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Home Safe (2009)

by Elizabeth Berg(Favorite Author)

3.46 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1400065119 (ISBN13: 9781400065110)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Random House (NY)

review 1: This story of an author's life in the aftermath of her husband's death features a number of characters that you'll feel like you already know. I don't mean this in a bad way at all - the two main characters aren't chiches, they're very well drawn characters who you feel for from the very outset of the book. Insofar as this book is an examination of the relationship between mothers and daughters and, more broadly, between generations, it's pretty successful. I'd have rated this three stars, I think, but for a couple of things. First of all, if any spouse ever did with the communal life savings what the recently departed husband elected to do in this novel, the surviving spouse would react at least in part with anger. There are other elements of the plot that I also fou... morend more than a little unlikely, but I don't wan't to give anything away. Finally, in writing dialogue, Ms. Berg relies too heavily on italics to tell us what word is being stressed in a sentence. If the dialogue is well written, the italics are, mostly, unnecessary. These are not fatal flaws, but enough to be less enthusiastic about this book than I might otherwise have been. For the most part I like the way Ms. Berg writes, and will probably look for another of her titles at some point.
review 2: I listened to the audiobook, read by the author. There are some flashes of brilliance in the book, but overall I would not recommend it. The main character, Helen, is flawed. You will probably say that we are all flawed, which is true. After listening to a few pages I formed the opinion that she is rather annoying. SPOILER ALERT! Even though she is recently widowed it is difficult to feel sorry for her. She is overly involved in her adult daughter's life. She has lost confidence in her ability to write and puts up roadblocks to all efforts by friends and colleagues to help her to get on with her professional career. The story is choppy, not the kind of prose that makes you eager to find out what happens next. less

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