Open House: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
by Elizabeth Berg
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Read in November, 2007
I’ll start with the author; Berg’s writing style is simple and clean. This book is an easy and enjoyable read. I liked how Berg created this book in the first person and allowed us to see deep within the main character, Sam. I also enjoyed her diversity in characters and that they had substance. Even characters with cameo appearances like Lavender – Elaine had depth to them. We got a glimpse into their personalities and into their views on life.
Okay, now the story itself. I gue...more
Okay, now the story itself. I gue...more
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Read in July, 2002
Downloaded from Audible.com
Narrator: Becky Baker
Publisher: HighBridge Audio, 2001
Length: 6 hours 18 min.
An Oprah Book Club Selection
Publisher's Summary
Samantha Morrow's husband has left her, and now she must strive to reconstruct a life for herself and her 11-year-old son. Her eccentric mother tries to help by fixing her up with dates, but a more pressing problem is money. To meet her mortgage payments, Sam decides to take in boarders. A new friend suggests that Samantha get out, get go...more
Narrator: Becky Baker
Publisher: HighBridge Audio, 2001
Length: 6 hours 18 min.
An Oprah Book Club Selection
Publisher's Summary
Samantha Morrow's husband has left her, and now she must strive to reconstruct a life for herself and her 11-year-old son. Her eccentric mother tries to help by fixing her up with dates, but a more pressing problem is money. To meet her mortgage payments, Sam decides to take in boarders. A new friend suggests that Samantha get out, get go...more
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Read in March, 2001
The latest piece to come from one of my all-time favorite authors. Don't let the fact that this is on Oprahs'book club list deter you from checking it out. One of the main reasons I enjoy reading books by Elizabeth Berg so much is that her characters are so real. Many of the things that they (the characters) think or say could have come from me. It is somewhat comforting to read a novel that you can so readily relate to. Told from the point of view of a woman whose husband has decided to leave t...more
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Read in June, 2008
Next time I find myself thinking that I need a really easy read, I'll edit my thought to be "I need an easy, BUT STILL WORTHWHILE, read."
Although I hate to love, and love to hate on Oprah and her book club books, they usually are pretty decent. Oprah needs to fire who ever read this book for her, at once!
And the thing I find the most perplexing is that my mom left it in my room at home to read. I mean, she actually read this book and thought to herself "Liz would like th...more
Although I hate to love, and love to hate on Oprah and her book club books, they usually are pretty decent. Oprah needs to fire who ever read this book for her, at once!
And the thing I find the most perplexing is that my mom left it in my room at home to read. I mean, she actually read this book and thought to herself "Liz would like th...more
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I am an Elizabeth Berg fan. I like how she writes "true to life" books. This is about a woman trying to rebuild her life after her divorce. In doing so, she has her best success when she decides to open her house and her heart to others. To make ends meet and to provide a life for her and her eleven year old son she decides to take in boarders. In the process she learns how important it is to stay optimistic about being able to create her own happiness. She has to work at rememb...more
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Read in October, 2007
I was cleaning out my bedside table and found this brand new paperback, with the Oprah's Book Club seal of approval on the cover. Where did it come from? I have no memory of buying it, or of anyone lending it to me. The only explanation I could come up with was supernatural - the Invisible Hand of Oprah had put it there for me to read! But why?? What was Oprah trying to tell me? I blazed through this easy-to-read book in a couple of days, and I still don't have a clue. Sam - our heroine - i...more
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Read in September, 2003
I got this on the B/N bargain rack as well. It had an Oprah sticker on it.
Berg writes with a beautiful, simple, flowing style. This was the first novel of hers I read, and since then, I have purchased every other book she has out there.
She captures the heart and soul of her characters. Even some of the truths that make a person wince. The part where the wife goes to the soon-to-be ex-husband, offers fellatio and pleads with him not to leave her? It is heartbreaking - yet I have seen...more
Berg writes with a beautiful, simple, flowing style. This was the first novel of hers I read, and since then, I have purchased every other book she has out there.
She captures the heart and soul of her characters. Even some of the truths that make a person wince. The part where the wife goes to the soon-to-be ex-husband, offers fellatio and pleads with him not to leave her? It is heartbreaking - yet I have seen...more
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Read in July, 2008
I was having trouble settling on a book after so much dense school reading, so I decided to let Oprah guide me. This book is kind of like advanced chick lit. The prose is simple and honest, and somehow very comforting. Ideal if you want to spend a weekend lying on the couch with some sort of snack food, but still sophisticated enough to not induce that "I just watched a marathon of The Bachelor" feeling.
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Read in August, 2007
This book was an easy, enjoyable read and had an even-moving storyline. It was insightful to things some middle-aged women feel and also about how to make your own life and not wait for others to make it for you.
I am not sure if I could have appreciated this book as much if I hadn't been divorced in my life. I am happily remarried now for 14 yrs and because of that...the being happy now and because I had been divorced prior, I had a greater understanding for the main character in the boo...more
I am not sure if I could have appreciated this book as much if I hadn't been divorced in my life. I am happily remarried now for 14 yrs and because of that...the being happy now and because I had been divorced prior, I had a greater understanding for the main character in the boo...more
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Another Berg favorite. This book contains one of my favorite lines...I am a mother of a now 16 year old...and Berg took the rug out from under me with this (paraphrased) line:
"Why didn't someone tell me that that last time my little boy sat on my lap--was the last time?"
Ugh...my 6'2" man-sized boy---just think about it...there actually WAS a last time that he sat on my lap...but I didn't know it at the time...and can't remember it now...talk about bitter-sweet!
Ber
"Why didn't someone tell me that that last time my little boy sat on my lap--was the last time?"
Ugh...my 6'2" man-sized boy---just think about it...there actually WAS a last time that he sat on my lap...but I didn't know it at the time...and can't remember it now...talk about bitter-sweet!
Ber
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Marie by:
Pat Bezansonrecommends it for: people who like Elizabeth Berg, Anita Shreeve and Jodi Picoult
I really like Elizabeth Berg - This was the least favorite of the ones I have read so far and I still thought it was great! this is a story about a woman trying to make it after her husband walks out on her. She hasn't had a job since before she was married - and that was as a singer in a band. She is responsible for their son. She has an overbearring mother who wants her to get right back out in the date force. There are other rich characters that are very likeable in this book.
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
well-written stories of modern life
I avoid the term chick lit -- even though we may use it for fun, it seems a pretty light term for a well-written book like this one. The main character Samantha goes through crises that many of us will go through, if not already. The story is told intelligently, with feeling. I like the title because it does reflect the open quality of the story. I havent been fortunate enough to read any of her other writings, so thanks to a lady in one of my book groups for suggesting this one.
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"I made cranberry sauce, and when it was done put it into a dark blue bowl for the beautiful contrast. I was thinking, doing this, about the old ways of gratitude: Indians thanking the deer they'd slain, grace before supper, kneeling before bed. I was thinking that gratitude is too much absent in our lives now, and we need it back, even if it only takes the form of acknowledging the blue of a bowl against the red of cranberries."
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
women
It was a good companion for a day of jury selection! I agree with the reviews that say that the protagonist is a drag for the first few chapters. That's totally true-- in fact, she's almost two different characters. I'm not sure how realistic this is, since I've not gone through the situation. But I really liked the second half of the book, and thought that Berg had some beautiful things to say.
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Read in April, 2008
This is the kind of book where you have to imagine yourself in the same situation in order to appreciate it. At first I was annoyed by how pathetic and helpless Sam is and just wanted to scream "get on with your life--it's not the end of the world." But once I imagined how I would feel in the same situation, I realized that Elizabeth Berg captured Sam's helplessness and frustration perfectly.
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Read in February, 2008
I actually had to return this book because I already racked up a fine. I just can't get books read during the school year! It is a good book and I'm going to check it back out. It about a woman going through a divorce. She's dealing with her mother setting her up, her best friend who never like the guy, her ex-husband who is dating again and her teenage son who is coping as best he can.
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Read in January, 2006
Elizabeth Berg really has a knack for making her characters real. I liked this book so much because throughout the story, the emotions are so real. The main character goes from one side of the emotional spectrum, to the opposite when her husband leaves her, and it's portrayed so well, that I feel like I know this character--I feel like I experienced it with her.
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Read in May, 2007
A novel i had in my book shelves for a good second read, Open House is about a middle aged woman's struggle to find herself and regain strength and balance after an unsettling divorce. The character is very real and her depression feels, well, depressing. A predictable ending, it's more about her path to recovery and self awareness that can feel inspiring.
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Read in August, 2007
Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite authors, but although this book was very good, it's not one of her best. Still, it was beautifully written and really conveys that sense of quiet desperation Sam, the soon-to-be-divorced main character in this novel, was feeling. At times it was almost painful to read because the descriptions were just so true.
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Read in March, 2008
A good book for beach, train or plane. Entertaining in her description of a woman going through a divorce. Well, entertaining isn't the right word. She is spot on in some details. But the book and it's direct are predictable after a chapter or two. Still, if you have a copy fall into your lap - for free - and you have nothing else to do.....
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