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What book did you just start?
By Stephanie · 3501 posts · 467 views
By Stephanie · 3501 posts · 467 views
last updated Feb 27, 2024 08:11PM
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Elizabeth Berg's The Year of Pleasures takes a contemplative look at the grieving process. This book struck a chord with me because being middle-aged I've already had friends dealing with the death of their spouse. I imagined the choices I'd have to make if I was in Betta's shoes. How do we go on after losing our partner and is there any right way or appropriate timing involved in our decisions to move forward? Berg reminds me that we should make the most of each day, since we don't know when th
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Berg is a true women's writer whose latest exploration of one woman's joys and sorrows will not disappoint. Her 14th novel (after 2004's The Art of Mending) asks how we can find personal connections and transform our lives. Unlike many novels, it actually provides satisfying, if slightly formulaic, answers. Critics agree that the characters, from a college student to Betta's single-mom neighbor, stand out for their empathic, realistic portrayals. Berg's poetic language and command of small detai
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Oct 27, 2012
Linda
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Betta's husband, the all-consuming love of her life has just died of cancer. Their life had been idyllic. They only needed each other. Now, Betta isn't sure how to go on without him. She can not stand to be in the home she shared with John, so she sells it and moves half-way across the country where she makes new friends and contacts past ones.
An interesting read, but with an abrupt ending. ...more
An interesting read, but with an abrupt ending. ...more
Berg sums it up in this one passage found in the middle of the novel:
"How are poets able to unzip what they see around them, calling forth a truer essence from behind a common fact...it is always true about a thousand aspects of daily life that we do not, cannot, fully appreciate -- there is only so much room inside, and we are a busy species. It takes the poets to make for a divine displacement. The poets and death." ...more
"How are poets able to unzip what they see around them, calling forth a truer essence from behind a common fact...it is always true about a thousand aspects of daily life that we do not, cannot, fully appreciate -- there is only so much room inside, and we are a busy species. It takes the poets to make for a divine displacement. The poets and death." ...more
I ended up not liking this book (almost at all). Maybe it was the reader's voice? (I do have to say that on the occasion I picked up the actual book -- I own it, but rented the audio from the library-- I liked it better). If I hadn't been reading it for a group, and I hadn't been using it as a book for the challenge on my blog, I would have stopped in the middle or before.
I just think the title was WAY off. I think it should have been called The Year of Grieving. The last page or two was what I ...more
I just think the title was WAY off. I think it should have been called The Year of Grieving. The last page or two was what I ...more
This wasn't one of my favorite Elizabeth Berg novels but it was still a satisfying read. I really felt for the main character and enjoyed the writing.
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Betta, a 55 yr-old widow, is trying to get past her pain and find happiness again. She moves to a new place,befriends the 9yr-old neighbor boy, reunites with old friends, makes new friends, helps out a troubled young man .... her new life is full. But the memories linger and she has moments of extreme grief. She even goes back to her old place and finds that the new owners have made changes. It isn't home anymore, and Betta discovers that she really has a new home, and a new life ... even if Joh
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I really enjoyed this one, though I did wish it would have been a tad bit longer and some of the characters a bit more developed, I was sad when I finished it!
I was very contemplative after I read this book. A woman grieving her loss and trying to start over and find joy.
Mar 24, 2009
Julie
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May 28, 2009
Lynn
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Julie
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Sep 22, 2010
Bronwyn
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Nov 22, 2011
Amanda
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Mar 10, 2014
Christina Browne
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