Rating: 
Summary: The changing seasons of compassion
Review: I chose this book incidentally, thinking Berg's name familiar. I doubted that the story of a 52-year-old woman nursing a dying former classmate through his final days could hold much more interest than a TV movie. I was wrong. Never Change is a clean, precise novel that walks through what could be mordantly sentimental, with grace and compassion.Myra Lipinsky, a nurse who has never married, uses her skills for in-home visiting care, her patients an assortment of characters as familiar as our next-door neighbors and aged relatives, who need a little extra help in performing small daily functions. From the absent-minded to the stroke-impaired, Myra unwittingly carves a bit of herself into each of their lives. To most of them, her visits are an event, an opportunity to interact with the diminishing outside world. When Myra takes on a new patient, Chip Reardon, a former classmate, her memories of their high school years are as vivid as yesterday, without sophomoric romanticism. Chip was one of the popular guys in school, his girlfriend one of the predictable energetic beauties who draw all eyes by simply entering a room. Myra watched them both from afar, anonymous in her plain adolescence. So she is pleased that Chip has become a genuinely nice man and spending time with him brings an unexpected fullness to her life, a companionship that she finds comfortable and welcome. Soon enough, Myra will need to assist Chip through each debilitating transition he faces. It is not difficult for her to love Chip; she is a loving, nurturing woman, unaware of her own value. In fact, Myra's own transitions are the most fascinating aspect of the book. She has an ability to adapt to change, a fluidity in her definitions of life. The decisions she makes, the truths she must realize, are not done in a vacuum. There is a circle of friends, many her patients, who gather around her like soft pillows, until Myra allows herself to be loveable. This refreshing novel has a clarity that only comes from an author who knows her own nature and understands her true self. Berg reminds us how many generous souls, like Myra, people the world we live in and how we benefit from their existence.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: I got about half way through this book before I finally realized I really don't care about Myra or any of her patients. She is boring and needs to stop feeling sorry for herself and get a life. I'm not going to finish this book and it won't bother me one bit that I don't know what happens.
Rating: 
Summary: Five stars and five hankies!
Review: Sometimes you just need a good cathartic cry. To aid you along, read this book! Myra was the high school wallflower -- always on the sidelines envying those who had the social success and happy family that she longed for. Now middle-aged with a fulfilling career in nursing, who does she run into but the old high school heartthrob. You remember him. Great looks, football player, wealthy, had the Barbie-like girlfriend. However, times have changed for Chip. Sickened by a terminal brain tumor, he has returned to his hometown to die. And who is his nurse? Myra. For those of us who were wallflowers like Myra, this book is emotional blackmail, guaranteed to dredge up those old insecurities and the romantic yearnings that didn't quite get fulfilled. If you weren't a Myra, you'll miss out on the emotional tug. However, the best reason to read Never Change is that Elizabeth Berg has a gift for perspective that is incredible. She is perceptive and observant, qualities that give her characters dimension and the plot depth. Without Berg's gift, this and her other novels might be reduced to emotional drivel. Terminal cancer isn't a topic to induce laughter either in reality or fiction. Berg gives Chip dignity and makes the reader walk in his shoes. I also read Talk Before Sleep by Berg which also tackles the issues surrounding death by cancer. Talk Before Sleep was one of the best books that I read in 2001. Never Change may end up in my top ten for 2002.
Rating: 
Summary: Cute story
Review: I listened to the audio version of this book, and all I can say is, thank goodness it was abridged. For some reason, I found the narrator and the main character to be a bit too annoying for my taste, and I think other listeners might form a similar impression. Of course, it could have just been my mood, who knows with these things? I'd almost give it a 4, the story loses it's overwhelming depressing tones near the end, but for me it was much too late to redeem the book overall. Inspiring, but if you pick it up, prepare yourself for some pretty depressing stuff. I sincerely hope you have a better time with it than I did!
Rating:
Summary: Makes you appreciate your life
Review: What a beautiful book, so "readable" - the characters truly seemed like real people to me. I couldn't wait to get back to my book (had to tend to my kids) to see what happens to Myra. What real, human feelings she has. This book also shows how everyone can be different, yet each has good in them. I hugged my kids and am adoring my own life even more after I finished this book. I read it in 2 days and I'm so happy to be alive and have my own wonderful family. Please read this ... p.s. Oprah fans, you will really love this.
Rating:
Summary: True Nursing
Review: I, too, am a registered nurse, and the same age as Myra, the main character. Like the author, I have not practiced nursing for some time; also, I have cared for ill family members and have cancer myself---so perhaps I have the advantage of a long and wide perspective. In my opinion, Myra represents nursing at its finest, its truest, its most honest. Please remember that this is a novel, not a nursing manual. The author writes truths of the heart and soul--of people, some of whom happen to be nurses.
Rating:
Summary: Never Change
Review: I have been a big fan of Elizabeth Berg and have read all of her books. This one is the first to disappoint me. I am a nurse and took great offense at some of the things that Myra did in the story. It would be highly unprofessional to take one patient to visit another and unethical to discuss the details of a patient with another one. The whole scenario was completely unbelievable to me. I hope that the readers would not think that this would really happen if they should ever need a visiting nurse. I hope the author. who according to the book jacket was a nurse, never acted like this in her professional role.
Rating: 
Summary: A shame to the nursing profession among other things!!
Review: I think I may be the only reviewer who did not care for this book. I found it unrealistic and unprofessional. A nurse should not be doing the things she is doing in this novel. Also, the "ugly duckling" syndrome carrying over later in life theme is something I cannot stand reading about, where someone never feels like they are pretty or worth anything. This is something that the main character, Myra, suffers from. What a way to make a reader feel bad!! I feel sorry for Elizabeth Berg if she actually felt this way in her life. But to give a character in a novel these traits is inexcusable. It just reinforces the idea amongst other vulnerable people/readers that if you were quiet when you were young then you are ugly. AND THIS IS NOT TRUE! Overall, sappy & unrealistic.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant and touching
Review: This is the first book by Elizabeth Berg I've read and I found it absolutely wonderful. The story is gentle but very moving, and written delicously well. It has a touch of humor in its appreciation of eccentric characters, is light and a quick read but with vivid descriptions of people and environments. The main character is likable and interesting, definitely makes you want things to come out right for her.
Rating:
Summary: an advanced soul
Review: I can hardly see what I am writing as my eyes are brimming with tears. I have just finished reading "Never change" and had to get this review in. Elizabeth Berg must be a remarkable woman indeed to write with such compassion and heart. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time. Now I think I will go and watch my children sleeping, and thank God for the gift of a healthy family. Bless you, Elizabeth.
| 
