Rating: 
Summary: A thoughtful novel about a marriage in disarray.
Review: Elizabeth Berg's latest book, "Say When," is the story of a marriage that is going downhill. Griffin and Ellen seem to have it made. They live comfortably in a Chicago suburb, and they adore their precocious eight-year-old daughter, Zoe. Suddenly, Ellen reveals that her marriage is unsatisfying and she asks Griffin for a divorce. Ellen tells Griffin that she is in love with a younger man who truly understands her. Berg tells this story mostly from Griffin's point of view. For the first time in their marriage, Griffin starts to contemplate some of the ways that he and Ellen are different from one another. Ellen is cerebral, creative and spontaneous. Griffin is grounded, organized and predictable. Ellen and Griffin have always had their differences, but Griffin believes that their marriage is still worth saving. Berg writes with a delicate touch and gentle humor. I love the character of Griffin. He is a great father and a man of deep feeling and devotion. Many female readers will claim that he is a complete fabrication, since there are no men like Griffin on this earth. If that is so, then there should be. Ellen is a cipher and not a particularly sympathetic character. She comes across as flighty and capricious, although her love for Zoe is unwavering. In "Say When," Berg turns the cliche of the male having a midlife crisis on its ear. Here, it is the woman who needs to find herself, while the man wants his life to go on as it always has. Berg has written an entertaining contemporary novel that explores the theme of how difficult it is to sustain long-term relationships. After all, why stay married when divorce is such a quick solution to marital problems? Berg hits all the right notes in this touching, funny, wise and very satisfying novel.
Rating: 
Summary: TOO EMPHATIC!!
Review: Elizabeth Berg's new novel "Say When" is a huge disappointment. Unless they are awarding prized for having the most ITALICS in current fiction; there are ITALICS on EVERY SINGLE page. Too TOO many ITALICIZED words! It's like having a TEN year old read it to you! I think she was TRYING to paint and ARNEST picture of a TROUBLED marriage from the viewpoint of the MAN for a change. But it just doesn't WORK.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating character study
Review: Frank Griffin loves his wife and his eight-year-old daughter Zoe and is prepared to do everything in his power to keep his family together. He suspects his wife Ellen is having an affair with her teacher who is giving a night course in auto repair, but Frank is prepared to wait until she comes to her senses and gets it out of her system and never confront her with it. It is Ellen who brings things out in the open by admitting she is in love with Peter and wants a divorce. Griffin refuses to give her one and won't move out of the house or their bedroom. Ellen finds the whole situation awkward and finally moves into her own apartment but she's at the house every day to take care of their daughter until Griffin comes home. Their impasse is finally broken when Griffin is ready to listen to what Ellen needs to say. There is not a lot of action in SAY WHEN but it is a fascinating character study about two people who share space but fail to communicate. There are many funny moments in the book especially the scene when Ellen and her date meet Griffin and his date at the movie house. The two protagonists are both decent and kind people who go out of their way to make sure any disruptions in their daughter's life are kept to a minimum. Elizabeth Berg has written a heartwarming tale focusing on human frailties. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Say Something
Review: Griffin is happy in his marriage and actually enjoys the routine of his life. He knows his wife is having an affair, but chooses to ignore it rather than respond to it. He is forced into a response when she announces her intent to divorce. Griffin and Zoe are sympathetic charactors trying to cope with what they don't understand, but Berg fails to make us understand Griffin's responses here. Yes he wants his wife back, but why? It is made very clear that she never felt happy together, his friends think she is odd, she has no friends, no outside life until her affair. Rather than sort out the complexities of the human heart, Berg wastes her skills as a writer by simplifying this into a "he learns "he don't know what he's got till its gone" female fantasy". While she sets up the beginning nicely, it turns into a formula that forces the wish-fulfillment ending rather than letting out see the charactors develop their own responses.
Rating:
Summary: It was okay
Review: I agree with the previous reviewer in saying that one of the reasons for divorce is immaturity. People are so quick to give up because of things that can definitely be worked out. I guess that comes from no patience with I definitely do not have.
I can say that the daugther is this book, named Zoe did not help at all because she was so fresh to her parents and very rude, but you can't blame her that is the lack of discipline.
Later....
Rating:
Summary: Where's the Beef?
Review: I am a Berg fan from way back, Pull of the Moon, What We Keep and Talk Before Sleep being my favorites. Say When didn't do it for me. There just wasn't a whole lot there, folks. Immature woman has midlife crisis, hubby reacts in saint like fashion, while spoiled daughter gets pulled back and forth. Had Berg not mentioned the daughter's age, I would be left guessing, as her behavior ranged from that of a 4 year old to what one might expect of a 16 year old. Didn't quite understand how wifey came to resolve her crisis either....it just sort of ended. And, what's with L.D. making another appearance? Are we that short on characters? Say When worked as a decent beach read, not a book you have to think about....not a book that will stay with me.
Rating: 
Summary: Did Elizabeth Berg really write this?
Review: I am a huge fan of Elizabeth Berg's books and eagerly awaited the arrival of this one. What a disappointment! I found it so bad - and so unlike anything else she has written - that I was seriously questioning whether she HAD actually written it! To me, it seemed like the work of an entirely different author. It didn't hold my attention (I gave up halfway through) and the writing style seemed weak and contrived, when compared to something as assured and polished as 'Open House'.
Rating:
Summary: My expectations were a little higher for this author.......
Review: I bought this book because I enjoyed "Open House" also by the same author. Yes, the book is viewed through the husband's perspective.... nice change of pace. But I just felt that it should have been more in depth of why the wife behaved as she did. The book also came to an end very quickly which made the conclusion seem rushed. Get this one on sale...... don't pay full price like I did!
Rating:
Summary: Just wish that I had liked Ellen....
Review: I enjoyed this book and was relieved at the outcome, but I found that I could not 'like' Ellen. I thought that she was a rather selfish character and though Frank was not always a good guy, my empathy was more often than not with him. I wonder what would have happened if Frank had done as asked initially and left? Most of my sympathy went to Zoe and Donna....you'll know who I mean when you read it! All in all a very good book.
Rating:
Summary: Men just don't get it
Review: I felt sorry for Griffen, here is married to a woman who he thought he knew, did in fact know but didn't know the things that would keep his wife from crying in her bowl of cheerios, each morning. Didn't know that his wife didn't want to get married to him and asked her mother not to even mail the invites. Griffen like most men don't get the point. and when the point is given after many examples they still just don't get the point. Say When tells us both sides of the story. We women get it, but Men please work on getting the point.
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