out my bookshelves, keeping only the books I plan to read again and again. This is one.

This book sucked. A) What the hell does a MAN know about writing about a fat girl's life? NOTHING. Thus making whole book wrong. B) Obviously didn't research anything about the main character, places her in situations she would NOT be in at the weight prescribed. What did he actually ASK WOMEN what they weigh? Guess what moron, they LIE. A 200lb woman can still fit in a car, loser. I could go on forever. The only reason I even read this book was because I forgot a book on an airplane and was offered this. When choosing between reading ANYTHING and watching yet ANOTHER Julie Roberts movie in-flight, I will chose the book. I should've watched the stupid movie. I want those precious moments of my life back. The only reason I will give this one star is because it has accomplished the act of being shaped like a book.

This dark coming-of-age story was just an ok read for me. It felt long, a bit overdone and had very few happy moments along the way.

It all begins in the late 1950's with Delores, a lying, foul-mouthed young girl who enters her teens friendless and grossly overweight. Her lack of proper parental guidance and naivety leads to her troubled existence resulting in a disturbed young woman who struggles and searches for sex, love and acceptance in all the wrong places.

I loved Lamb's I Know This Much Is True, but "She's Come Undone" fell short of my expectations.

Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. Dolores is a character you feel compelled to follow until the end. She's totally relatable! I found myself laughing, moderately cringing and hoping at various times the trajectory of her life would shift...and be filled with fewer challenges. Definitely a novel with integrity and heart. I highly recommend this one.

4 Stars.
Dolores Price isn’t your average girl. She’s been through a lot. Heartache. Pain. Suffering. Loss. I know that might sound pretty average to all of you. But her life is anything but.

Dolores is smart as a whip and completely closed off. You can’t blame her for being that way of course - her dad deserted her when she was young, she lost a part of herself when she was taken advantage of by an older man as a teenager and she lost her mom to a horrible accident, right as she was about to enter University. And that my friends, isn’t even half of it. How did she cope, you ask? As a child, her mom gave her food and for years, it did. But in the end, it didn’t solve Dolores’ problems. For that she needed help and she needed to find herself. And that,she did.

“She’s Come Undone” by Wally Lamb is a fascinating coming of age story about a young woman who goes through a truly stunning tale of loss, growth and rebirth. Dolores Price is a woman who will suffer defeat but will not be defeated. Narrated by the phenomenal Kathy Najimy, this novel grasped hold and wouldn’t let go. Wally Lamb did an exceptional job of describing Dolores’ journey into adulthood and her struggle to let go of the burdens of her past. I felt Dolores’ pain and ached for her. Her rebirth was mine as well. All I could think was, “You Go Girl!

Published on Goodreads and Amazon on 5.4.17.

Years ago I read this book in college. I know I begin a lot of my reviews like this, but books don't change, people do. I read this book and I thought it was good.
Until I read it again and realized it was filled with stereotypes! There was a rotten father, long suffering mother whose own mother was racist and repressed, one evil man after the other, the weak, effeminate gay man who dies of AIDS to push the main character to love her life more, a half black child that raps, a butchy lesbian, ditsy college students; every single stock, card board cutout supporting character you can have is sprinkled in this book.
It was on the list for bookclub this year. I read it again, hoping it would get better.
It didn't. For one thing the main character is, well, a bitch. It's hard to feel sympathetic over all the stuff she went through when she's so harsh and abrasive. It isn't even that. It's the way she stumbles into a rotten relationship, it's how she lies and snarls at the wrong people.
Mostly it's just that this book isn't very good.
Also, what is so bad about being overweight anyway?
It doesn't even have the, Oh, he's writing in the perspective of a woman novelty that gives this book back the three stars I would have given it in the past. Cham Potok probably did a better job writing about a young girl in Davita's Harp than this writer did. He at least had a better understanding of basic female anatomy.
Fact is, this book is dreary, depressing with only a few bright moments that aren't worth slogging through mud and dark for. You're better of just listening to the groovy song Undun and dancing around happily. At least you won't be miseral and frustrated like you would if you had read this book.

Sometimes I really think I'm 'out of sync' with some mainstay favorites and this is one of those times. This and the Road were both Ophrah picks and I did not like either one.

I would say this is the worst book I've ever read, but that wouldn't be true, (The aforementioned "The Road" has that honor) but as you can see from my rating it isn't much higher up th list.

If you like books about the people who never fit in, are kind of mean, are clinically depressed, have screwed up families, who are clueless about why their lives are as awful as they are, or truly enjoyed the Confederacy of Dunces...then this is the book for you.

The author took way way way (did I say way) too much time adding in tons of details, making the character's life more and more pathetic. This book could have been half as long as it was. And what is with the Whales? Other than a metephor for unhappy fat people which seems trite?

I'm not sure if I'm glad or annoyed that at least there was a happy ending to this tale. I did not feel that the character went through real growth, but instead just grew fed up. Maybe that's considered growth.

There were only two highlights for me in this book. When she finds him cheating and eating a hotdog and when she breaks up with him at Burger King. Other than that I felt that reading this book was just a waste of time.

This is one of my all time favorite books. I just recently reread the book and fell in love all over again. It had been some time since I read the book and felt I should refresh my memory since I recommend it to so many.

She’s Come Undone is the story of a troubled teenage girl growing into a woman, her struggles and the ways in which she decides to cope with them. She puts on a tough exterior but inside is as soft as the marshmallows she finds comfort in.

Dolores is plagued with heartache, hurt and uncertainty. As a teenager it seems that every person she allows close to her hurts her. She withdraws herself inward and finds comfort in the television and food, losing all interest in the outside world. By doing so she creates more problems for herself, mentally and physically.

When she heads off to college, extremely overweight, she finds out how cruel the world can really be, which sends her even farther down the spiral. Eventually she hits rock bottom. After a couple of years of treatment she decides to create her own destiny. To take control of her life and make it what she wants.

At first things were working out for her and it seemed she had the life she always longed for. We all know that it never happens that way, there is always a snafu, and things do go south for Dolores. But you know what, it just raises her higher. She finally finds herself and makes peace with her past.

There is no need for you to have experienced all the hurt, heartache and tragedy as Dolores to empathize with her, all you have to be is a woman. The most remarkable aspect of the book is that it was not written by a woman. The very first time I read the book I kept checking the cover to make sure it was a man that was writing it. Some how, and I am not sure how, Wally Lamb has totally tapped into how it feels to be a teenage girl, an abused girl, a girl coming into a woman, a woman having her heart broken for the first time by the man of her dreams, and a woman making it on her own after all of these things.

Truly an incredible book. Buy it for all the women in your life.

I honestly don't know how I feel about this book. I remember loving I Know This Much Is True (even though if you ask me what the plot is I couldn't tell you) so kind of felt let down after reading this. I didn't hate the book but I can see why other people did. I think it's a hard book to read if you can't stomach flawed characters. For a lot of the book Dolores' actions made her unlikable even if the way she behaves is pretty human and understandable.

I know for other people the part of the plot revolving around her weight and the depiction of the lesbian character are what made this book off putting but I felt like the way people were treating Dolores because of her weight was pretty realistic especially for the time period its supposed to be happening in. I also didn't find Dottie to be some kind of predatory caricature, it felt like she was lonely and Dolores is the one who called her the night they have dinner at Dottie's place. I think that was a pretty nuanced depiction of how people who have been sexually assaulted before may end up in situations where they are likely to be coerced.

I personally found the whole therapy thing to be more off-putting especially the reparenting using the pool. I also felt like the whale metaphor/theme wasn't that well done, it wasn't poignant and I feel like the novel would have been unchanged without it. It also feels like the book dragged on like did we really need to follow Dolores for all of her life like that. The other wild thing to me was Dante's reaction, I feel like he should have been more freaked out when Dolores confesses to him.

I did find the book hard to put down though so clearly it's got that going for it. I don't regret reading it but I wouldn't say it was a pleasant experience.

Enjoyed this! It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but it was a heartbreaking story about a young woman who goes through so many trials in her life. From sexual assault to overeating and dealing with being an obese person. And choosing the wrong person to marry, Delores had a hard life. On the flip side, she was a strong person despite her choices and tribulations. I liked it! Beautifully written as well.

A bartendress at my hometown bar when I'd moved back there about ten years ago gave this to me when I mentioned I liked to read and stuff and she'd give me the glad eye, the inevitably-we-gonna-get-it-on eye, and free drinks all the time UNTIL I returned this book and said I couldn't get past page 30 because it's totally terrible. She called me a literary snob and stopped talking to me, but the thing is I was really horny at the time and not an idiot and thought she was sort of pretty, so let that give you an idea of how terrible this book is, that is, if you are a literary snob, that is if you like writing that's sort of maybe kind of semi-good.