Rating: 
Summary: Her protagonist needs a spine
Review: Can the main character of this book do anything but whine and feel sorry for herself? Good grief, what an annoying and unsympathetic character! Okay, so she loved a man who turned out to be gay. Tough break -- and maybe I could have sympathized if the revelation about Ethan's sexual orientation hadn't happened a decade before the events in this book! I found it impossible to feel any empathy for a character who has spent so many years mired in self-pity, dwelling on the past and refusing to accept the reality that she would never have Ethan. An irritating and pointless novel by a usually fine author.
Rating:
Summary: Would never know she wrote "Talk Before Sleep"
Review: Oh, my. What a disappointment. "Talk Before Sleep" had memorable lines, and real people I wanted to know. But this Patty character in this new book was silly and rather dumb. Sorry, but Elizabeth Berg needs to find the muse she had for "Talk Before Sleep" and lose her new one.
Rating: 
Summary: Moving & realistic
Review: Once I tried to read TALK BEFORE SLEEP and could not enjoy it. Recently I tried Berg again, this book, and thought her "voice" was so wonderful. I KNEW this character from the inside out. It was like having a good friend chatting me up. After this read, I went back and read a couple of her others, particularly JOY SCHOOL, and found that Berg is excellent with her "voice." Maybe I'll try TALK BEFORE SLEEP again.
Rating: 
Summary: wonderful, as usual
Review: Don't be put off by the negative reviews.I'm a big Elizabeth Berg fan and found this book to be just as wonderful as the rest. Her books touch me - I cry with a smile on my face. As usual, can't wait for the next book to come out.
Rating:
Summary: Far From Disappointing
Review: Some of these reviews remind me of those of Tom Wolfe's *A Man in Full*. Just as *Bonfire of the Vanities* was impossible to follow in such a way as to make everyone (including idiots) happy, Elizabeth Berg has become a victim of her own genius. Her novels are so beautiful and so accessible that when she shows the range of her talent and builds on her previous work (instead of simpy imitating it), the result is bound to confound lesser readers. Berg's novels compare favorably with the best written in the last twenty years by or for men or women, and this is one of her best.
Rating:
Summary: WHERE IS BERG?
Review: If I want to read Danielle Steel I will buy her books...BERG where are you on this one! What a disappoinment...PLEASE RETURN!
Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable quick read
Review: I read a brief summary of this book a few months ago and put it on my Christmas list: I opened it this morning and just finished it. It was a quick, easy read that I couldn't put down. Unlike the reader from Boston ("Berg bashes women"), I thought the main character(Patty) very accurately depicted both pregnancy and Alzheimers. I felt every bit as emotional and "whiney" during my pregnancy, and the accounts of her Alzheimers-stricken mother rekindled painful images of my own grandfather's battle with this debilitating disease. It was the first Berg novel I've read- and it won't be the last! I recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Big disappointment
Review: I was so excited to see a new book by Elizabeth Berg at the library. But what a letdown! This book was awful! The characters were cartoons. Patty was so obsessively in love w/ Ethan and so fixated on having a baby it made my skin crawl. How did her so-called perfect family produce such a pathetic creature? Nothing rang true in the book--nothing. And Berg's books usually knock my socks off with their emotional truth. I do advise those of you for whom this was the first Berg book to try others before you give up on her.
Rating:
Summary: A GOOD BOOK
Review: This was certainly different than any other book I have ever read, and I found it interesting. I enjoye reading it and felt that the characters were people I had known all of my life. It was a good read. If you want to read another book that goes straight to your heart, read Stolen Moments by Barbara Jeanne Fisher. . .It is a beautiful story of unrequited love. . .for certain the love story of the nineties. I intended to give the book a quick read, but I got so caught up in the story that I couldn't put the book down. From the very beginning, I was fully caught up in the heart-wrenching account of Julie Hunter's battle with lupus and her growing love for Don Lipton. This love, in the face of Julie's impending death, makes for a story that covers the range of human emotions. The touches of humor are great, too, they add some nice contrast and lighten things a bit when emotions are running high. I've never read a book more deserving of being published. It has rare depth. Julie's story will remind your readers that life and love are precious and not to be taken for granted. It has had an impact on me, and for that I'm grateful. Stolen Moments is written with so much sensitivity that it made me want to cry. It is a spellbinder. What terrific writing. Barbara does have an exceptional gift! This book was edited by Lupus specialist Dr. Matt Morrow too, and has the latest information on that disease. ..A perfect gift for someone who started college late in life, fell in love too late in life, is living with any illness, or trying to understand a loved one who is. . .A gift to be cherished forever.
Rating:
Summary: The Dumbing of America
Review: A friend lent me this book, and I'm sorry to say I can't believe anyone actually likes it. It reads like nothiing more than a fleshed-out "Cathy" cartoon, with some sad parts thrown in for variety. The characters are all stereotypes, barely fleshed out, who come and go with all the insight of a really bad Fox sitcom. The premise is interesting-- life's runner up-- but the story has no texture, no detail, and starts to read like a parody of a "single 30something woman's book." Yuck.
| 
