Talk Before Sleep in The Complete Idiots Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Nov 07, 2011 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it did not like it

Shelves: novels, fiction, contemporary, chick-lit, popular-fiction, ultimate-reading-list

I wish I could have liked this at all given the subject and inspiration for the novel. It's a story told by Ann in first person about her best friend Ruth who is dying of cancer. The story is mostly told in present tense, but there are frequent flashbacks telling us about their friendship in the past tense. I don't have complaints about the style. It's fine, even if not something that invokes writer's envy. My problem is that the story and characters left me cold.

A note from the author says the I wish I could have liked this at all given the subject and inspiration for the novel. It's a story told by Ann in first person about her best friend Ruth who is dying of cancer. The story is mostly told in present tense, but there are frequent flashbacks telling us about their friendship in the past tense. I don't have complaints about the style. It's fine, even if not something that invokes writer's envy. My problem is that the story and characters left me cold.

A note from the author says the book was inspired by the need to express the "emotional truth" about her loss of a "very important friend" to breast cancer. Maybe those who've survived cancer or lost someone they loved to that disease will resonate more with this story. The thing is, I think part of the problem is that it was too centered on her illness and coming death. I recently read Alice Hoffman's The Probable Future and a central character there is dying of cancer. I found her situation much more poignant and moving I think partly because it dealt more with her living her life while dying. Despite Berg's claim that this was grounded in her personal experience, I also found it hard to credit someone within weeks of dying of the disease would be able to pig out on lobster and fries.

Besides which, I find it hard to be moved by a story of a dying friend and her immortal friendship if I utterly despise the character. And the truth is I hated Ruth with the heat of a thousand suns without once getting the feeling we were meant to. Something in her personality I can't point to rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning, but I soon got plenty of reasons I can articulate to loathe her more and more with every page. She claims her husband is "manipulative" and cold but says she doesn't divorce him for the sake of their nine-year-old son. That doesn't stop her though from casual serial infidelity--she's sure she won't get caught. Worse, she encourages her friend, who also has a young child, to do the same. But worst of all? She asks her friend to lie for her to her husband. That's when I lost all potential sympathy. That's not the act of a friend, but a user. ...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Arlene Allen rated it really liked it

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

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Jan 04, 2010 Elhara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: forever-cherished, 144

I can't remember another book where I felt so compelled to write down so many passages. Elizabeth Berg has a rare talent to go far beyond what most can only dream to put into words. ...more

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