What We Keep

Rating:
Summary: what we keep is a keeper!
Review: A woman with 2 daughters remembers a seemingly perfect Midwestsummer. This is a lovely read, filled with rich descriptions &dialogues of the dangers & dramas of a seemingly simple girlhood in a perfect Wisconsin family circa 1958. A pensive, illuminating read. A great gift...

Rating:
Summary: Delightful read
Review: I enjoyed this book, but like other reviewers was hoping for more of a conclusion. The book is about a relationship between two sisters and a mother they thought they knew. When it comes time to confront the mother who abandoned them when they were young, they found that what they thought to be the truth... the truth around which they formed opinions and their lives, wasn't necessarily reality. I would have liked to read more about what they did with the new information they learned from their mother.

Rating:
Summary: I don't readily give out 5 stars but...
Review: I really liked this book. Being the second child, with an older sister I thought this author perfectly captured the essence of that relationship! It was funny in places to the point that I laughed out loud. The book was also sad and thought provoking. I think especially mothers will understand this book on a deeper level. Read it - it's great. I took it out from the library, but I wish I had bought it because I'd like to share it with friends.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully nuanced story
Review: What We Keep could be seen as a story about abandonment by a mother in search of herself but that only serves as an excuse for the author to explore in exquisite detail the vulnerable feelings of young female adolescents. Her depiction of the relationship between the two sisters, so understated in the dialogue, so finely crafted in the nuances, made this book a real joy to read. From one novelist to another, I want to say Congratulations Elizabeth for a job well done!

Rating:
Summary: What We Lose
Review: I may be wrong, but I suspect Ms. Berg was not abandoned by either of her parents. This story is a perfect example of what happens when you try to write about what you don't know. Lack of insight, credibility, and originality.

Rating:
Summary: Explores the Complexity of Mother-Daughter Relationships
Review: I thought that this book really hit on the issues affecting women in their relationships with each other. Whilst you sympathise with Ginny and Sharla you also feel that they are being unfair to their mother. It must have been a very hard choice for her to make. In is not until Ginny is an adult that she is able to see this. I was profoundly touched.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful book about relationship between mother & daughter
Review: "What We Keep" is Elizabeth Berg's best novel todate. The moral of the book was that sometimes things are not exactly as they appear. It was a terrific novel about divorce, longing, and the relationship between mother and daughter.

Rating:
Summary: I Liked it Until the End...
Review: I really liked the way the author let you see a child's view of her parent's break-up. The realationship between the sisters was very realistic. Their reaction towards their mother was very realistic also. I think most children would behave that way! She abandoned them!!! My problem with the whole story was the end. It seemed to me that the author gave much thought to the whole storyline until the end. It was almost as if she just wanted to finish it. The end was too fairytaleish. Oh that's ok Mom that you left us when we were children to have all the fun you thought you were missing while raising us. Oh and it's ok that you did not once pick up the phone in 35 years to see how we were doing without a mother. GIVE ME A BREAK!!! Call me heartless but I don't think I would have had anything to do with that woman ever again! I was hoping Sharla would tell her off one more time. That would have been more realistic to me!

Rating:
Summary: youth makes us see things that are not really there
Review: This book gives a good example of how the world looks through a child's eyes. It also shows that as we mature, we still do not always understand what was really happening during our childhood. Ginny lived for 35 years still believing that her mother was completely responsible for her parents divorce, when really her father was as much to blame. I found What We Keep to be interesting throughout, and not as predictable as I thought. An important lesson is learned; it is never too late to reconcile with a loved one, you may be just as wrong as you believe the other person to be. I enjoyed this book, even though it is not action-packed. I would encourage everyone to give it a try.

Rating:
Summary: Touching and beautiful.
Review: This beautifully-told story convincingly shows that "perfect" lives are not always as they appear.