The opening scene in Dolores Claiborne takes place in a police station. Dolores is discussing the day's events with two police officers and a stenographer. Vera Donovan, Dolores's longterm employer, is dead, and the police have reason to believe that Mrs. Claiborne had something to do with it.
The first eighty pages cover Dolores's relationship with her employer, her husband, and her actual work life. The reader is first introduced to Frank and Andy, the two police officers taking part in the interrogation. Frank and Andy get no respect from our main character, who has known them since they were children. Dolores begins to tell them all about Vera; her personality, her fears, the way in which she interacts with other people, her bad behavior. Vera was a woman accustomed to always getting her way, and not one to put up with anything less than perfection. However strong-willed she was, she seemed to have admired Dolores for standing her ground against such a notorious personality.
Soon after, Dolores begins speaking about her husband Joe and makes no secret about the state of her married life. Joe was an alcoholic, abusive physically and emotionally. Once she began to dish out the treatment she was getting, things started to take a very small turn upward. We are briefly introduced to her children.
So far, the social issues addressed in the book are domestic abuse, verbal abuse, and a much more severe issue, homicide. When Dolores was married and working for Vera, she had no respite from the anguish that both environments created.
*Novel Group: Robert Dominguez, Amanda Conley, Alyssa Young
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2 comments:
Sounds like there are a lot of social issues with this book. Your post was very well detailed and looks like it would be a very interesting book.
I think I'll have to keep reading your blogs. This lady sounds kind of interesting. Seems she has a lot going on.
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