2.03k reviews for:

Dolores Claiborne

Stephen King

3.89 AVERAGE

lilsummerjoy's review against another edition

2.0

---

Dolores Claiborne is different from Stephen King's usual style. The novel is told entirely in a continuous, monologue-like flow without chapters, which I found disorienting. Dolores recounts the events leading to the deaths of her employer and husband in an interrogation room, but the reliance on her perspective made it hard to stay engaged. The pacing felt slow, and I struggled to stay captivated throughout.

The story spends so much time on Dolores’ background and family that it felt like the plot was pushed aside. And honestly, I could have done without the excessive details about her employer’s bowel movements.

As someone who has enjoyed other King books like It, Pet Sematary, and The Shining, this one was a disappointment. While I appreciate King's character development, Dolores Claiborne was the least enjoyable of his works I've read. Despite this, I’m still looking forward to exploring more of his books in my collection.

It is interesting to me that this book came out in 1992 and King wrote about 50 books that got published before this one. He definitely dropped the ball..

While I didn’t loath it entirely, I was definitely disappointed. If I could give a half star, it’d be a 1.5, but I’ll round up to 2 stars which per my Goodreads bio is "⭐️⭐️ did not like it." This wasn’t a complete miss, but it wasn’t the gripping read I expected from King.

bokhoot's review against another edition

3.25

reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

garhardt's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

jenaaiton's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

---

objectively one of his best books

jocelyn73c's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

rini_reads's review against another edition

3.5

mysterious fast-paced

Strong character development: Yes

dav1dp's review against another edition

4.0

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

librosypunto's review against another edition

4.0

---

Debo decir bien, pero...muy normalito. De hecho la nota sería un 3,5. Cierto es, que no da miedo ninguno y es algo que agradezco, pero tb debo decir que es bastante corriente, nada sorprendente ni espectacular. Vamos que con el carretón que llevaba yo con el bueno de King, de repente siento que hemos pasado de 0 a 100....

xiiitt's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

fermenaa's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes