What We Keep

Rating:
Summary: It's a Keeper
Review: I don't typically read mainstream fiction, but I'm glad I picked up this book. In the present tense, a 47 year old woman starts out on a plane trip to see her mother - she hasn't seen her in 35 years, since she was 12. It flashes back and forth to that eventful summer when she was 12 and her whole life changed and her trip now. Very smart work. If you like shows like State of Grace or The Wonder Years, or books like The Virgin Suicides or Beaches, you'll like this novel.

Rating:
Summary: When Can We Forgive?
Review: A story of mother-daughter relationships, What We Keep tells the story of two daughters and their mother and the relationship that was lost.
Under the assumption that her sister Sharla is ill and wants to see Ginny and their mother together, Ginny is traveling to see her mother for the first time in thirty-five years. During her flight to California, she recounts the many memories of the summer her mother left them. As she moves from past to present, she relives the memories and the pain that grew as she felt her mother slip away, and contemplates her own role as a mother.
Can she forgive her mother, after thirty-five years, weighs heavily upon Ginny as she relives that summer of her twelfth year.

Rating:
Summary: A+
Review: I'm a huge Elizabeth Berg fan, and this is definitely one of her better books.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Superlative
Review: I have just finished the most amazing book I've read this year and I can say this in February - the 2nd month of the year. But I know I will never read a book like "What We Keep" by Elizabeth Berg this year. I picked this book up on the 7th of February and finished it on the 13th. This book has been with me for a week and will remain for a long time in my memory. The book is about mothers and daughters. I know it's cliched. Many things have been written on this topic but this book is different. It bares its soul to the readers.

The narrator Ginny Young at forty-seven is out to meet her mother after thirty-five years on a call from her sister Sharla. While travelling on the air plane she narrates the past. The little incidents. The midnight escapades with Sharla and all the complexities of an eleven-year old and her older sister. While reading this book, there were many a times that I cried uncontrollably and now when I ask myself why: I know that the book made me contemplate the relationship I share with my mother and all those times we have been close and in many ways apart.

I cannot resist but include these beautiful lines from the book as excerpts:

"I suppose what I now believe is that we owe our mothers and our daughters the truth, and the truth is that my mother was forgiven in the way she was not forgotten."

What we Keep made me think of really what we do keep - memories, anger, frustration, childhood, sisterhood, joy, sadness and more than anything else no matter what the ties with a mother - the ability to forgive and forget, the ability to love again no matter what.

I would recommend this book to anyone. Everyone must read it.

Rating:
Summary: A Novel of Emotional Truth
Review: Elizabeth Berg has spun a tale so compelling and full of emotion. What We Keep is the story of mothers and daughters, distant yet close. Berg examines the mother-daughter relationship and it impacts every faucet of life.

Berg dedicates the novel to women who risk telling the truth. This is a very strong statement that one can only fully contemplate as they finish What We Keep.

We meet Ginny as she is flying to meet her mother that she has not seen for 35 years. As we travel with Ginny the reader gets to day dream with her as she recollects her time with her mother and the impact that her leaving has had on her life. The novel is narrated by both present day Ginny and Ginny at 12 years old as she relives the summer that changed her life.

A great literary talent, Berg is an author that does not disappoint. What We Keep is a compelling novel that will have you anxiously turning the pages.

Rating:
Summary: What We Keep
Review: This book is crowded with startling happenings. Read it closely, (optimally in one or two sittings) and you are really in for a full, rich read. An invaluable lesson in remembering that perspective is everthing in life. I don't know why people even bother to comment on Elizabeth Berg's plots though. Her books are about one thing: relationships. We just happen in on a small slice of one or more of her characters live's, and before we know it, we've turned the last page; the thinking she inspires already begun.

Her writing is spare; her sentences so perfect for the mood she conveys. This is open, revealing writing--that also entertains. How rare is that?! Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Casper's Review on a Heartwarming Tale
Review: This novel is an endearing relationship between a mother and her two daughters. Although the plot was semi-predictable, I enjoyed reading this book. The most enjoyable part of this book was the maternal bonds that exist despite their seperation. The story progresses well through Ginny's flashbacks on a plane ride to see her mother. Which in fact, she hasn't seen in 35 years, due to her detailed reasoning in this book. I highly recommmend this novel to anyone , from ages 16 and up, who are looking for a heartwarming tale.

Rating:
Summary: A good read...but came up short
Review: I like Elizabeth Berg's books. This was a good story that came up a little empty in the end. Otherwise, it's worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book!!
Review: This book was very well written! I couldn't put it down! I thought it was very callous of the two daughters to hate their mother so much after she left them, but I guess that'a the way children react to things. It seems like Marion was a wonderful mother up until the time she thought she couldn't live a lie anymore and she was so unhappy that she had to walk out. But to stay completely out of her life for 35 whole years? That was somewhat harsh. I felt sorry for Marion. The things she went thru from the time she left until Ginny and Sharla came to visit her.
She did what she felt was right. She wanted to be happy. It must sound cold and cruel but I applaud women for having the guts to go out and find their own happiness. It soulds selfish I know, but who else is going to make sure that you are happy? Your children? They don't really appreciate you until they have children of their own or you die. Then they feel guilty and they may feel bad, but you're gone. Children too, are very selfish creatures.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Take on Narration.....
Review: Elizabeth Berg's novel "What We Keep" has two narrators: The 11-year-old Ginny and then the adult 40-something Ginny. It's interesting to hear the two narrators comment on events throughout the book from both perspectives of childlike-ness and then adult-maturity.
I felt this book was lacking depth; that some conflicts were resolved so simply "as no big deal". Taking place in the 1950's and 1960's, and then looking back in retrospect, perhaps some things were just never talked about in real-life. People really "kept" things to themselves as so not to burden their family members. It was just best to leave things alone.
As any psychiatrist can attest, keeping things inside is unhealthy, and sooner or later, you will break-down.... as Berg describes very well in the book.
I only gave this book 2 stars because I thought the story-line was predictable, and that more attention could have been paid to explain events as to why things happend. I was left wondering "why", and thinking, "that was too easy... as if that would happen (or someone would react that way) - in real life.