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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Apr 2005, 224 pages
Paperback:
Mar 2006, 225 pages
The Year of Pleasures is about acknowledging the solace found in ordinary things: a warm bath, good food, the beauty of nature, music, friends, and art.
In this rich and deeply satisfying novel by the beloved author of The Art
of Mending, and Open House, a resilient woman embarks upon an
unforgettable journey of adventure, self-discovery, and renewal.
Betta Nolan moves to a small town after the death of her husband to try to
begin anew. Pursuing a dream of a different kind of life, she is determined to
find pleasure in her simply daily routines. Among those who help her in both
expected and unexpected ways are the ten-year-old boy next door, three wild
women friends from her college days, a twenty-year-old who is struggling to find
his place in the world, and a handsome man who is ready for love.
Elizabeth Berg's The Year of Pleasures is about acknowledging the
solace found in ordinary things: a warm bath, good food, the beauty of nature,
music, friends, and art. "Berg writes with humor and a big heart about
resilience, loneliness, love, and hope. And the transcendence that redeems,"
said Andre Dubus about Durable Goods. And the same could be said about The Year
of Pleasures.
Excerpt
The Year of Pleasures
I had been right to want to drive to the Midwest, taking only the back roads.
Every time my husband, John, and I had taken a trip more than a few miles away,
we'd flown, and had endured the increasingly irritating airport protocols. I'd
finally begun to wear what amounted to pajamas so that I wouldn't have to all
but strip before security guards who seemed either worrisomely bored or, equally
worrisome, inflated with a mirthful self-importance. It was hard to believe that
air travel had ever been considered glamorous, when now what most people felt
was a seesawing between anxiety and exasperation. "Well, folks, looks like our
time has been pushed back again," the captain would say, and everyone would
shake their heads and snap their newspapers and mutter to their neighbor. And if
there was unexpected turbulence, a quivering silence fell.
Now, on this road trip, my mind seemed to uncrinkle, to breathe, to ...
Before she became a full time writer Berg was a
registered nurse (also a waitress, chicken washer, rock
'n' roll singer and information clerk) which gave her
the inside track when writing Range of Motion,
Talk Before Sleep and Never Change which all
deal with differing health crises.
Most of her novels stand-alone, but three feature the
same character - the young pre-teen/teenager and 'army
brat', Katie Nash. Berg says that she never meant to
write a sequel, let alone a trilogy, but 'there was a
time when I was lying in the bathtub, and I thought
about ...
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