Rating: 
Summary: I'm sold on this series...
Review: Katie is quite lovable and in a difficult situation with her abusive father, her confused adolescent sister, and memories of her mom who recently died. She is struggling through early adolescents and trying to make sense of her chaotic and stressful world. It's a hard book to put down because you want to know where Katie is, if she's alright, and where the book may lead you next. I understand this is the first of several books with Katie as the central character, and I'm signing on for the next edition.
Rating: 
Summary: Durable Goods
Review: This novel tells the story of twelve-year-old Katie who lives on an Army base with her older sister Diane and her father who is a colonel. In this novel it is summertime in Texas and Katie spends her summer days waiting and waiting to grow up. There's not much to do on the base except hang around her best friend Cherylanne. They usually love hanging out in Cherylanne's room and discuss the phases of life. They daydream about how their life will be like when they grow up. Katie also likes hanging out with her older sister Diane and her boyfriend Dickie Mac. Katie has become accustomed to living in Texas but knows that one day she'll have to move away like she's done so many times in the past. Although Katie spends her summer days daydreaming about the future she longs to have the tender and peaceful relationship that most girls have with their fathers. Katie's father verbally abuses her and her sister and is violent towards them. Most of the blows go towards Diane, since she normally tends to talk back to him. Katie on the other hand escapes to her friend's house or hides under her bed. One day when the girls father announces that they are moving again, Diane decides to run away with her boyfriend Dickie and vows never to return to the hands of her abusive father. She invites Katie to come along with her and Dickie. Katie later regrets it and she learns knew things that allow her to understand why life is the way it is. This is a story that tells the realistic experiences that most twelve-year old girls go through. Elizabeth Berg does a wonderful job portraying the character of Katie to be like a heroine for many young girls. It also gives girls a deeper understanding of life's passages and the emotions that come along with it. The story line kept my interest throughout the whole novel and I was ecstatic to read in one of the reviews that Katie's adventures continue in Joy School also written by Elizabeth Berg.
Rating:
Summary: Katie: an unforgetten character in coming of age story
Review: As a big Elizabeth Berg fan, I was surprised to discover that I had not yet read this book. So I was delighted to be able to spend a few fast hours one day this week in reliving the angst of childhood in this bittersweet novel. This spare book is a delight and the author's skill in fully developing a memorable character comes shining through. This is a heroine that the reader immediately cares for and wants to root for as she travels the byroads of youth all alone. The only regrettable aspect of this book is that there is no sequel. I would love to know how she grew into a fully grown and loveable woman. This is a book that I would recommend for anyone who has a young daughter, niece, cousin, or friend on the threshold of adolescence. Share this book, discuss it and help another young lady become the woman she is meant to be.
Rating:
Summary: A durable young woman against the odds
Review: Durable Goods is captured through the words of 12 year old Katie, an army "brat" (but is not a brat in the true sense of the word) living on base with her 18 year old sister and her father, a colonel. Her mother had died of cancer, and the family remains in a state of limbo, a post traumatic evisceration in all their lives. Her father is abusive, and hits the children, especially the older sister. Katie learns to look the other way, just like her mother had to do.This is a tender exposure of a young girl struggling to make sense of what has happened and make peace with her father. Fearing him always, she tries to be like all the other kids, but never knows when her father will explode. She learns to dance around his moods, predict every nuance. When the stress is too much, she crawls under her bed and talks to her mother. She makes up conversations, often reciting words her mother used to soothe her. But who is there to protect her? It may be easy to see this as a simple story, but after you read this and reflect on it, one can see the resiliency of this remarkable young character. I hope for a sequel.
Rating:
Summary: A sad yet hopeful coming of age tale
Review: Katie's life is anything but perfect. Living under the roof of her dictator-like father and her rebellious older sister is no easy task for Katie, but as she grows more and more used to her father and his unacceptable ways she begins to fathom an understanding about life in general that she'd never had before that many of us can learn from, too. As Katie struggles to get through her adolescent years as normally as possible, she tells her of her touching and revealing journey in a nonchalant style that will hook you to the very end.
Rating:
Summary: So much like all of us
Review: I can't remember reading a rite of passage book for women that touched me as this one did. The setting, the characters, the angst--these are all part of the tapestry by which women achieve that status of womanhood. I could not stop reading! My only complaint was that this journey was too short. I still hover with her as she seeks her mother's voice to send her safely through her quest.
Rating: 
Summary: Balance between good and bad
Review: I'm not the type to let something sink in, because my first impression is a lasting impression. Durable Goods was a rather vague and disinterested fingering of what is going on in Katie's life. I get it: she's a Texan army brat, her father is abusive, mother died of cancer, sister is an emotional iceberg . . . so where's the point? Berg seemed to gloss over the meat of this story, filling the pages up with stupid little sentences, ending each chapter with an emotional dip in narration. Well, boo hoo. The first chance Katie has to fix what is wrong in her life she backs out on. I was frustrated with her idiocy. Okay, she's only 12, but are all 12 year olds this dumb? Perhaps only in Berg's world. Everything about this book, plot, characterization, tone, narration, was overly-simplified. I liked it enough to finish it, but that's about where the affection ends. The problem with this book, really, is that Berg has taken an eternally, if somewhat cliched, subject matter and executed it horrendously. Dena
Rating:
Summary: Standing alone at adulthood's door
Review: At the age of twelve, Katie's family moves again -- the necessary evil of being an Army family. This times it's to the far reaches of the Texan desert, where summer days pass in waves of heat and too-bright sky. When her mother dies, how is Katie expected to navigate the threshold from girl/child to adult/woman without a mother? Her father isn't much help as he tries to bury his loss in work and dating the wrong women.
Rating:
Summary: too true
Review: I loved this book, because of its simplicity and the way it really gets to the truth of things. I can understand what Katie is going through, especially as she gets frustrated because she's not as "mature" as Cherylanne. I admire the way Katie is presented to us in the present tense and the way you can see what she's thinking. It's a very realistic portrait of what growing up is like for a girl!
Rating:
Summary: I read this in one day
Review: I cannot remember the last time I read a book in less than five hours, but this one I could not resist. I loved this book and have gone on to read, in two days or less, almost everything else this author has written. I just wish there were more of them.
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