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Apr 03, 2008

Renee rated it:

I liked this book much more than I though I would. Written in memoir style; this books tells the story of polio victim and her 13-year-old daughter living in Tupelo, Miss., during the summer of 1964. Having contracted polio at 22 while pregnant, Paige Dunn delivers her baby from an iron lung, and ends up raising her daughter, Diana, alone after her husband divorces her. Able to move only her head, Paige requires round-the-clock nursing care that social services barely cover. Now 13, Diana has t More...

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Oct 08, 2010

Sjcapanna rated it:

I got the suggestion for this book from an Amazon "Customers who bought this book also bought ..." I believe the suggestion was on the Amazon page for The Help, which I loved and was looking for suggestions of similar books. Elizabeth Berg is always good for a nice, sweet story, one that is light but doesn't insult your intelligence. (Ditto Ann Tyler. They may, in fact, be the same person.)

This book, based on a true story suggested to Berg by a reader, is about a woma More...

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Jul 07, 2010

Cara rated it:

Audio back and forth to/from Johnstown. This is the book that, by virtue of being divided into 99 tracks per disc, rendered the shuffle feature on my iPod useless, and now I can't get it back off due to accepting a faulty upgrade to iTunes. Thanks, Apple!

After hearing many, many out-of-context snippets of this book interspersed with my music, I really didn't want to hear the story. The main character's voice is often whiny, shrill, and argumentative, and overall I fervently wished I ha More...

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Feb 19, 2010

Laurel rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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May 26, 2009

Laurel-Rain rated it:

It is 1964, in Tupelo, Mississippi, and a young mother, Paige Dunn – paralyzed by polio while pregnant with her daughter Diana – lives a life limited by her condition and as a single mother. But because of her inner strength and determination, she is raising her daughter, now entering her teens. Paige’s in-home help (she is a quadriplegic) consists of a young black woman (Peacie) who comes in the daytime, and another helper who comes for part of each night.

Against this backdrop, P More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Suze rated it:

We Are All Welcome Here was my first Elizabeth Berg novel, and I look forward to reading another. Set in Tupelo, Miss., during the summer of 1964, it centers on 13-year-old Diana Dunn and her mother, Paige, a beautiful and lively woman who contracted polio and gave birth to her daughter in an iron lung. As a young teen, Diana struggles to balance her growing desire for independence and normalcy with her loyalty to a mother she loves and who, despite being paralyzed from the neck down, still has More...

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Jan 15, 2010

Rosina rated it:

Domestic drama like this can easily sink into the melodramatic abyss. You've got a quadriplegic woman struggling to keep afloat financially; her husband left her when she came down with polio -- at nine months pregnant -- and the only help he offered was to get the baby adopted. A real peach of a guy.

The daughter (Diana) narrates. She's thirteen at as the novel opens, so this is a coming of age story. Her relationship with her mother, with Peacie, the black woman who has cared for th More...

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Jun 01, 2010

Tom rated it:

Paige Dunn was pregnant in 1950 when she was struck with polio and paralyzed from the neck down. So she was in an iron lung when her daughtr Diana was born. Now Diana is fourteen (1964) and she and her still-paralyzed mother live in Tupelo, Mississippi. Paige is taken care of by Peacie, a non-nonsense black lady from Shakerag, the black community in town, during the day and Diana at night. They only have enough money to get by if they don't hire a caregiver at night, which is a violation of More...

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Jul 06, 2009

Rebecca rated it:

It was just a coincidence that I started reading this book after I went to Memphis for the first time. While I was there, I learned more history about the South during the ‘60s than I ever learned in school, especially the race and social issues that occurred at that time. This book was the perfect tie-in to that trip. The story of Diana Dunn growing up in Tupelo at that time, dreaming of Elvis, taking care of her mom with the help of their maid Peacie, and trying to understand why blacks and More...

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Jun 23, 2011

Dawn rated it:

As the author writes in her “Author’s Note”, this book was very loosely based on a real woman who contracted polio when 8 months pregnant, gave birth to her baby while in an iron lung, and then opted to raise her daughter as a single mother, after her husband decides that a quadriplegic wife and baby daughter are too much for him to handle. Aside from those details, the story is pure fiction. The story takes place in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1964, about 14 years after Paige gives birth to her da More...

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May 17, 2010

chucklesthescot rated it:

14 year old Diana is used to doing her share of looking after her mother Paige, who has been left badly disabled by polio,with help only from Peacie,the daytime caregiver who Diana has a strained relationship with. Diana and her friend both have dreams of fame and a better life,so when a handsome man moves into the town,both girls want him to date their single mothers. This rivalry leads to a terrible change in the lives of Paige,Diana and Peacie.
This book couldn't make up its mind what More...

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Aug 24, 2009

Stacey rated it:

If she doesn't already, Elizabeth Berg should write movies for Lifetime (Television for Idiots). Her other two books I read/listened to starred a divorced woman and a widowed woman. This one stars a woman with polio who can only move her head. I moved mine to roll my eyes and sigh a lot.
Oh, brother, is this schmaltzy. It's narrated by her pre-teen daughter who she's raising in the 1950's with the help of (of course) a Sassy Black Lady, the ultimate insulting stereotype. Also, if you More...

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Aug 31, 2011

Nicki rated it:

I'd prefer to give this 2.5 stars as I nearly liked it. I loved the writing but I really didn't warm to any of the characters. Diana was a moody teenager who I didn't like at all, Peacie seemed very mean and Paige herself wasn't really involved that much. Its a hard story of a hard life, set in hard times.

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May 09, 2010

willaful rated it:

This is a wonderful reading. The long stretch at the beginning in which it's just the narrator speaking gets a little monotonous, but after other characters come in, it kept my interest completely. I was intrigued at the end to discover that it was an author reading, because the many different voices -- different ages, sexes, accents -- were so perfectly realized.

It's also a really good story. I agree with other reviewers that, plotwise, it's a bit heavy on the deus ex machina. Bu More...

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Apr 10, 2009

Louise rated it:

Elizabeth Berg's newest is hot off the presses and I wasn't disappointed. I don't think I've ever read a Berg novel that I didn't thoroughly enjoy and this was no different.

"It is the summer of 1964. In Tupelo, Mississippi, the town of Elvis's birth, tensions are mounting over civil-rights demonstrations occurring ever more frequently-and violently-across the state. But in Paige Dunn's small, ramshackle house, there are more immediate concerns. Challenged by the effects of the p More...

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Jan 13, 2009

Laura rated it:

I like all of Elizabeth Berg's stuff. She has a way of describing simple things that make them glimmer somehow. The story is told from a 13 year-old girl's point of view, which she does a terrific job of, and takes place during the civil rights movement. Her mom contracts polio just before her birth, leaving her paralyzed, and her husband leaves her when he finds out she'll always be a quadriplegic. She is an incredibly strong woman, and so is her main caregiver, an African-American woman. T More...

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Apr 11, 2008

Karen rated it:

Very powerful, moving, and heart-wrenching story of a mother immobilized by an iron lung and her teenage daughter who has to grow up very fast in her circumstances. The mother-daughter relationship is amazing. Elizabeth Berg never lets me down.

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Jan 12, 2010

bookczuk rated it:

The Author's Note and the first bit of this book were brilliant -- the end a bit far-fetched, but hopeful. The bits in between okay, but a little like one of those movies on the Hallmark channel. But it was a quick read, written in a memoir style, and an interesting tie in (in my mind) to my recent reading of The Help. It also called to mind An American Summer, by Frank Deford, which I read a while back and liked. I think I'd hoped for more, but at least was able to get some bits and pieces More...

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Sep 04, 2011

Kathie rated it:

Quite an enjoyable "read" (I listened to the audiobook). I thought this story was unique - it focused on a 13-yr old girl named Diana Dunn who was born to a mother that was stricken w/polio and gave birth in an iron lung. Her mother decides to raise Diana on her own despite advice to give her up - she is helped by Peacie, a black caretaker with a tough exterior but the softest of hearts. It was set in Mississippi during the civil rights movement - although this was more of a backdro More...

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Nov 12, 2011

Sue rated it:

Diane Dunn has helped take care of her quadriplegic mother her whole life. Since she was 10 she has been the only night help her mother has. They don't have much money, are checked on by a social worker, and live in the south in the 50's. Diane's mother, Paige had polio during her pregnancy. Her husband left her and Diane and has nothing to do with them. Paige has tried to raise Diane to be able to fend for herself, but has sheltered her from the main issue of the day - the beginnings of th More...

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Jul 16, 2011

Sterlingcindysu rated it:

A breezy read for the summertime. This isn't a depressing story at all and Berg has some great characterizations. My favorite is when she describes a floozy as "having a greasy mouth". This is based on a true story. (copied review) Fourteen years ago, pregnant Paige Dunn was felled by a severe case of polio; she delivered her baby from an iron lung. Left alone after her husband abandoned and divorced her, she raised her daughter, Diana, alone. Diana, now 13, has taken over the nigh More...

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Jun 23, 2010

Knucklefish rated it:

This novel had some classic Bergian components: a young girl narrating, focus on relationship between mother and child (and mother's nurse, in this case). A somewhat different element was that the historical context (Tupelo, Mississippi, 1964) played a greater role in the story. I loved this because Berg can make you feel the civil rights movement through two beautifully rendered African-American characters.

The mother was so interesting. She is a quadriplegic who could only move her More...

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Sep 14, 2010

Kathleen rated it:

I have read most of Elizabeth Berg's books and really loved this one the most. I loved that it is based on a real story and find the details of the story the most amazing. It really grabbed me and held my attention, I read this book in 2 days. I also felt that the way the story came to the author's attention and that the daughter of the woman in the story asked Elizabeth Berg to write this semi-fictional accounting was remarkable. The characters in the book grabbed me and made me want to know More...

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Jul 13, 2011

Julie rated it:

Definitely one of Berg's best books. I adored her characters (Peacie, LaRue, Brooks, Dell and of course the 13-year-old narrator, Diana Dunn). Diana's mother, Paige, is a quadraplegic, on a respirator, due to polio. The story, set in 1964, is based on a true one: a woman asked Berg to write about her actual mother, the only known woman to give birth while in an iron lung. The story (fictionalized) also touches on race relations during Freedom Summer of the civil rights era, especially on Paige's More...

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Oct 09, 2010

Stephanie rated it:

I loved this book. It's a fascinating story about a woman who was struck with the polio virus while pregnant with her daughter, and gave birth in an iron lung. The daughter ends up having to help take care of her mother, since she is a quadriplegic. They live in the 50's, about the time that blacks were fighting for their rights, and they had a black caretaker who'd been with the family since the daughter's birth.. they go through a lot of trouble that happens in their lives. I wish the stor More...

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Mar 08, 2010

Becca rated it:

Sweet little story. Coming off of "The Sound & the Fury", I needed something soft and easy. It's like having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch after days of eating micro-greens with champagne vinaigrette.

I felt a lot of empathy with the character of Diana - a 13 year old girl living with her single mom (paralyzed from polio). She's an authentic narrator, painfully aware of her own selfishness and need for attention, while full of love for her mother. The sto More...

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Oct 01, 2011

Melvago rated it:

An unusual subject handled with grace and positive thought. Paige is paralyzed from polio but is determined to raise her daughter Diana. What unfolds is Diana's story as a 14 year old dealing with a mom who can only move her head but is certainly there for her daugher; civil rights and it's effects on the spirited black lady who loves and helps Paige (Peacie).Paige is an extraordinary parent and there is much to learn from this book about love and adversity. If you'd like it on CD you can get More...

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Apr 07, 2009

Stephanie rated it:

I loved this story about a mother/daughter relationship and learning to overcome hardships we are faced with in life. Yes, many novels take on this theme, but I particularly liked Berg's approach: she was requested by a fan of her work to tell the fictionalized story of her mother's life - a polio patient paralyzed from the neck down. The fan gave her complete creative freedom and they spent quite a bit of time corresponding during the writing process, and the product is a beautiful book that ma More...

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Jun 25, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

A simple story about a young teenager, her mother who is in an iron lung and her caregiver and how they relate to each other in the backwaters of Mississippi in the 60’s. Everyone was very real in this book and it was written with just enough detail you need but not overwhelming. Good amount of characters as well. Always appreciate that, as most books overstuff. It was a very quick read. The end, while slightly unrealistic, works because that is just the way this book is. Sorry I didn’t go into More...

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May 19, 2011

Charlotte rated it:

Although it hasn't been long since I finished reading this book, I couldn't remember anything about the book until I glanced through it again. I think my problem was that I have no idea why the book has the title that it has. Did I miss (or forget) the part of the book that would have explained the title to me?

I wonder how the mother and daughter about whose lives this fiction was written felt about the way the author depicted them. Were they okay with the method of discipli More...

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