 First edition cover |
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| Author | Stephen King |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Horror novel |
| Publisher | Viking Penguin |
| Publication date | 1993 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 305 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-670-84452-7 |
Dolores Claiborne (1992) is a novel by Stephen King.
Contents |
Plot summary
The novel is narrated by the title character. Atypically for a King novel, it has no chapters, double-spacing between paragraphs, or other section breaks; thus the text is a single continuous narrative which reads like a transcription of a spoken monologue. As the story begins, Dolores Claiborne is in a police interrogation and wants to make clear to the police that she did not kill her wealthy employer, an elderly woman named Vera Donovan whom she has looked after for years. She does, however, confess to the indirect murder of her husband, Joe St. George, almost 30 years before. Her "confession" develops into the story of her life, her troubled marriage, and her relationship with her employer. Unlike the majority of King's works, the novel does not include supernatural elements.
Connection To King's Other Works
This novel is most closely connected to Gerald's Game. In Gerald's Game, it is revealed that Jessie Burlingame is sexually assaulted by her father during a solar eclipse. The same solar eclipse is detailed in Dolores Claiborne, and during the eclipse Dolores has a psychic vision where she sees Jessie being assaulted. Many years later, Dolores again imagines that Jessie is in danger, assumedly she is seeing the events detailed in Gerald's Game, with Jessie handcuffed to the bed. The two novels were initially conceived to be part of a single volume, titled In the Path of the Eclipse. Later editions of the novel have a foreword that explains the connection between the two. There is also a reference to the town Jerusalem's Lot, as referred to in Salem's Lot and Night Shift (in the short stories Jerusalem's Lot and One For The Road when Dolores mentions "that town upstate where they say no one lives". Shawshank Prison, as mentioned in Different Seasons is also referred to several times throughout the novel. The fact that the town of Jerusalem's Lot is mentioned also ties it geographically to many other Stephen King works.
Memorable Quotes from the book
Vera Donovan: "Sometimes, Dolores, an accident can be an unhappy woman's best friend." Vera Donovan: "Sometimes you have to be a high-riding bitch to survive. Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has to hang onto." Vera Donovan: "Well, don't look to me, Dolores. All my money is tied up in cash." Vera Donovan: "Remember Dolores, Eclipse at Five." Dolores Claiborne: "The last time you were sorry was when you had to use a pay toilet and the string on your pet dime broke." Dolores: "I didn't murder that woman any more than I'm wearing a diamond tiara." Dolores: " ... it will be the last time you ever hit me because if you do, one of us is going to the bone yard..." Dolores: "...listen Mr Grand High Pubah of Upper Butt Crack..." Dolores: "Vera, your days of silk and satin are over, from now on it's wash and wear..." Vera: " husbands have accidents every day Dolores...Why, one is probably dying right now...he's on his way home from his mistress' apartment and his brakes are failing....THEY DIE AND LEAVE THEIR WIVES THEIR MONEY...Sometime Dolores, an accident can be an unhappy woman's best friend..."
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Dolores Claiborne was adapted into a 1995 film starring Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh, directed by Taylor Hackford.
Editions
- ISBN 0-670-84452-7 (hardcover, first edition, 1993)
- ISBN 0-606-05811-7 (prebound, 1993)
- ISBN 0-451-17709-6 (mass market paperback, 1993, reprint)
- ISBN 0-8161-5641-7 (paperback, 1993, Large Type Edition)
- ISBN 2-277-04742-2 (paperback)
