As I was looking through the collection of King books I've read I realized that I mostly picked up at "The Green Mile" and only on a handful of occasions did I look at what he wrote prior to that. Dolores Claiborne was one of those classics that I'd missed. I happened to find it on the library shelf of my office break room. The only King book in the entire library (which is pretty impressive for a small office and a library started by one person). I wasn't thrilled about picking it up. Dolores wasn't one of the classics people always refer to when they talk about Mr. King's work. Usually it's "The Shining" or "IT" or "Carrie" or "Misery". But after reading the book jacket I was intrigued. 
 It took me awhile to get used to the format of the book. Dolores Claiborne is written in first person in the form of a confession. There are no other characters speaking. She'll often ask "What did you say?" And the next line will be "No thank you- I'm fine." You never see the other people in the room speaking. There's never a missed beat though- you alway know who's saying what and how they are responding to Missus Claiborne's confession. Also- there are no chapter or page breaks. It's just a 300 page confession start to finish. And it seems so natural. It could have been a disaster. 
 Looking back- I don't think any other format would have impacted the reader the same way. Right from the beginning you know Dolores is speaking to the police and that she looks REALLY guilty. There's a lot on the line. 
 From what I understand - King wrote this and Gerald's Game in response to a criticism that he couldn't write women. I've never had this complaint (perhaps because I picked him up long after he'd started writing) but I wonder if those critics were satisfied? Personally- I think he did a great job. As a mother myself I sympathized with Dolores. As a woman I could understand the sister like bond she shared with Vera. Can't live with her, but you can't live without her either. While Gerald's Game isn't a shining example of King's greatest work- I don't ever remember feeling the protagonist didn't feel authentic. (That one still haunts me to this day- so on the horror level- he succeeded.) 
 The story itself doesn't have any supernatural elements (maybe a couple psychic ones), but it keeps you turning the page. Some things you will see coming, others you won't. A good chunk of the story I was turning the page just to see why in the hell Dolores worked for such a seemingly awful woman for as long as she did. I sort of admired Dolores about halfway through all the way to the end. Vera I admired for some things and not so much for others. 
 My only real complaint- is that Dolores never felt "small town Yankee" to me due to the way she spoke. I was born in Maine and have relatives in Ohio. Personally, Dolores' voice sounded more Midwest than Yankee. It could just be her age. It could have been me imprinting my own experiences on the pronunciation of Dolores' words. Not too big a deal though and didn't prevent me from enjoying the story at all.