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What We Keep
Do you ever really know your mother, your daughter, the people in your family? In this rich and rewarding new novel by the beloved bestselling author of Talk Before Sleep and The Pull of the Moon, a reunion between two sisters and their mother reveals how the secrets and complexities of the past have shaped the lives of the women in a family.
Ginny Young is on a plane, en route to see her mother, whom she hasn't seen or spoken to for thirty-five years. She thinks back to the summer of 1958, when she and her sister, Sharla, were young girls. At that time, a series of dramatic events--beginning with the arrival of a mysterious and sensual next-door neighbor--divided the family, separating the sisters from their mother. Moving back and forth in time between the girl she once was and the woman she's become, Ginny at last confronts painful choices that occur in almost any woman's life, and learns surprising truths about the people she thought she knew best.
Emotional honesty and a true understanding of people and relationships are combined in this moving and deeply satisfying new book by the novelist who "writes with humor and a big heart about resilience, love and hope. And the transcendence that redeems" (Andre Dubus).
Ginny Young is on a plane, en route to see her mother, whom she hasn't seen or spoken to for thirty-five years. She thinks back to the summer of 1958, when she and her sister, Sharla, were young girls. At that time, a series of dramatic events--beginning with the arrival of a mysterious and sensual next-door neighbor--divided the family, separating the sisters from their mother. Moving back and forth in time between the girl she once was and the woman she's become, Ginny at last confronts painful choices that occur in almost any woman's life, and learns surprising truths about the people she thought she knew best.
Emotional honesty and a true understanding of people and relationships are combined in this moving and deeply satisfying new book by the novelist who "writes with humor and a big heart about resilience, love and hope. And the transcendence that redeems" (Andre Dubus).
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
About the author
Elizabeth Berg
51 books4,763 followersElizabeth Berg is the author of many bestselling novels, including The Story of Arthur Truluv, Open House (an Oprah’s Book Club selection), Talk Before Sleep, and The Year of Pleasures, as well as the short story collection The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted. Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year. She adapted The Pull of the Moon into a play that enjoyed sold-out performances in Chicago and Indianapolis. Berg’s work has been published in thirty countries, and three of her novels have been turned into television movies. She is the founder of Writing Matters, a quality reading series dedicated to serving author, audience, and community. She teaches one-day writing workshops and is a popular speaker at venues around the country. Some of her most popular Facebook postings have been collected in Make Someone Happy and Still Happy. She lives outside Chicago.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,044 reviews
January 12, 2015
2.5 stars
This was a quick, easy read. I was enjoying the book most of the way through, with some minor issues (mainly I didn't really have a feel for the 1958 time period and had to keep reminding myself that it was taking place then and not more modern), but it lost me at the end. After the build-up of the story, 35 years without communication, everything tied up very quickly, with very little emotion, in a way that left me thinking "lazy writing".
This was a quick, easy read. I was enjoying the book most of the way through, with some minor issues (mainly I didn't really have a feel for the 1958 time period and had to keep reminding myself that it was taking place then and not more modern), but it lost me at the end. After the build-up of the story, 35 years without communication, everything tied up very quickly, with very little emotion, in a way that left me thinking "lazy writing".
July 18, 2011
Would I be considered an imbecile, Gertrude Stein, or Yogi Berra if I said, "Well, folks, the crux of Elizabeth Berg's WHAT WE KEEP is what we keep"? I'm betting on "imbecile." Not wanting to be thought of as imbecilic and, by the way, being a half-empty-glass type, I've decided to assert that the title is at least somewhat deceptive. Whether or not Berg intended to deceive us -- I can't say; but Wayne, a fifteen-year-old who does magic tricks, insists that "people want to be fooled" (Berg 157). And out of the mouth of this character (the author's mouthpiece?), who enters and exits the novel quickly, come what seem to be the book's most important words: "Sometimes you see something that isn't there. . . . And sometimes. . . . You don't see something that is [italics] there"(156). The statements are located a bit beyond the midpoint of the novel -- appropriately, as they are at the core of Berg's work, a work not so much about what we keep as about what we lose.
Not always, but too often, we lose when we deceive, when we assume, when we close our minds, when we ignore our hearts, when we choose to believe that appearances are reality. If a reader doesn't already know these "truths," the lives of Berg's main characters should be instructive. Readers not needing instruction may still find Berg's characters interesting, easy to identify with, and easy to care about -- hence easy to keep in their memory warehouses.
In arguing that Berg's novel prompts us to feel what's lost, am I suggesting that the title should have been "What We Lose"? Definitely not -- because the characters' losses are the consequences of what most of them have kept: secrets.
Not always, but too often, we lose when we deceive, when we assume, when we close our minds, when we ignore our hearts, when we choose to believe that appearances are reality. If a reader doesn't already know these "truths," the lives of Berg's main characters should be instructive. Readers not needing instruction may still find Berg's characters interesting, easy to identify with, and easy to care about -- hence easy to keep in their memory warehouses.
In arguing that Berg's novel prompts us to feel what's lost, am I suggesting that the title should have been "What We Lose"? Definitely not -- because the characters' losses are the consequences of what most of them have kept: secrets.
July 31, 2007
At 47, as she prepares for a reunion with her mother after 35 years apart, Ginny Moore remembers the summer she turned twelve and her world shattered. Told in a most authentic voice, Berg depicts childhood in the '50s, characters we care about, and the complexity of family dynamics, but mostly it's a book about healing through forgiveness. A great summer read!
September 30, 2021
Digital audiobook performed by Stephanie Roberts.
Do we ever really know our parents? Would we still love them if we did? Could we forgive them their mistakes?
The novel opens with Ginny Young on a plane, flying cross-country to see her mother, whom she hasn’t seen in thirty-five years. She thinks back to 1958, when she and her sister, Sharla, were young girls, and a new “exotic” neighbor moved in and opened their eyes to glamorous possibilities. But it was also the summer their family fell apart.
The novel moves back and forth in time as Ginny recalls her childhood and how she felt about the events of that summer, and on the years since, including her own experiences as a mother. She learns a few things she’d been unaware of before and adjusts her long-held opinions based on new evidence.
Berg writes family relationships so very well. All the ways in which we rely on and trust one another, show our love and loyalty, and hurt or betray one another. There are always two (or more) sides to any story, and it takes a mature person to wait to pass judgment until all parts are known. My heart broke for all the family members, and my loyalties shifted as I learned more.
Stephanie Roberts does a marvelous job of performing the audiobook. Ginny’s character as an adult woman is very different from her 11-year-old self and there are many other female characters in the book, which Roberts very well.
Do we ever really know our parents? Would we still love them if we did? Could we forgive them their mistakes?
The novel opens with Ginny Young on a plane, flying cross-country to see her mother, whom she hasn’t seen in thirty-five years. She thinks back to 1958, when she and her sister, Sharla, were young girls, and a new “exotic” neighbor moved in and opened their eyes to glamorous possibilities. But it was also the summer their family fell apart.
The novel moves back and forth in time as Ginny recalls her childhood and how she felt about the events of that summer, and on the years since, including her own experiences as a mother. She learns a few things she’d been unaware of before and adjusts her long-held opinions based on new evidence.
Berg writes family relationships so very well. All the ways in which we rely on and trust one another, show our love and loyalty, and hurt or betray one another. There are always two (or more) sides to any story, and it takes a mature person to wait to pass judgment until all parts are known. My heart broke for all the family members, and my loyalties shifted as I learned more.
Stephanie Roberts does a marvelous job of performing the audiobook. Ginny’s character as an adult woman is very different from her 11-year-old self and there are many other female characters in the book, which Roberts very well.
September 7, 2008
i was disappointed by the book - the story is compelling, but the author was a nasty little habit of nicely showing, then laboriously telling what the reader already understands quite nicely. It is as thought she doesn't trust the reader - or herself - to manage without an excess of words.
June 11, 2009
The last book I read while we were in Europe...actually I managed to read it entirely while we spent the last night in Munich, Germany and then left it at the Munich airport for someone else to enjoy.
I always enjoy Elizabeth Berg's books and this one was no exception...it's a very quick read with an easy plot...so won't spend much time giving away things in it. Just this line: we base our feelings about people and happenings solely on our observations, or what we perceive as our observations...and we often tend to forget that there are two sides to every story!
Enjoy!
I picked up a new book at the Munich airport and am in the process of reading it now...but I would imagine I may have it finished before returning home to La Center, WA. It's entitled: The Little Book by Selden Edwards...and so far is quite delightful!
I always enjoy Elizabeth Berg's books and this one was no exception...it's a very quick read with an easy plot...so won't spend much time giving away things in it. Just this line: we base our feelings about people and happenings solely on our observations, or what we perceive as our observations...and we often tend to forget that there are two sides to every story!
Enjoy!
I picked up a new book at the Munich airport and am in the process of reading it now...but I would imagine I may have it finished before returning home to La Center, WA. It's entitled: The Little Book by Selden Edwards...and so far is quite delightful!
August 31, 2009
There were aspects I liked and aspects I didn't. Maybe I felt bitter, coming off of some hard publishing house rejections for my own novel. But I kept wondering, "Is this what passes for good writing these days?" It's not that suspenseful of a plot, the writing isn't that amazing; I think the main focus is the characters, and they were a bit insipid.
With so many kid-based chapters, I am kind of surprised this didn't pass for Young Adult fiction (it reminded me a bit of FLIPPED), except that she looks back over her life in the plane as an adult, so maybe that changes the genre. And I found the plane scenes to ring TOTALLY false to me. It's much more interesting when she's in the past.
The novel reminded me of The Prince of Tides mixed with a lot of washwater to dilute out the power and meaning. What I liked about the novel was mostly due to the surprise at the ending being the opposite of what I thought it would be. It made the mother less heartless and more long-suffering, and I always like a book that can trick me.
I think I was offput by the first chapter, in which she had a discussion with a stranger in a plane that I just didn't think was likely between two people who didn't know each other. Then, she'd have moments she seemed to think were poetic, like comparing herself scratching a moquito bite to "a dog well-stratched." Or wishing for undersea creatures "to surface and see everything." Or cliches like "Say you walked into your own familiar house and the floor gave away beneath your feet."
But on the other hand, there were a few remarkable moments: "I felt as though shards of sleep were dropping around me like eggshell around a hatching bird"; "there was a thrill to the sickness, a jazzy edge that made what felt like an internal eyeball jerk open"; "it felt as if birds could fly down and pluck jewels from my mouth."
And, of course, there were the funny moments, the deep moments, that were definitely things I could identify with. I felt sad when the mother described her wedding rings as being like a baby she put down because she was exhausted, but the baby reaches up for you, and you feel guilty. I've definitely been in that position with some pretty exhausting babies!!! LOL
As a daughter who did watch her mom leave her family, I had mixed emotional reactions to moments in this novel. I felt that this mother was being really petty--but then, I didn't know the nature of the secret, as the author is holding it back from the reader. So I thought she just wanted a "freer" life, whereas in my own life my mother had to leave for medical conditions and mental problems. I also thought the daughters were being petty: your mom missed ONE of your birthdays? Boo hoo.
But on the other hand, I also identified with the girls. It's hard to have someone walk out of the family and not close the circle, learning to walk on without them. Then, when they try to return, they are a stranger, and you can't help feeling pettily infuriated with them, no matter how dumb or damaging such a reaction is. Those were the poignant moments in the novel for me. When the mother gave the main character a painting of a mother rocking a baby, I really felt affected by that moment. Even sick mothers, mothers who leave their families, mothers who leave for other paths...they are still mothers.
With so many kid-based chapters, I am kind of surprised this didn't pass for Young Adult fiction (it reminded me a bit of FLIPPED), except that she looks back over her life in the plane as an adult, so maybe that changes the genre. And I found the plane scenes to ring TOTALLY false to me. It's much more interesting when she's in the past.
The novel reminded me of The Prince of Tides mixed with a lot of washwater to dilute out the power and meaning. What I liked about the novel was mostly due to the surprise at the ending being the opposite of what I thought it would be. It made the mother less heartless and more long-suffering, and I always like a book that can trick me.
I think I was offput by the first chapter, in which she had a discussion with a stranger in a plane that I just didn't think was likely between two people who didn't know each other. Then, she'd have moments she seemed to think were poetic, like comparing herself scratching a moquito bite to "a dog well-stratched." Or wishing for undersea creatures "to surface and see everything." Or cliches like "Say you walked into your own familiar house and the floor gave away beneath your feet."
But on the other hand, there were a few remarkable moments: "I felt as though shards of sleep were dropping around me like eggshell around a hatching bird"; "there was a thrill to the sickness, a jazzy edge that made what felt like an internal eyeball jerk open"; "it felt as if birds could fly down and pluck jewels from my mouth."
And, of course, there were the funny moments, the deep moments, that were definitely things I could identify with. I felt sad when the mother described her wedding rings as being like a baby she put down because she was exhausted, but the baby reaches up for you, and you feel guilty. I've definitely been in that position with some pretty exhausting babies!!! LOL
As a daughter who did watch her mom leave her family, I had mixed emotional reactions to moments in this novel. I felt that this mother was being really petty--but then, I didn't know the nature of the secret, as the author is holding it back from the reader. So I thought she just wanted a "freer" life, whereas in my own life my mother had to leave for medical conditions and mental problems. I also thought the daughters were being petty: your mom missed ONE of your birthdays? Boo hoo.
But on the other hand, I also identified with the girls. It's hard to have someone walk out of the family and not close the circle, learning to walk on without them. Then, when they try to return, they are a stranger, and you can't help feeling pettily infuriated with them, no matter how dumb or damaging such a reaction is. Those were the poignant moments in the novel for me. When the mother gave the main character a painting of a mother rocking a baby, I really felt affected by that moment. Even sick mothers, mothers who leave their families, mothers who leave for other paths...they are still mothers.
August 4, 2008
I couldn't get over the fact that both girls held onto a grudge for thirty-five years--denying their mother contact (or bare civility) when she first returns and then denying her any contact with her grandchildren. The narrator came across as petty to me. When she states at the beginning that her "mother story" is the "worst", I really expected something serious like abuse or years of neglect, not temporary abandonment during a midlife crisis--misguided, sure, but worth 35 years of estrangement? Not in my opinion.
October 19, 2013
Ginny and Sharla Young were young teenagers growing up in the 1950's when their mother makes a choice that will change their lives forever. 35 years later they are flying to meet each other and their mother, and as the book moves back and forth in time between the girls they were and the women they have become, they learn surprising truths about the choices and tough decisions that occur in many women's lives . A good story about misunderstandings, forgiveness, and the fact that sometimes you have to become a mother to more fully understand your own.
March 18, 2009
I really enjoy Elizabeth Berg. Again, in this novel, she makes me care deeply about the character and empathize and hurt and laugh with the character. No matter what age her character is, she makes them relatable to me. In this case, the narrative is largely seen through the eyes of a 12 year old whose world is falling apart.
Berg captures the essence of what it means to be 12, and her writing was intelligent, but she was thinking like a 12 year old.
The only issue I had, was that I felt that the book was wrapped up in a neat package far to quickly. 35 years of hurt and pain requires more than a short chapter to bring closure. So, the ending left me feeling a bit dissatisfied.
Berg captures the essence of what it means to be 12, and her writing was intelligent, but she was thinking like a 12 year old.
The only issue I had, was that I felt that the book was wrapped up in a neat package far to quickly. 35 years of hurt and pain requires more than a short chapter to bring closure. So, the ending left me feeling a bit dissatisfied.
July 13, 2014
Elizabeth Berg is my go to author when I need a break from non-fiction. Her stories and characters are familiar and often in sync with my own life. In "What We Keep" she presents a family coping with a mother struggling with her role as a woman in a time when few options to be herself exist. The toll this takes on her two daughters is heartbreaking. Secrets and half-truths make for a guessing game as to what is really going on in this family. The strength of the sisters' bond comforts each girl as they move forward in to their futures.
February 28, 2018
A daughter, Ginny traveling to see her mother, whom she had not seen for thirty five years. She spent time on the airplane remembering her childhood with her mother, father and sister Sharla and when their family fell apart.
Sharla and Ginny were now Mother’s with their own children, when their mother asked them to come and see her. She had told she was ill.
Their mothers life for the last thirty five years were a surprise to both daughters.
There was forgiveness and healing.
A very touching story.
Sharla and Ginny were now Mother’s with their own children, when their mother asked them to come and see her. She had told she was ill.
Their mothers life for the last thirty five years were a surprise to both daughters.
There was forgiveness and healing.
A very touching story.
June 28, 2013
I know this book received a lot of good ratings - but I found it to be an extremely depressing and somewhat meandering story. I liked the "concept" of the storyline - but after trudging through the book I expected the ending to come full circle or a greater understanding revealed or something. However, it seemed to just seemed to peeter out. It felt incomplete to me.
December 11, 2021
5 stars for this fantastic book! I can be quite difficult to please when it comes to books. I can now say that Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite authors. Her writing is phenomenal and unpretentious. I don't merely want to be entertained, I want to feel, to get a glimpse of an author's perspective. I am a "give me more" kind of reader and her books hits the spot. I believe that this is my favorite book written by her so far. She has an awareness of life and relationships that resonate deep within me. I need a book to be a catalyst for further thought and probing and this author meets this need for me. Brilliant!
October 28, 2008
A beautifully written story about a 47 year old woman, who is on her way to meet her sister and their mother, from whom the sisters have been estranged for 35 years. Their childhood is told in a series of memories and explains how the engaged, loving mother leaves their father and, after a time, decides her daughters would be better off without her in their lives. There's a sadness to the story as you think about what the sisters and the mother have lost over the last 35 years, and the almost too late attempt at reconnecting.
Berg has a gift for writing that is sparse, but clear in its description of ordinary events, and I think she's at her best in this book. My favorite passage comes near the end of the book,as the grown daughter is returning home from the visit:
"I am thinking about the way that life can be so slippery; the way that a twelve-year-old girl looking into the mirror to count freckles reaches out toward herself and her reflection has turned into that of a woman on her wedding day, righting her veil. And how, when that bride blinks, she reopens her eyes to see a frazzled young mother trying to get lipstick on straight for the parent-teacher conference that starts in three minutes. And how after that young woman bends down to retrieve the wild-haired doll her daughter has left on the bathroom floor, she rises up a forty-seven-year-old; looking in the mirror to count age spots."
Berg has a gift for writing that is sparse, but clear in its description of ordinary events, and I think she's at her best in this book. My favorite passage comes near the end of the book,as the grown daughter is returning home from the visit:
"I am thinking about the way that life can be so slippery; the way that a twelve-year-old girl looking into the mirror to count freckles reaches out toward herself and her reflection has turned into that of a woman on her wedding day, righting her veil. And how, when that bride blinks, she reopens her eyes to see a frazzled young mother trying to get lipstick on straight for the parent-teacher conference that starts in three minutes. And how after that young woman bends down to retrieve the wild-haired doll her daughter has left on the bathroom floor, she rises up a forty-seven-year-old; looking in the mirror to count age spots."
July 7, 2009
I keep returning to Elizabeth Berg's books because she has a wonderfully real writing style... I love how she describes ordinary events and common emotions ...with such clarity and detail. But with each book I've read,though, there is a direction she takes that is implausible to me. I LOVED the first 2/3 or so of this book as told through the eyes of a 12 year-old girl, but unfortunately the story got weaker at the end.
One quote I could really relate to at this stage of life:
"I am thinking about the way that life can be so slippery; the way that a twelve-year-old girl looking into the mirror to count freckles reaches out toward herself and her reflection has turned into that of a woman on her wedding day, righting her veil. And how, when that bride blinks, she reopens her eyes to see a frazzled young mother trying to get lipstick on straight for the parent-teacher conference that starts in three minutes. And how after that young woman bends down to retrieve the wild-haired doll her daughter has left on the bathroom floor, she rises up a forty-seven-year-old; looking in the mirror to count age spots."
3 1/2 stars...
One quote I could really relate to at this stage of life:
"I am thinking about the way that life can be so slippery; the way that a twelve-year-old girl looking into the mirror to count freckles reaches out toward herself and her reflection has turned into that of a woman on her wedding day, righting her veil. And how, when that bride blinks, she reopens her eyes to see a frazzled young mother trying to get lipstick on straight for the parent-teacher conference that starts in three minutes. And how after that young woman bends down to retrieve the wild-haired doll her daughter has left on the bathroom floor, she rises up a forty-seven-year-old; looking in the mirror to count age spots."
3 1/2 stars...
December 7, 2007
This is my favorite book! For some reason I love stories that are told thru the eyes of a child like this one partly is. I think Elizabeth Berg is one of the best authors out there today and have been rarely disappointed by her books. This is a great story of family and the relationships between sisters and mothers and daughters.
February 1, 2009
I have enjoyed everything I've read by Elizabeth Berg.
She has "emotional honesty and a true understanding of
people and relationships." She writes of complex
family relationships and the 35-year estrangement two
sisters have from their mother. Elizabeth Berg is a
reason I find reading fiction adds a level of humanity
and understanding (every bit helps) to my life.
She has "emotional honesty and a true understanding of
people and relationships." She writes of complex
family relationships and the 35-year estrangement two
sisters have from their mother. Elizabeth Berg is a
reason I find reading fiction adds a level of humanity
and understanding (every bit helps) to my life.
July 3, 2009
This book started out strong for me, but I was disappointed in the ending. I enjoyed the format of the story told through flashbacks, but the switch to present day (which was needed to wrap up the story) was much less developed than the flashbacks and the entire situation was wrapped up with no depth and left me feeling underwhelmed.
February 25, 2017
Another good story from Elizabeth Berg. I liked this one almost enough to give it 5 stars but not quite. I really have to save my 5 star reviews for the "WOW" books. This one almost made it there. I loved the characters. I don't usually like stories that bounce back and forth over time but it didn't bother me in this one. A great story about relationships and growing up.
January 6, 2013
Will that plane never land? Phony "I have perfect visual memory" device was sad, and an excuse not to work with teh effects of memory. Meeting with mom was a complete ANTI-CLIMAX. Awful.
October 21, 2015
I love Elizabeth Berg's writing and this book about mothers and daughters really resonated with me. Beautiful.
September 4, 2020
Heartbreaking throughout with a wonderfully redemptive ending. Testament to a mother’s love and daughters healing.
April 3, 2023
I picked up this, the last Elizabeth Berg novel on my TBR shelf, because, after a night of too little sleep, I didn’t have the energy for the book I had been reading (and will return to). I have always found Berg’s books easy and pleasant to read without being cheap. This one was no exception.
As the book begins, the forty-seven-year-old narrator is flying across country to see her mother for the first time in thirty-five years; the book focuses on what happened to create such long-term alienation in the family. Although the story of the trip to California is depicted in the book’s narrative frame and the occasional sprinkled-in chapter, most of it concerns events during the summer when Ginny turns twelve and her sister Sharla is fourteen. Accordingly, the events are viewed through the point of view of early adolescence, specifically the adolescence of a more innocent era.
Although the fact is only lightly suggested, the past events apparently take place around 1961 or 1962, the time of the early glimmerings of “second wave feminism,” and knowing that fact offers clues as to what the girls’ mother did that made them so angry at the time; on the other hand, by the 1990s, adult women ought to have figured that out and moved on. Berg sort of addresses that with a nice observation: “It’s funny how, oftentimes, the people you love the most are given the least margin for error.” Okay, so I’ll suspend my disbelief about that lingering resentment. It’s necessary to the story. Anyway, the upshot is that the girls’ feelings of betrayal are persuasively rendered, as are the mother’s motives. Everybody hurts. Even though much of the “mystery” behind the estrangement is pretty easy to guess early in the book, there are a few surprises in the final pages, and the book’s resolution is touching and satisfying.
I was a child in the early ‘sixties, and I enjoyed Berg’s rendering of women’s lives in that era—the clothes, coffee klatches, Jello salads, Tupperware parties, and so on. What intrigued little girls, though, was notoriously nightmarish for their mothers. Three cheers for the ones who escaped!
As the book begins, the forty-seven-year-old narrator is flying across country to see her mother for the first time in thirty-five years; the book focuses on what happened to create such long-term alienation in the family. Although the story of the trip to California is depicted in the book’s narrative frame and the occasional sprinkled-in chapter, most of it concerns events during the summer when Ginny turns twelve and her sister Sharla is fourteen. Accordingly, the events are viewed through the point of view of early adolescence, specifically the adolescence of a more innocent era.
Although the fact is only lightly suggested, the past events apparently take place around 1961 or 1962, the time of the early glimmerings of “second wave feminism,” and knowing that fact offers clues as to what the girls’ mother did that made them so angry at the time; on the other hand, by the 1990s, adult women ought to have figured that out and moved on. Berg sort of addresses that with a nice observation: “It’s funny how, oftentimes, the people you love the most are given the least margin for error.” Okay, so I’ll suspend my disbelief about that lingering resentment. It’s necessary to the story. Anyway, the upshot is that the girls’ feelings of betrayal are persuasively rendered, as are the mother’s motives. Everybody hurts. Even though much of the “mystery” behind the estrangement is pretty easy to guess early in the book, there are a few surprises in the final pages, and the book’s resolution is touching and satisfying.
I was a child in the early ‘sixties, and I enjoyed Berg’s rendering of women’s lives in that era—the clothes, coffee klatches, Jello salads, Tupperware parties, and so on. What intrigued little girls, though, was notoriously nightmarish for their mothers. Three cheers for the ones who escaped!
November 13, 2020
I noticed a few years ago that I do not read enough female authors, so I have been making an effort to rectify that. Berg was just one of those on my list of authors I was going to get around to. And I should have gotten to her sooner. I wish I had written this book. Along with having general observations that were spot on, it also resonated with me personally in so many ways. I wanted to talk to someone about so much of what I was reading...the issues with her parents, the ways she overcompensated with her own kids, the way the lack of hardship made her kids less close than she was to her sister. I have lived all of that. And then learning more at the end and realizing that maybe there are things that a child doesn't understand about their parents. So many amen moments. I almost went 4/4.5 stars, because it slowed just a bit in the middle, but because it hit such a personal chord, I know it will stay with me and I will read it again.
July 6, 2020
This is not classical literature but Berg always brings out those hard to reach emotions in me. This book is about a woman whose mother hurt her badly when she was young and it made the relationship between her and her sister very close. Now, as adults, she's flying home on a plane to see her estranged mother and reliving her childhood in her head. I love how Berg is so easily able to go back and forth between the adult brain and the child's brain so effortlessly. I also love how she portrays the thoughts of the young, so eerily accurate that it made me feel like I was 12 again. It also had me relating to her relationship with her mother and my childhood. She aptly describes the difficult yet gracious love that a daughter/mother relationship can be. It's not my favorite Elizabeth Berg, but if you enjoy her, it has all the magic that her other books have and worth the read.
July 16, 2019
Berg tackles the complexity of female relationships. Relationship between sisters, mothers and daughters , and female friendship. Per her sister Sharla's request, 47 year old Ginny is on her way to California to visit her estranged mother. Ginny flashes back to her and sister's childhood when the mysterious yet exotic Jasmine Johnson moved in next door. Marion (Ginny and Sharla's mother) is a typical housewife of the 1950's. Upon meeting Jasmine, Marion realizes how stagnant her life has become and leaves home. A novel of mothers and daughters and forgiveness and redemption. I loved how Berg used houses in the story for the metaphors of the women's lives.
March 12, 2021
I do not know about Elizabeth Berg when I picked this book from a second hand book store,later I realized that, it's a rare gem that I read so far. It is a story of love, redemption and sacrifices. We are all know about our loved ones, but sometimes we forget about there passions. It's a story of a mother ,who mentaly struggles to cop up with there family and passion. The story teach as an important lesson
"Every story has two sides, the reality is totally depends upon our perception "
"Every story has two sides, the reality is totally depends upon our perception "
April 2, 2022
Wonderful!
January 17, 2021
I loved this story and I loved the reader. I laughed out loud SO MANY TIMES!!!
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