She’s Come Undone

An interesting read by Wally Lamb, a faculty member at UConn, called She’s Come Undone.  This had everything and the kitchen sink.  The tale of a young woman’s struggle after her parent’s divorce, mother is institutionalized, the young woman gets raped, and lots of family deaths.  Really uplifting, huh?  Lamb’s character, Delores Price is more than believable and it seems that at every turn she is abused in some way or another.   Lack of self-esteem is the catch phrase here and Lamb really captures the emotional struggles that exist for a person who is “up against the world.”  Set in New England, the reader experiences a slice of life that can be found in every town in the US.  Delores’ abusive father first attacks mom, who has fallen apart after miscarrying her second child, and then leaves the family for another woman.  Delores and her mom move in with grandma, a devout Catholic, after her mother is institutionalized.  Delores becomes friendly with the upstairs married neighbor (whom her mother has an affair), unfortunately at the tender age of 14, she is unaware of his drunken advances and he takes her for a ride to the woods and rapes her.  Delores spiral continues downward with years of emotional eating and missing school, becoming the butt of all jokes from her classmates.  Her mom fights to get Delores to go to college, while Delores objects.  After her mother is fatally injured in a car accident, Delores turns to her high school guidance counselor (Mr. Pucci) who convinces her to go to the college her mother helped her get accepted to.  College turns out to be a continuation of high school, more jokes and harassment.  Delores has a lesbian encounter with an overweight janitor and begins to realize her choices are getting her further in a downward spiral, to the point she attempts suicide by trying to swim with the whales in the Atlantic Ocean.   She is hospitalized, loses the weight, and connects with her former college roommate’s boyfriend, Dante (whom she only knew from the letters she stole from her roommate).  After a period of time, she marries Dante without telling him her history, which later comes out.  Delores eventually divorces Dante (after he learns the truth), Grandma dies, more drama with her old neighbor from home, who is a radio host for the local Sunday polka show, she reconnects with Mr. Pucci, whose boyfriend is dying of AIDS, and other crazy excitement when she decides to stay at her grandma’s house and enter school again.  Delores seems to finally accept her life and live it. The story is full of turns at each corner and can be viewed as a real downer, at least by me!  It is wonderfully written with real life characters from the local grocery store and the reader can only feel for Delores and all of the pain she experiences in her life.  What a really sad and lonely person.  Certainly makes me think, hmmm, let’s make sure I treat all people with dignity and respect.   Lotta of pain in this one.  I wonder how women feel about a male author portraying this type of life experience.   Just curious…  I would not recommend this one during grey days of winter.