The Last Time I Saw You

The Last Time I Saw You

3.25 of 5 stars 3.25  ·  rating details  ·  4,304 ratings  ·  878 reviews
From the beloved bestselling author of Home Safe and The Year of Pleasures, comes a wonderful new novel about women and men reconnecting with one another—and themselves—at their fortieth high school reunion.

To each of the men and women in The Last Time I Saw You, this reunion means something different—a last opportunity to say something long left unsaid, an escape from the...more
Hardcover, 241 pages
Published April 20th 2010 by Random House
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Deborah
Elizabeth Berg is like the little girl with a curl. When she's good, she's very very good, and this is a perfect example. It's a simple story: five people going to their fortieth high school reunion. Berg must be a fan of "The Breakfast Club" because she gives us the typical high school stereotypes: the jock, the brain, the beauty queen, the outcast, and the mean girl. (If the book were written about a tenth high school reunion, it would have to include the Emo kid and the girl with the eating d...more
Jessica
The Last Time I Saw You is a story about a 40th high school reunion and the people who will be attending. Each of the characters have their own story about why they want to attend and who they'd like to see. Illness, death, relationships and love are recurring themes of the people we get to know. [return][return]This book was fine. Its not particularly funny or interesting or witty or great. I could relate to the characters but found the story a bit unbelievable and odd. For example, If all of t...more
Phyllis Sommers
A delightful novel-- poignant, funny and insightful. The story revolves around 5 main characters, high school classmates, each of whom is preparing to attend his or her fortieth reunion. Dorothy Shauman is a divorcée, eager to reconnect with Pete Decker, handsome class jock. Pete is recently separated from his wife, Nora, and is hoping to use the reunion as a means of getting Nora back. by getting her to remember what they'd once had. Mary Alice Mayhew and Lester Hessenpfeffer had each been high...more
Kris
4.5 STARS

Divorced and defeated Dorothy cannot wait wait for the 40th high school reunion as she longs to finally sleep with Pete Decker. If she can get the most popular guy maybe her life won't be so sad. Her ex-husband has already found someone new and her grown daughter is getting married with no input from Dorothy. Mary Alice is still single and back living in her childhood home and helping her senior neighbour, Einer and his caretaker. She longs to go back and show them how far she has come...more
Melissa Lee-tammeus
Okay, I will read ANYTHING Berg puts out. ANYTHING. I have been a fan since the very beginning and always will be. I race to get her newest book. With that being said, this book was fluff. A good fluff, but fluff none the less. Her earlier works, such as Talk Before Sleep, Joy School and Range of Motion touched me deeply. I bought them for others as gifts. The last few books she's written are centered on the older generation, which, of course, is a natural wonderful progression (how ever uninten...more
Cathy
I picked this book up because I really like Elizabeth Berg. Like all her novels, this is a character-driven story, and it takes place over a relatively small period of time, making it a very quick, easy read. The ensemble cast is a group of people my parents' age, and the plot is centered around their 40th high school reunion. You read about each of the main characters' expectations and hopes for the reunion, and you get to see whether or not they come to fruition.

Two things about this book amu...more
Karen
The Last Time I Saw You by Elizabeth Berg is her most recent book. Okay, so full disclosure: I’m biased because Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite authors, so without question I was predisposed to love this book. This story takes place over a couple of days and follows the characters as they make the decision whether or not to go to their 40th high school reunion. The pivotal point in each character’s decision making is that “it’s the last reunion”, which tips the scales in the “go!” direction...more
Lynne
This is actually a review of Berg's books in general. I'd read a couple some years ago but recently I picked this one up at the library. I then looked for more and have read four to six others. I find her books to be like Godiva chocolates: high quality, addictive, tasty, but I'm not sure how good they are for me. There's something so COZY about them, so much action in kitchens with so much dessert being consumed. Her women complain they've lost their youthful figures and then chomp another brow...more
Kathleen Hagen
The Last Time I Saw You, by Elizabeth Berg, narrated by Elizabeth Berg, produced by Random House Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

As the reviewer of this book stated in Audiofile, she really is the best narrator of her own books and depicts her own characters better than anyone else could. I’ll use most of the publisher’s note here as it says as much as I could.

This novel is about women and men reconnecting with one another
- and themselves - at their 40th high-school reunion.To each of the men...more
Sid Frost
Elizabeth Berg's novel, The Last Time I Saw You, is about a fortieth high-school reunion as told through the eyes of several different people planning for the reunion, attending the reunion, and then what happens afterwards. I read the Kindle version. There were a few typos since it is just out, and, since it is easy to change font sizes, I find more run on words than in printed books.

Dorothy Shauman, the high-school beauty, now divorced and having a difficult time being alone and with her grow...more
Girls Gone Reading
The Last Time I Saw You was not the most influential book that I have read this year, but I don’t think that was Elizabeth Berg’s intention. Berg didn’t focus on racism in the South (The Help) or government produced vampires (The Passage). No. Berg just wrote about what it is like to feel younger than you are, and how it feels to face the people who knew you during one period of your life long ago. And although I don’t think Berg’s novel will change history, I do think the simplicity of the plot...more
Jennifer
Elizabeth Berg has long been my favorite author. However, the last three books before this one proved to be anything but what I expected from her. I put off reading this book for a long time, fearing it would be another disappointment. I'm so happy to report that I really liked it and read through it pretty quickly.

I will say that I did have some issues with the book. For one thing, I found it fairly depressing that not one person was happily married. Certainly it couldn't be so far fetched that...more
Alexis
Sep 06, 2010 Alexis rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: 2010
This was a completely frothy beach book, but I really enjoyed it and found it uplifting. Multiple characters return to their high school for their 40th high school reunion. The book traces the characters and their aspirations. Several characters want to return to look up old crushes and some want to reconnect with friends. Others have changed A LOT since high school, while others have remained basically the same. This was a fun book, but ultimately there were lessons about how people can choose...more
Kelly Hager
I've loved Elizabeth Berg for years now. My best friend Jen loaned me my first one, Joy School. I was still in high school. Now, several years later, I've read all of her books (except for one book of short stories, which I am hoarding).

I always get a bittersweet feeling when I realize that people haven't read Elizabeth Berg. Her books are so fantastic, and they're so honest. I'll read a sentence and be like, "YES! That's exactly how I feel." So I'm excited, because people have so many great boo...more
Shari Larsen
This was quick, light, and enjoyable read about a group of 57-58 year old classmates getting ready for their 40th high school reunion. Dorothy Shauman is hoping to finally get her chance to hook up with her high school crush, Pete Decker. Self reliant, but always left out Mary Alice Mayhew is revisiting a painful past. Lester Hessenpfeffer is a veterinarian and a widower; he tells himself he just wants to talk shop with a fellow vet, but really is hoping to get past his shyness and talk to the m...more
Karen
This book was hugely disappointing as was Elizabeth Berg's last book "Dream when you're feeling blue". Elizabeth used to be one of my all time favorite authors and I am not sure what has changed. Have I changed or has she? I like to think that authors like fine wine improved with age and time but Berg has not. Is it poor editing? Lack of enthusiasm? My interpretation?
This story is comprised of vignettes of people in there late 50's preparing to go to their 40th (and final High School reunion). T...more
Erika
I read this book in 24 hours; it was *that* good. But that's what I expect from Elizabeth Berg, the author. It's like sitting down with a long-time girlfriend, and she has to tell you about her day -- the people she recognized, the things that made her laugh, the way certain people touched or looked at each other that made her smile. That's how Berg writes.

This story is about a high school reunion, told in third-person but from the perspectives of several 59-year-olds who are going to their 40t...more
Erin
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Alison
I had to think a minute when giving out stars for this book....wished there was a 1/2 star too so I could give it a 3 1/2 or a 3 3/4. I did "really like it" as the 4 stars I finally gave it implies...but not as "really like" as others in that category. It is not an earth-shaking GREAT book, but a very good one. It is engaging, easy to read, comfortable, a bit formulaic in bringing all the stereotypical high school types back to their 40th reunion...but their is a valid reason there are stereotyp...more
Melissa
It's the 40th (and last) reunion for a group from a small town. The story revolves around several classmates-popular and outcast and why they are looking forward to the reunion.

"To each of the men and women in The Last Time I Saw You, this reunion means something different—a last opportunity to say something long left unsaid, an escape from the bleaker realities of everyday life, a means to save a marriage on the rocks, or an opportunity to bond with a slightly estranged daughter, if only over w...more
Laurel-Rain
A forty-year high school reunion promises so many things to so many people, but especially to Dorothy, Mary Alice, Lester, Candy, and Pete.

What could any of these people find at this unlikeliest of crossroads in their lives? The class beauty searches for meaning and hope for the future; a newly divorced woman hopes to finally attract the class heartthrob; the wall-flower hopes to face up to and overcome her painful past. A lonely widower who has thrown himself into his veterinary practice and pr...more
Amy
When I read Dream When You’re Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg, I cried when I finished it. I also got on the computer and “adopted” a soldier in Iraq and started writing letters to him. I had done the same during the Gulf War in college. That’s how much that story and novel moved me. The Last Time I Saw You, unfortunately, just didn’t do the same. It’s not that I must cry or laugh but I do require some resonance. Maybe I can’t relate to 58-year-olds about to attend their 40th high-school reunion....more
Louise
I've read every single book that Berg has written and I found this one to be a bit silly to be quite honest.

A bunch of old high school classmates get together for their 40th Reunion which will be their last one. The characters in this novel seemed somewhat juvenile instead of mature people who are now in their 50's and 60's. I can tolerate the women groaning over what they're going to wear, who's going to remember them and if someone they especially want to see again will be there. But I can't t...more
Andrea
I LOVE BERG'S VOICE IN HER WRITING - AND THIS BOOK HAD LOTS OF CONVERSATION. I CAN TRULY PICTURE AND KNOW HER CHARACTERS - SHE MAKES THEIR PERSONALITIS COME ALIVE ON THE PAGE.

THE STORY TAKES PLACE WITH ANTICIPATION OF A 40TH CLASS REUNION. THERE ARE 5 MAIN PARTICIPANTS IN THE STORY - A MIX OF POPULAR AND OUTCAST KIDS DURING THEIR HIGH SCHOOL DAYS. NOW THEY LOOK FORWARD TO THE REUNION MOSTLY BECAUSE THEY ARE UN FULFILLED IN MANY WAYS. DOROTHY WORKS ON HER APPEARANCE - SHE WANTS TO CAPTURE "PETE"...more
Anna
With their 40th high school reunion approaching, the reader is given the opportunity to reminisce with a diverse cast of characters. There is Dorothy, who dreams of "hooking up" with the high school jock Pete Dekker. In looking back she realizes at times she was too judgemental of her fellow classmates. At the reunion opportunities arise for Dorothy to make amends. Pete is hoping to reconnect with his wife, Nora, whom he lost by his own foolishness. Nora, on the other hand, comes with a date. Ca...more
Jennifer
A quick and enjoyable read. I liked that different chapters were from the perspective of different characters and that we could see them change and grow, even at the ripe old age of 58. I liked that we could see the sameness of people's motivations and insecurities from youth to middle age.

My only real complaint was the quick wrap-up style of the last chapter. It was unclear how much time had passed until I got to the last character, at which point it was clear that 2.5 or more years had passed,...more
Bookreaderljh
Read this for the library book club and it was a nice, light summer read. Not sure I liked it all that much - the story of a 40 year high school reunion. Maybe it brought back too many memories of the cliques in high school and how teenagers despite professing to know everything really know very little about others. It was an interesting story to see these adults as they reflect on that time and who has changed and who has not. I liked the story of Mary Alice and Lester (the outcasts) who seemed...more
Karen
This was a great book for someone my age. It was the story of a 40-year class reunion. It was such fun to read about the lives of several members of this high school class. It told us who they were back in school and who they had become.
The really interesting part (and too true) was how when they all came together again, they quickly returned to their high school personas. Even though the "cool" kids from 40 years ago had gotten fat, gone bald, and had not been successful in the real world -...more
Kristine
A good read overall, but the resolution was a bit lacking. The ending was not fully developed and it almost seemed as if chapters had been eliminated because of space constraints. How the characters got from where they were at the end of the reunion to the happily ever after ending in the last chapter is a mystery--it would be nice to have those details filled in. As it is, the book seems somewhat incomplete.

Some of the characters were more believable than others. I had a hard time liking Doroth...more
Karen
Well, I'm not going to swoon over this novel like I usually do whenever I read a book by Elizabeth Berg. It was enjoyable and an easy read, it just didn't have that special touch that I find her books usually do. It's about a group of people who come together for their fortieth high school reunion. Maybe the first problem with any story about a high school reunion is it's just not fresh -- it's been done so many times before. And this had the same predictable characters. The "cool kids" turn out...more
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The Last Time I Saw You

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Elizabeth Berg is the New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including We Are All Welcome Here, The Year of Pleasures, The Art of Mending, Say When, True to Form, Never Change, and Open House, which was an Oprah’s Book Club selection in 2000. Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year, and Talk Before Sleep was short-listed for the ABBY Award in 1996. The w...more
More about Elizabeth Berg...
Open House What We Keep The Year of Pleasures Talk Before Sleep The Art of Mending

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