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Summary: Durable Katie!
Review: Elizabeth Berg, in her coming of age story, Durable Goods, provides us with a character readers will long remember and wonder about for sometime.Katie will ulitmately remind many readers of other adolescent young female characters like Ellen Foster and also Bone from Bastard Out of Carolina. And like these other adolescents, Katie, has lived more years than her age. Still dealing with the loss of her mother to cancer several years before the book begins, Katie now lives with her abusive father and her older sister Diane. It's the beginning of the 60's and as if life isn't complicated enough, Katie lives in Texas on an army base where at best people come and go. Completing Katie's circle is her older, next door neighbor Cherylann who is determined to teach her about love and life. As Katie learns more and more and the the months go by, Katie's world is once again turned upside down when Diane, the subject of most of their father's abuse, runs off to live with her boyfriend. And Katie thinking that life could be better with Diane, manages to find her, only to learn that life with dad may be as good as it gets. This is a wonderful read and introduces us to a durable young woman every reader is bound to adore. And the best prat about this book is that when you finish it, you can spend more time with Katie in Joy School which continues her story.
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Summary: Finding Oneself
Review: Throughout the novel Durable Goods by Elizabeth Berg, Katie, a typical twelve year old girl, tries to find herself in the great big world in which she lives. She struggles during her developmental years without the help of her mother who has died of cancer. She dreams of falling in love, having a father who is not abusive, and for something exciting to happen on the boring Texas army base in which she lives. In her relationships with her older sister Diane, her dearest friend Cherylanne and her father, Katie discovers the qualities she likes and dislikes about these people. As she grows more mature, she realizes the kind of person she would like to become as an adult. This is when Katie creates a new person, herself. From this point on, Katie becomes more confident in herself and handles life calmly and better than ever! I would highly recommend this well written novel for anyone who strives for comfort and support during his or her teenage years. I feel that I have captured all the special moments of Katie's life and will savor the advice given to Katie during her difficult times. Durable Goods is an unforgettable tale of a girl just like all of us.
Rating: 
Summary: mediocre
Review: If you want a synopsis of the novel, you can read the other reviews or the summary above. I felt this novel was mediocre. It lacked any deep thought provocations. I feel as though books that I read in primary school had deeper emotional ties. "A Bridge to Tarabithia" or "A Taste of Blackberries" both had what I feel draws a reader into the story at a much deeper level. It was a light easy read. Not all bad! Just, lacking in something that I was looking for.
Rating:
Summary: Durable Goods
Review: Durable Goods, has impacted the lives of readers by creating realistic situations that many adolescents undergo. Durable Goods was written during the 1960s and takes place in Texas. This book is about a young girl by the name of Katie who speaks from her own perspective about her life during adolescence. Unfortunately, after the loss of her mother due to cancer, changes began to occur which led to the turning point of her life.
After the death of Katie's mother, the environment in her household became chaotic. Living with her elder sister, Diane, and her physically abusive father, things become rough and the only person Katie believes she can turn to is her mother, who she often speaks to during times of trouble. She imagines talking to her mom in heaven, under her bed.
Katie's next-door neighbor, Cherylanne is her role model, who is two years older and more educated. They often have discussions about boys and puberty. Katie wants to fit in and be accepted, but thinks the only way she will, is through her looks. She starts to shave her legs to prove that she is a young lady rather than just a kid. Throughout this novel, Katie is a very strong and loving twelve-year-old character. Her ability to overcome difficult situations, such as the time her father told her they were moving from Texas, shows how strong she is. Even though her eighteen-year-old sister runs away with her boyfriend, Katie confronts her and tries to solve the problem rather than avoiding it.
I recommend this book to any teenager or adult because it teaches the reader that through hard times it is important to stay strong and never give up. This novel creates images through strong use of details and allows the reader to visualize many moments. It is easy to identify Katie's personality because many people can relate to her situation
Rating:
Summary: Sweet
Review: Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite authors. I have read many other books by her and loved each one of them; this one was neither an exception nor a disappointment. This story is twelve-year-old Katie's, and Elizabeth's voice is so convincing that it is hard to believe it was written by an adult. Katie lives in a rural Texas army base with her older sister Diane and their abusive father. I wanted to cry when Katie talked about her mother's death, due to cancer, and I laughed out loud at her confused attempts to keep up with her fourteen-year-old best friend Cheryl. The book brought back memories of myself at almost-teenhood, and it is a very convincing portrait of a young girl's life. Every small but important aspect is covered: Katie's infatuation with her sister's boyfriend, her daydreams of having her own boyfriend, her first period, her curious peekings at the will-be-breasts that are first starting to appear. Katie's voice is so real and her thoughts so explained that I would become totally lost in the story and come out it a while later to realize that I really wasn't in her world. Elizabeth Berg's Joy School is the sequel to Durable Goods, and I read that one first. However, Durable Goods was still a great book and I recommend it even for those who have already read Joy School. Pick up Durable Goods and join Katie in her fresh, exciting world.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling!
Review: Durable goods is the perfect picture of what being a pre-teen is like. She brings together the feeling of being not old enough, but not young enough... and the changes with a persons family relationsthips as they begin to become a teen. Berg wraps into a complete circle all the aspects of family, friends, and personal development and creates a painting of what growing up is like. Her simple writing style keeps a calmer mood throughout the book and never leads the reader into a state of confusion. This was a great book and I enjoyed reading it a lot
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Summary: A durable story for all ages --
Review: Narrator Katie is as durable as they come. Tenacious, honest, and sweet, she allows us into her sometimes scary life and shares a view of where most of us came from -- a not-so-normal home. If you liked this book, you'll love "Feeling Sorry for Celia"(Jaclyn Moriarty), "Shadow Baby" (Alison McGhee), "An Egg on Three Sticks" (Jackie Moyer Fischer), and "A Girl in Parts" (Jasmine Paul).
Rating: 
Summary: utterly banal
Review: Imagine every trite thought that went through your head when you were an adolescent, then imagine writing it all down calling it a book. You think that this boring 12-year-old point of view will end fade and a grown-up plot will evolve, but it doesn't, it goes on and on and you stop when you can't take it any more, even if it's not the end of the book. At least that's what I did.
Rating:
Summary: Extrememly realistic
Review: Unfortunately though this is a fictious book, the story speaks like that of a non fiction. To many children in todays society know this book all to well. The Author does well to stay true to the book and revealing the details and time lines as if it were apart of thier real lives. This is a must read.
I also want to recommend: Nightmares Echo, Lost Boy, and Bastard Out of Carolina
Rating:
Summary: Tough stuff
Review: The normal pangs of growing up are complicated by additional factors for 12-year-old Katie, including a dead mother, an abusive father, and constant moves from one military base to another. She tells her story in short segments, some touching, some pitiful, some just baffling. Though my heart ached for Katie, I learned that she is made of tough stuff -- she's "durable goods" and not fragile glass. Author Elizabeth Berg can pack quite an emotional wallop into a few phrases or sentences. Here is one example: "Those days, my mother always sounded like a poem. She couldn't do a whole sentence; it took too much air. So she would say pieces like that. Sometimes, even if you felt bad she was dying, you'd want to yell, 'What! Just say it!' Even if you were loving her so much, your fists clenched and your heart feeling like it had a tight peel around it, you would get mad like that." I would recommend this book both to adult readers and to adolescents experiencing their own coming of age.
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