Rating: 
Summary: Unrealistic story about divorce
Review: I did not care for this book. Although Sam suffers some from the divorce and has to make some adjustments in her life, I never felt that she made a transition to becoming truly independent. Sam was basically able to maintain her lifestyle, keep her nice house, and work at quirky day jobs. Most divorced women have a much more difficult time. They have to rebuild their lifes after significantly downsizing their lifestyle, deal with the emotional pain of a failed marriage and make sure they are providing the best they can for their children. Elizabeth Berg glosses over the this process, especially with regards to finances - there was one sentence regarding David's financial support of Sam and her son. If only divorce could be this easy and for all women!!
Rating: 
Summary: Makes you laugh...makes you think...makes you want MORE
Review: I sometimes have a hard time finishing fiction because I find I can predict a lot of plot twists or how characters will react, or the writing style overpowers the plot. But this book? I could not put it down. From the very first page, as we see the main character Samantha cope with her disintegrating marriage, I CARED about Samantha -- because Elizabeth Berg makes her so real (Samantha narrates her story). We see her as she decides to make the best of a devastating divorce, as she experiments with various aspects of her life, and as she copes with the outcomes. Now Sam has to raise a child on her own. Now Sam must cope with divorce. Now she has to decide whether to date. And, most of all, now Sam has to decide what SHE really wants and needs. Samantha is an amazingly realistic character because, as in REAL LIFE, neither she (nor the reader) can predict how each adventure will end. Other characters are also drawn realistically and the tale is written in a conversational style with with short, punchy, zippy-yet-graceful sentences. You HEAR these REAL characters speak: her mother, her new friend King, and her son. The portrait of Sam's 11 year old son, on the verge of teenage years but still a child, is perhaps the most accurate portrait of a "tween" I have seen in print. Berg packs tons of content, emotion and insight into her punchy and often witty sentences (it's so easy to read that you can see how this could become an almost instant motion picture -- the dialogue is so realistic and so good). And, plot aside, there is a lot to be LEARNED from this novel about how to cope with major, unwanted change. Open House is for anyone who loves fiction (she is a major talent) -- and even those who don't read tons of fiction will love it and, like me, literally be unable to put it down. You close the book...and miss Sam..and wish there had been more.
Rating: 
Summary: It takes two to make a marriage
Review: This is a good weekend book about a woman struggling with the sudden and unexpected failure of a long term marriage when her spouse abruptly walks out on her. Initially a very dependent figure on the verge of begging her spouse to return, Samantha strives to cope with abandonment and loneliness. She eventually emerges victorious as she finds a varied assortment of new friends and housemates, works odd jobs, and finally develops a sense of self esteem. We know she has come a long way when she can reject a conciliatory gesture from her spouse who has come full circle and wants to move back home. From that point on our heroine, Samantha, is able to move forward with her life and can materialize a new relationship. Much of this book is written in easy to read simple short sentences and phrases. We find ourselves either listening to conversations or witnessing stream of consciousness thoughts. This writing style seems to be a hallmark of Berg's and is also used in Talk before Sleep, a book about female friends helping a terminal cancer victim cope. There is not a lot happening in Berg's novels for those who like books with action. While there are some really neat perceptive insights and observations scattered in the dialogue, there is no real introspection on Samantha's part regarding what actually went wrong with her marriage or even about whether she was displaced by another woman. Fortunately she does achieve enough understanding of the failed relationship to realize and to faceup to the very bitter truth: Her spouse's desire to reinstate their marriage is not really based on his true love for her. It is due to the failure of his other relationship. As with many other Oprah recommendations, the book tells a satisfying tale of triumph over a difficult and trying life situation . Overall well written and worth the time.
Rating:
Summary: You've Got to Be Kidding --
Review: A quick skate over the surface of the ending of a marriage. Some good lines and some points recalled from my own marriage and/or relationship dissolutions, but, all in all, a gentle walk in the same park where most of us trod, sorely in need of combat boots and comouflage for protection, over the rocks and fissures of a dying or dead relationship. I'm left feeling Sam got off too easy to be very believeable.
Rating:
Summary: This is a GREAT book!
Review: I just finishing reading Open House and immediately went to this website to search for other books by Ms. Berg. If you love a book where the character is faced with a major life disappointment (such as divorce) and triumphs in the end, you will turn these pages quickly. It is sad at points, but also 'laugh out loud' funny. Samantha, who has an 11 year-old son named Travis, takes in roommates in order to pay the mortgage. One of the previous reviewers of this book did not think it was appropriate for Sam to bring strangers into her son's home. Samantha did this so that Travis would not have to move out of the only home he knew. In doing so, she exposed him to people he would not have otherwise gotten to know, but in the end was better for the experience. Highly recommended by me...
Rating: 
Summary: Sappy, Silly Fantasy of Divorce
Review: This is not a good book; while it has both comedic and dramatic potential, both are squandered so that Elizabeth Berg's Sam can ditch her already abandoned son, invite potentially dangerous renters into her house, and waste time on friends that seem more contrived than an episode of,"Friends". One more point: a Boston blue-blood such as David would not - in reality - marry a southern woman such as Sam, it's just not possible. If the laws of reality could be bent to allow such a union, could you actually believe that Sam would not know how to buy silver?
Rating:
Summary: A good beginning for a terrible ending
Review: First off I have to say this book was a very easy read, and was a good way to pass the time while I was spending the day in a hospital waiting room while my husband underwent surgery. But, other than that, this is not a great book. I am still baffled as to why Oprah was so in love with it - maybe she could relate to one or more of the characters, but I'm not sure how since we never really get to know any of them. The only one I found interesting or who had any sense was Sam's 11 year-old son. As for Sam, she never developed during the whole book. Usually when I read a book I can picture the main character in my mind, but throughout this book, Sam was just a woman figure without a face. Once the hairdresser moved in and colored her hair, she had hair but still no face. I also could not like her very much because I was appalled at the way she disregarded her sons feelings about having all the roommates just so they could live in the nice house. Plus it is hard to believe someone that shallow would actually fall in love with a man who didn't have a real job and was overweight. The part near the end where her husband wants to come home is SO hard to swallow, I can't believe it was part of the story. The same woman who pines for him and her old life throughout most of the book just gives him a quick no with no discussion. Even though his reasons for wanting to return weren't good, you would think she would consider her son for once, but again, she passes on that. I give this book three stars because like I said, it is an easy read and a good way to pass the day - like reading a romance novel to pass the time on an airplane.
Rating: 
Summary: HEY FEMALES wake-up and smell the marriages
Review: "Open House" was written from a woman's point-of-view. I WANT EVERY WOMAN IN AMERICA to read this book because this book helps to correct the socialization dysfunction which we have casted upon the females in our society. We socialize our girls to think they should give-up their dreams of being one "self" once the woman marries. This is an egregious error. Based on our divorce stats alone, most women will have to raise her children and support herself at some time in her life after marriage. It would not be in women's best interest to giveup all that make them able to maintain competitiveness in the marketplace, homeplace and social register when they know that those instruments are their insulation to the predicment that Samatha found herself caught-up in. As in the animal kingdom, the female must fend-for-herself. If it can be done in the human race with a mate, then, well and good. However, women must always reserve their ability to manage the load all on her own. Samantha is a perfect example of the average wife in America. She has devoted her entire adult life to supplying the needs of her family. She, absentmindedly, forgets that as an individual in that family she, too, must see to it that her needs are met. Rather, she masked her individuality to a point that so many wives in America have done. Result, the sad story that is told in "Open House." What is even sadder, is that this senerio is repeated across America millions of times. I want each female to take a real close look at the characters in this book and see if you can identify a plan in your life to avoid having to repeat this story. If this can be done, Elizabeth Berg, has more than exceeded her expectations in changing the American culture in this short commentary on marriages in America.
Rating:
Summary: Short but nice
Review: I think the book started off nicely but was sort of predictable at the end. This book deals with Samantha, whose husband divorced her and she had to deal with raising her 11 year-old son and she needed to learn to be independent financially and emotionally. It would be more interesting if the author develops the supporting characters better and the main character, Samantha's relationship with her mother remains "hostile". Despite its shortcomings, it is still an interesting book to read.
Rating:
Summary: Bedtime Story.
Review: I enjoyed reading Open House, it's very well written and smoothly touching. Berg did a great job describing Sam's life and what a divorced woman can go through. Every woman should read this book, if she's divorced she'll get a hint of how to deal with the divorce, and if she's not it will make her appreciate her marriage. I recommend this novel to anyone willing to enjoy a realistic arguement between a woman and her new life, and how life can be fair sometimes. Great job Elizabeth.
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