Dolores and Selena were abused by Joe. Selena was sexually abused, and Dolores vowed to protect her. On the night of the full eclipse, on July the twentieth of 1963, Dolores Claiborne pushed Joe St. George down the well in the back of their house. Later, the police questioned her, and discovered that she killed him in self defense. One day, thirty years after Joe's death, Dolores was caring for Vera when she heard her crying, "Duh-lorrr-isss! It's the dust bunnies! they're everywhere! Oh-dear-God! Oh-dear-God! Duh-lorrr-isss, help! Help me!" (p. 256) Dolores quickly ran to the stairs where Vera had come to find her. Vera then fell down the stairs, and almost instantly, died. The whole town thought Dolores had murdered her. Soon, Dolores found out that she was the heiress of all of Vera's fortunes, thirty million dollars and the Donovan estate, which was worth ten million dollars. Well, Vera had two kids, and Dolores wanted to know why they didn't get all the money. They seemed only suitable since Vera's husband died in a car crash, and she had no other family. It turned out that they too had died in a crash, in October of 1963, and Vera didn't tell her. Dolores then donated all the money to an orphanage.
Dolores Claiborne's attitude changed troughout the course of the book. She started out as a nice, caring woman. Then, she married Joe, and turned into a sassy, rude, abused, homebody. After she found out that Joe had been sexually abusing Selena, she turned flat out mean. She hit Joe, was extra mean to Vera, and had many times when she just sat there and cussed. A few years after she killed Joe, she changed into a paranoid, over protective, hag. She probably changed her moods because of the many difficult situations that she was involved in, for abuse can do that to a person.
The reason one should not read the book below the age of thirteen, is because it contains an amazing amount of swear words. It also has alot of explicit scenes that would not be appropriate for young children. Also, some of the words and situations would be too difficult for a kid to understand. Regardless of those issues, it was an excellent book and I would highly recommend it.
This book was excellent. Stephen King did a great job of going into detail, though sometimes too much. Dolores Claiborne would be a great book for anyone over the age of thirteen to read. It was very suspensful and could provide an adult with a great reading experience. I highly recommend this book.