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Summary: You Will Look At Life In A Differant Way......
Review: All I can say is this was a wonderful book.I listened to it on audio and now Im thinking that I may purchase the book so I can read it also.You feel as tho you know the charectars in this book by the end and you do not want to leave any of them.This story is beautiful...
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Summary: Captures Women's Friendships
Review: Talk Before Sleep captures the essence and depth of women's friendships like few books I've ever read. The cast of extremely diverse women make a beautiful ensemble to help their dying friend. If you love true stories of deep friendship, I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: cardboard characters, sticky sentimentality
Review: I was given this book for Christmas 2002 by my best friend who is indeed actually dying of heart disease. I really wanted to like this book a lot, but it fell terribly short. (My friend agrees with me in this, by the way.) It was a junk food book - quick and easy to read, it left me with an icky taste in my mouth. The worst problem is that the characters are completely flat. The author tried to make them adorable and loveable in a bitchy kind of way, but I just thought they were all bitchy and permanently PMSing. The author obviously couldn't figure out how to do the final death scene, either. There's a horribly sentimental scene earlier in the book (p 179, paperback) involving a friend in a rocking chair, cradling the dying woman in an antique quilt, some groaning, brushing hair from her face, instructions to "think of whiteness, think of stillness", slight sexual imagery, then - FAKEOUT!!! she didn't really die, she just fell asleep. Was this an attempt at a death scene that didn't quite make the grade, but was too good to actually scrap? (She ends up dying offscene, at her brother's house in a city a long plane flight away. No death scene, just a phone notification.) By the way - being really sick is really expensive, but you wouldn't know from this book. The dying woman is divorced, an artist living alone. There is not a single mention of money, health insurance, prescription costs... and they're buying takeout lobster for 8 people at the drop of a pin. Her apartment is perfect and beautiful and artistic, and no one has to find the rent money, even though Ruth has been off work for a very long time. Bottom line - fake, sentimental, annoying, moderately entertaining. If you want to read a really good book about someone coping with the death of a best friend, read "Operating Instructions" by Anne Lamott.
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Summary: A little more talk please
Review: My own best friend recently passed away (albeit not from cancer), so the premise of this book intrigued me. I confess it brought a tear to my eye more than once so the author must have gotten some things right. I would have prefered a more in-depth look at the friendship between Ann and Ruth, I often felt that the author was just scratching the surface. The cast of "supporting" friends almost seemed unnecessary to the storyline, they just didn't add much and often seemed like an afterthought. That said I did enjoy this book, but because of it's brevity I can only give it 4 stars.
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Summary: Annoying, Stifling...could not finish it.
Review: Before you think I am biased because I am a man, first know that I enjoy books that may be described as preferable to women. I've read the books recommended by Oprah, and it's no wonder "Talk Before Sleep" is not on her list. This book is like being trapped in a room with a relative you do not like and has bad breath. The characters are truly annoying. The only thing that kept me reading the book was the fact that the main character had breast cancer, and that me chucking the book would somehow be cold and nasty. But chuck it I did! The characters seem like charictures of whiny, pathetic women. Am I to believe that women really act like the ones in this book, even when faced with cancer? I find them all hard to believe. Maybe this is how the self-absorbed generation faces death. I literally could not stand reading about these characters. Each was annoying in her own way. None could have functioned in the real world built as Elizabeth Berg made them. Books are to be uplifting and inspirational; even when facing death. This is just sap. Read the new Wally Lamb book instead.
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Summary: Realistic Portrayal, come on!
Review: Talk Before Sleep appeared to be a touching story about women and the sanctity of the frindships;however after chapter one I realized that was only the cover story. Who actually behaves like this? We don't all fantasize about leaving our husbands, passionatley kiss our so-called "best friend," and use profanity freely. By all means I am no prude, but I don't know any friends, neighbors, or colleagues who would act like Ruth, Ann, or L.D. Thank goodness my pals are a bit more mature and settled. And couldn't the lesbian have enjoyed the music of someone other than K.D. Lang? Predictable, trite, and an ill attempt at a tribute to all who have past away from breast cancer. The premise was intriguing, the execution of the storyline lacking. Why did I insist on finishing this sleeper?
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Summary: A moving story about a great friendship.
Review: While in the middle of reading this moving book, I had to pick up the phone and call my best friend who lives 300 miles away and tell her again how much she means to me and that I love her. Of course she already knew these things, but this book makes you take a look at your friendships and appreciate them a bit more and realize how blessed you are to have those around you who "understand" you and love you just the way you are. What would you do with her or say to her if you knew your time together was limited? Elizabeth Berg is a great author who can make you laugh and cry and always make you glad you chose her book to pick up and pass the time. I have read several of her books and have yet to be disappointed.
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Summary: Didn't expect to but I loved this
Review: I wasn't in the mood for a depressing book. When I first started it and realized the subject matter I thought of putting it aside. However, I hung in there and boy am I glad I did. I just love Berg's character development. I felt that I knew each of these characters. They were all wonderful yet flawed, just like real life. I didn't find this depressing. I found that it made me appreciate life even more.
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Summary: Loved it
Review: What a book! I loved it, but it was so sad. Berg manages to pull you into her stories, characters, they are so easy to read.
You can set aside several hours & sit down with one of her books...you'll be a fan.
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Summary: Poorly researched, poorly thought out
Review: Talk Before Sleep review Author Elizabeth Berg may have been a nurse, but she sure doesn't know much about nutrition. In "Talk Before Sleep", the friends of the dying woman seem determined to promote Anne's cancer as much as possible, in the food they bring her, and to get started on their own versions of the disease as soon as they can. They start off by meeting over cheeseburgers; move on to martinis, pizza, lobster, and repeated orders of French fries. Then they consume fudge, garlic bread, beer, potato chips and ice cream. Vegetables and fruits that could protect against cancer are scrupulously avoided. For some reason, the narrator lapses into nutritional awareness when she is concerned about yellow dye in the macaroni she's preparing for her daughter. However, for the older women, the theme must be "let's get it over with and resume our friendship in heaven." Vesanto Melina, Registered Dietitian, http://www.nutrispeak.com
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