Ordinary Life: Summary and book reviews of Ordinary Life by Elizabeth Berg, plus links to an excerpt from Ordinary Life and a biography of Elizabeth Berg.
Ordinary Life Stories
by Elizabeth Berg
Hardcover: Feb 2002,
304 pages.
Paperback: Jun 2003,
304 pages.
In this superb collection of short stories, the bestselling author of Open House and Talk Before Sleep takes us into the times in women's lives when memories and events cohere to create a sense of wholeness, understanding, and change. In Ordinary Life, Mavis McPherson locks herself in the bathroom for a week, and no, she isn't contemplating getting a divorce—she just needs some time to think, to take stock of her life, and she comes to a surprising conclusion. In Today's Special, a woman recognizes the solace she finds in the simple, timeless fare and atmosphere of the local diner and, ultimately, the harmony within her own spirit that familiar comforts can evoke. In White Dwarf, the secrets of a marriage are revealed as a couple passes the time with a seemingly insignificant word-association game. And in "Martin's Letter to Nan," the unforgettable husband and wife from Berg's novel The Pull of the Moon engage in a new correspondence in which a different aspect of their marriage is revealed.
Elizabeth Berg's fiction has been praised for its "brilliant insights about the human condition" (Detroit Free Press), and The Charlotte Observer has said that "Berg captures the way women think as well as any writer. "Those same qualities of wisdom and insight are everywhere present in Ordinary Life.
BOOK REVIEWS
Media Reviews
Publishers Weekly
Affecting and sentimental, these stories could easily appear in the magazines sold at grocery checkout counters; as light commercial fiction, they should provide sustenance for Berg's fans.
Library Journal
Though clever, beautiful, and often funny, Berg's writing is weighted with an overwhelming sadness; readers may find the pieces hard to read in one sitting. Still, this latest by the best-selling and award-winning novelist is recommended.
Kirkus Reviews
Deftly [details] those defining moments in ordinary women's lives when fresh insights help explain their discontents.
Booklist - Donna Seaman
The relentless misunderstandings between men and women are a particular forte, and Berg approaches the battle between the sexes with graceful inventiveness in several remarkable stories
The Seattle Times
There's something compelling about the way Berg knows her characters intimately, how she gets under their skin and leaves the reader with an indelible impression of lives challenged and changed.
Rated of 5
by Becca First to voice an opinion I guess I am the first to review this book, but i felt that they were wonderfully deep heartfelt stories even though they were very short. Everything that the characters felt, I felt right along with them
War, natural disaster, reckless gods and the recognition of impermanence in the world are just some of the threads that AS Byatt weaves into this most timely of books. Linguistically stunning and imaginatively abundant, this is a landmark.
A beguiling, imaginative, inspiring story about the bigness of being alive as an individual, as a member of a tribe, and as a participant in history, exploring how we use storytelling to survive and shape our own truths.
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Publishers Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
of 5
by Becca
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