Home Safe
Author: Elizabeth Berg
Narrator: Elizabeth Berg
Published: January 1, 2009
Genre: chick lit
Audiobook: 7 discs (approx. 8.5 hours)
My Rating: 2.5 stars
Synopsis (from GoodReads): In this new novel, beloved bestselling author Elizabeth Berg weaves a beautifully written and richly resonant story of a mother and daughter in emotional transit. Helen Ames–recently widowed, coping with loss and grief, unable to do the work that has always sustained her–is beginning to depend far too much on her twenty-seven-year-old daughter, Tessa, and is meddling in her life, offering unsolicited and unwelcome advice. Helen’s problems are compounded by her shocking discovery that her mild-mannered and loyal husband was apparently leading a double life. The Ameses had painstakingly saved for a happy retirement, but that money disappeared in several large withdrawals made by Helen’s husband before he died. In order to support herself and garner a measure of much needed independence, Helen takes an unusual job that ends up offering far more than she had anticipated. And then a phone call from a stranger sets Helen on a surprising path of discovery that causes both mother and daughter to reassess what they thought they knew about each other, themselves, and what really makes a home and a family.
My Thoughts: I'm so torn by Elizabeth Berg's work and this novel is the perfect demonstration of my opinion of her books. The topics that her books cover are so interesting that I feel the need to read them. Then there is a character who is so annoying that it ruins the whole novel for me, and that character tends to be the main one. In this novel, we have Helen, a recent widow who is struggling with being alone after her husband died suddenly. Her daughter no longer lives at home so she has no one living with her, which gives her a lot of time to think. And what I realized very quickly was that Helen is so weak, it's absurd. There were so many times throughout the book that I wanted to slap Helen and say, "You need a dose of reality and fast. Seriously, grow up!" Unfortunately, I couldn't do that, so I had to suffer through her lamentations of how difficult it is to be a weak woman just to see what happens to the other characters in the book.
Helen confuses a quiet woman with a weak woman. She says an ode to "weak" women at point, praising how they rely on others to call people to fix things, rely on others to pay bills and never once question their finances. It annoyed me so much because I wanted to tell her that she is not a real woman whatsoever when she relied on her husband to do everything. Seriously, it annoys me so much when women think that they should let a man do everything concerning money/important decisions/taking care of a home. Just get a grip and figure it out yourself! (I'm sorry if I'm preaching from my soap box here, but it's a huge pet peeve of mine.)
The premise of the novel is unique and it was interesting to read about how Dan surprised Helen with her dream house in California. However, hearing her constant complaining about life did not make it any easier to listen to.
Say When
Author: Elizabeth Berg
Publisher: Atria
Published: June 1, 2003
Audiobook: 7 discs
Source: borrowed from the library
My Rating: 1.5 stars
Synopsis (from goodreads.com): Griffin is a happy man. Settled comfortably in a Chicago suburb, he adores his eight-year-old daughter, Zoe, and his wife, Ellen - shy, bookish Ellen, who is as dependable as she is dependent on him for his stability and his talent for gently controlling the world they inhabit. But when he wakes one morning to hear of his wife's love affair with another man and her request for a divorce, Griffin's view of life is irrevocably altered. Overnight he goes from being Ellen's husband to being her roommate, from a lover to a man denied passion and companionship. Now he must either move on or fight for his marriage, forgive his wife or condemn her for her betrayal, deny or face up to his part in the sudden undoing of his seemingly perfect life.
My Thoughts: I had really high expectations for this book since I just listened to another Elizabeth Berg novel and enjoyed it. Unfortunately, this book was one of the worst that I have ever read (or listened to, in this case). The characters were flat and boring, there wasn't much of a plot, and the whole thing just dragged from beginning to end. If I was reading this book, I probably would have stopped, but kept listening to it, hoping that it would pick up. The narrator is Griffin, who just discovered that his wife, Ellen, wants to divorce him. While it would seem like a fresh take on a married couple separating, Griffin isn't much of a narrator. He tells you what is going on, but there isn't much that he offers to move the story along. His wife, Ellen, is just annoying. She's constantly whining and I wanted to scream, "Grow up!" She is not a well-written character. Their daughter, Zoe, is eight years old, but talks like a 32 year old. It just became too much. All of these characters together made it a big sap fest and left me thinking, "You all need to grow up." While I enjoyed Berg's other books, this book makes me leary of reading anything else of hers for awhile.
Dream When You're Feeling Blue
Author: Elizabeth Berg
Narrator: Elizabeth Berg
Publisher: Random House
Published: May 1, 2007
CD: 8 discs
Source: borrowed from library
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Synopsis (from goodreads.com): As the novel opens, Kitty and Louise Heaney say good-bye to their boyfriends Julian and Michael, who are going to fight overseas. On the domestic front, meat is rationed, children participate in metal drives, and Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller play music that offers hope and lifts spirits. For Kitty, a confident, headstrong young woman, the departure of her boyfriend and the lessons she learns about love, resilience, and war will bring a surprise and uncover a secret, and will lead her to a radical action on behalf of those she loves that will change the Heaney family forever. The lifelong consequences of the choices the sisters make are at the heart of this superb novel about the power of love and the enduring strength of family.
My Thoughts: This is the first audiobook review I've ever done, so bear with me!
Set in Chicago during World War II, Elizabeth Berg takes the listener into the world of the Heaney family. The three girls, Louise, Kitty, and Tish, are all young women surrounded by the war. Kitty and Louise have boyfriends who have just enlisted, and Tish has several young men that she corresponds with. There are also three younger brothers, along with their parents, and they all reside in one house (with one bathroom!). Following this family through the war as they all make sacrifices, from rationing and started victory gardens to giving away their toys for a metal drive. The effects of the war are made evident in this book. Berg does a great job of making the reader feel as if they are living through this time and also sacrificing things for the sake of the war effort.
All of the characters are real. The main character is Kitty and you see how she deals with the war. While I found Kitty to be a great character, she did get to be a bit too much towards the last quarter of the book. I was starting to predict what she would do or say before she did it. It made the last part of the book go a bit slow, but I still enjoyed it. Since this is my first audiobook, I don't know how most books are narrated. Elizabeth Berg was also the narrator for the book and I think she did a great job. Since she created those characters, I felt that she really brought them to life and read with such enthusiasm and understanding. The only thing that detracted from her reading was her accents. The parents, Frank and Margaret, are Irish. There were times when the accents were dead on, and other times, they sounded a bit German. It didn't ruin my experience of the book in anyway, but just was somewhat comical at points.
This was a great audiobook and I will definitely be checking out more of Berg's audiobooks in the future.
