Rating: 
Summary: Maybe 5 stars?
Review: Although I enjoyed the heartbreaking saga of Katie who grows up in an abusive home during an era that many of us 30-40 somethings can relate to, I can't help but feel that I would have given the book a higher rating if I had read it in book form instead of listening to the audio-book version. Remember the vertically challenged spirit medium in the movie "Poltergeist"? Imagine listening to a voice like hers for several hours - you get the picture!
Rating:
Summary: (3.5) Family matters
Review: Berg focuses on a transitional period in the life of a twelve-year old (going on thirteen), Katie Nash. Her mother recently died from cancer and Katie lives with eighteen-year old sister, Diane, in a delicate emotional balance, avoiding the father, who has a volatile temper and frequently hits the girls. The violence is nothing new. Even when their mother was alive, the father took out his aggression on his daughters. Army brats, their lives are constantly in flux, moving whenever the father is posted to another base.
The father's rage is a fact of life for his daughters, the family's constant preoccupation with appeasement common behavior, especially when the mother's death leaves each of them hollow with grief. Katie's best friend lives next door, a girl two years older who guides Katie through feminine mysteries and rituals defined by glossy magazines, endless grooming details that insure success with the opposite sex.
Katie finds solace in her role models, sister and best friend, but has begun a solitary journey of self-discovery that is made more piquant by the inevitable yearning for her mother at this critical time in her young life. The best friend is predictable, but sister Diane is ready to break away from a life controlled by their father's narrow constraints and senseless rules. The sisters make a fateful decision, but it is tempered by Katie's shifting loyalties, her inability to make appropriate choices, given her vulnerability and immaturity. Grasping the familiar, Katie finds a new perspective on letting go and the chimerical nature of loss, that some things stay even when they're gone.
Berg's plain-spoken narrative navigates an adolescent passage into the real world, where even forgiveness is possible and change hovers on the horizon. The simple prose belies the impact of grief and the complications of growing up, the profound juxtaposed with the mundane. If there is a flaw in Durable Goods, it is the dissonance of the father's habitual violence and his passive acceptance of changes wrought by his daughters' actions. That Katie clings to her father is natural enough, but his brutality is a serious issue. The victim returns willingly to her abuser, desperate for any emotional connection in lieu of none at all. Grief is no excuse: is the brute not still a brute? Luan Gaines/2005.
Rating: 
Summary: An incredible voice w/ wonderful imagery
Review: Berg has an amazing ability to create an accurate voice of a 12 year old girl dealing with not only normal adolescent change but also deep life defining moments of change.
The voice of this novel is so on key. The author seamlessly weaves the complicated feelings that any child would have but especially the complex moments that those dealing with abuse and loss must face.
This is a wonderful novel about what it is like to learn to be durable, to finally see adults for what they really are-just other people.
If you are looking for a quick read with wonderful language I highly suggest this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Very Intriguing
Review: Durable Goods is a story of a young girl named Katie who is anxious to grow up and at the same time is dealing with problems that the average teenager should not have to go through. She's just lost her mother to cancer, her father beats both her and her sister Diane, and she often feels lost and alone. She misses her mother very much and often envisions seeing and talking to her under her bed. I thought the author created a very likeable character in Katie. The first half of the book builds the character and introduces her relationships with her father, who is abusive; her sister-who is kind to her sometimes and mean other times; and her best friend CherylAnne-who is two years older and is very wise and womanly for her age. atie is a strong person for being so young, and that is what makes her so likeable. Dealing with the death of her mother and her father's abusive actions show how strong she really is. Whereas Dianne tries to escape from her problems by running away to Mexico with her boyfriend, Katie confronts them. Since the book was written from Katie's point of view, I got a more personal perspective. Of Elizabeth Berg's books, this is the first one that I have read. I think it was an excellent book. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading short yet intriguing books.
Rating: 
Summary: Coming of Age novel
Review: Durable Goods is the story of young Katie, a pre-adolescent girl that is anxious to grow up and at the same time is dealing with things that the average teenager shouldn't have to go through. She's just lost her mother to cancer, her father beats both her and her sister Diane, and she feels often that she's all alone. She misses her mother terribly,and often envisions seeing and talking to her mother as if she had never passed away. The book is written from her point of view, so the reader learns about Katie from a more personal perspective. The plot line in Durable Goods is thin, I thought, but the author created a very likeable character in Katie. The first half of the book builds up the character and introduces her relationships with her father (abusive) and sister (sometimes friend, sometimes enemy) and her best friend CherylAnne, who is two years older and is very wise and womanly for her age. Katie is a strong person for her young years, and that is what makes her so likeable. Dealing with the death of her mother and her confrontations with her father show how strong she really is. Whereas Dianne tries to escape from her problems, katie tries to deal with them. This is Elizabeth Berg's first novel, but it was not the first novel of hers that I've read. I think it was an impressive first novel and would be a good place to start for anyone new to her books. Other books I'd highly recommend is Joy School, which continues the saga of katie, and What We Keep, a story about an older woman who is trying to deal with her past.
Rating:
Summary: Convincing and emotional story
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: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Brings back childhood!
Review: I didn't have an abusive father but I did have a best friend and could completly relate to the story about growing up. Fighting with your best friend, thinking your in love and kissing your first boy. This story not only tells about growing up but also how kids cope with losing a parent. These kids are left with an abusive father that has limited parenting skills. I was glad Berg didn't dwell on the abuse or keep this story depressing. As much as parts were unsettling it was also a good story of friendship and hope for these sisters. I would recommend this book to my family and friends as a quick read about growing up.
Rating:
Summary: Brings back childhood!
Review: I didn't have an abusive father but I did have a best friend and could completly relate to the story about growing up. Fighting with your best friend, thinking your in love and kissing your first boy. This story not only tells about growing up but also how kids cope with losing a parent. These kids are left with an abusive father that has limited parenting skills. I was glad Berg didn't dwell on the abuse or keep this story depressing. As much as parts were unsettling it was also a good story of friendship and hope for these sisters. I would recommend this book to my family and friends as a quick read about growing up.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling!
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.
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