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Summary: Very intriguing, well-written book that I couldn't put down!
Review: This is the first time I read a book from this author, and I absolutely loved it. I can't wait to read other books that she has written.
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Summary: Don't open this book if you have something else to do.
Review: It is so wonderfully rare to find a book you simply cannot put down once you begin. I was actually late for work this morning, simply unable to leave those last few pages unread. Elizabeth Berg is so skilled, able to make the moment and the characters so real through her extraordinary use of dialogue and her ability to sketch a scene with vivid detail. I was taken back into my own childhood through all those little details of life Berg captures so well. I work with children "in care", children whose parents are not there for them anymore. The emotions Berg is able to breathe into her characters and transmit to us as readers takes us to the place where those children are, that place of pain and confusion that grownups can conjure up in the lives of children while they are busy "finding themselves". This book will leave you with an emotional glow. I cannot recommend it too highly.
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Summary: Weakest Berg entry by far
Review: I've read all of Elizabeth Berg's books to date and found this one to be a disappointment. The characters were thinly drawn, especially the father. The scenes and dialog were just repetitions of each other, dragging out the obvious conclusion. Her previous books made you feel you knew the characters intimately, in particular "Range of Motion" and "Durable Goods"/"Joy School". In this book, you just end up frustrated as everyone tends to let everything "just happen."Since you know from the beginning of the book that Ginny and Sharla haven't seen their mother in 35 years, Ms. Berg's challenge is to create understanding and empathy in the reader. Unfortunately, she does not pull it off.
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Summary: What We Keep was unoriginal in theme, and disturbing.
Review: What We Keep, Berg's 6th novel, contains an unoriginal and disturbing theme familiar to the feminist critic keenly aware of the mother and wife metaphor that patriarchy has propagated since the dawning of Christianity. Marion, a 35 soon to be 36 year old married woman with two daughters, leaves her family because she comes to believe that her identity as wife and mother isn't a true description of who she is as a person. "I am 35 and I am nothing," she says desperately to her husband. "Your a wife and a mother", he replies to her. "That's NOTHING!!", she protests. Marion tries to tell her husband her needs as a person besides being a wife and mother. She claims that he never has asked her what she wants as a person. Berg could have developed the relationship more between Marion and her husband. Marion's husband's responses are stereotypical, and render him to nothing more than a figurehead. Berg's novel would have been more rounded had she developed the male perspective more. Instead, she stereotypes him as the shallow husband ignorant of human nature, specifically a woman's nature. I would liked to have seen Marion's husband try to reach out more to understand her. His character lacked emotion, and frankly seemed unrealistic. Berg has a real talent for getting into young girl's hearts and minds, and does a good job of developing the characters and relationship of Charla and Ginny, Marion's two daughters, as she has developed the relationships of girls in her previous novels, (Durable goods, Joy School). Berg does a good job of stating Marion's side of the story, and Charla and Ginny's side of the story, but relegates Marion's husband side of the story to superficialities. Berg carefully balances both sides of the story as if not to appear biased either towards Marion's feelings or that of her two daughters which leaves the reader wondering, who is right or what is right? The subject that Berg dared to revisit in this novel is one that has no answers.! The only apparent answer is to leave the makings of patriarchy. Marion's leaving is justifiable only if you believe that one should be true to one's self at all costs. I would liked to have seen Berg explore the meaning of responsibility, which I felt was lacking. Was it responsible of Marion as an adult, never mind person, mother wife, etc.. to speak to her children about her problems as if they were her intellectual and emotional equals? "We don't want to be your friends!!" Marion's daughters protested. "But can't you be?" Marion pleads. I would have been more sympathetic to Marion had she tried harder to communicate with her family. Marion attempts to communicate with her family, but when they cut her off, or seem disinterested, Marion retreats further into her self. Berg doesn't explore other options for Marion. Why doesn't Marion try to reach out in other ways besides offering to cook for her daughters when words seem to fail? Why didn't she dare to share her dreams of being an artist with her family even if she knew it wouldn't work. Marion's husband cheated on her with Jasmine, the next door neighbor. Berg carefully omits telling the reader this till the end of the story when Marion is reunited with her two daughters, and let's them know that their father cheated on her. Berg tells the reader in the end to give the reader some comfort, that is something surface level and logical to hold on to. The reason Berg doesn't mention the cheating in the beginning is because she doesn't want to reduce Marion's complex reasons for leaving to the age old reason that a husband cheated on his wife. Berg wants to keep the reader questioning, disturbed, and searching along with Marion. The theme of Berg's latest novel is that a woman can't be an artist, and fully explore her being, while also being a wife and mother. I can empathize with this, and believe it may be true based upon other's experiences, but this assumption is known and documented. I think Berg's next challenge is ! to explore the truth's, communicated through words, between men and women, as she has done exploring female relationships. (Mother's and daughters, girlhood frienships, adult female friendships) to see what can be kept from that. To Berg's credit as a writer, each work she completes goes beyond the other in terms of searching for truth. Berg dedicates the novel to "All Women who seek the hard truths in their lives"
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Summary: A piece of stained glass
Review: Berg manages to avoid even a grain of sentimentality as we catch glimpses of a puzzling mother through her young daughter Ginny's eyes. Only later, along with Ginny, do we see what adult complexities created the misunderstanding that lasted a lifetime. The story is like a piece of stained glass that gradually becomes clearer and clearer until we see the world through it: bigger and more forgiving than we remembered. What more can we ask from a book?
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Summary: Hated to finish it!
Review: I love all of Berg's books, and this one continues true to form: incredibly sensitive portrayals of children and family dynamics.
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Summary: Not like her others
Review: I couldn't wait to get my hands around this newest Elizabeth Berg title, but I found it to be somewhat of a disappointment compared to the incredible strength and power of her previous work. Since the main characters are young sisters the comparison to Joy School and Durable Goods is inevitable. But What We Keep, at least for me, seemed to lack the sheer magic and subtle beauty of those two titles. The characters were not fully realized, the mother's motivation weak and ill-defined at best, and the prose itself did not have moments where my breath was captured and spirited away like her other works seemed to do on every page. I am not, however, a fair weather fan, and am still waiting for the next one after this.
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Summary: Another Treat
Review: Elizabeth Berg does it again! He books are wonderfully "readable" - you will gobble this treat in one sitting if you have the time (as I did with her previous "Range of Motion" - it is IMPOSSIBLE to put down.) Her ear for children's thoughts, feelings and conversation is unerring.
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Summary: Once again a Berg novel moved me to tears.
Review: Berg's latest novel is a modern day version of Kate Chopin's, "The Awakening". Like Berg's previous novel, "The Pull of the Moon" it is about a woman, Marion, who runs away from her family. But this time the story is told from the perspective of the mother's 12 year old daughter, Ginny and her 13 year old sister. It is now 35 years later and Ginny is on a plane flying cross-country to see her mother for the first time in all those years. As the plan crosses the country, we cross the territory of Ginny's childhood to the day everything in her perfect 1950's life changed forever - the day a beautiful woman with the exotic name Jasmine moved next door. Jasmine precipitates an examination of the very fabric of Marion's life and leads her to making a decision which will have reprecussions on her family's life forever. This novel is beautifully written, moving, gut-wrenching and heart-rending. Read it.
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Summary: A wonderful book.
Review: I have read most of E. Berg's novels and have enjoyed them all. In her latest, I found myself drawn into the characters and their feelings on so many levels. The sibling encounters, childhood dilemmas and unique thoughts in particular. Also, I didn't realize until the end that I was also drawn into the storyline. Thank you Elizabeth Berg for a special experience. I'm awaiting your next!
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