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Loading... Once Upon a Time, There Was Youby Elizabeth Berg
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I didn't care about these characters. The narrator made every single woman sound doe-eyed and irritating all at once. This book helped me understand why people beg authors to "show" the reader and not just "tell." I think I'm coming to the realization that this author isn't really for me. ( ) Very disappointing read. I usually really like Elizabeth Berg and the sweet comfy characters she writes. This time, none of the characters came alive or were remotely interesting. The first few chapters were quite good, and then the plot line took a serious downward turn with the handling of the traumatic event. The traumatic sub plot wasn't beleivable and it's aftermath was not dealt with in a realistic, or even interesting way. Irene ends up focusing/complaining/interfering/obsessing over Sadie's go forward life decisions, - without a thought for any damage Sadie may be dealing with internally after the trauma, which is barely mentioned again. The only sub plot that I thought had some good writing were the conversations between John and Irene, as annoying as they were, as they really rang true for a divorced couple who have no idea how to communicate with each other. This book seemed a bit uneven to me. Sometimes I liked it and other times I didn't. I wasn't too fond of Irene and Sadie at first, but I felt sorry for Sadie when she was kidnapped. The ending was not what you'd expect, but it would be too cliché for it to be. I think the fact that it took place in San Francisco for the most part, was the only thing that attracted and held me to this book. no reviews | add a review
Distinctions
Sharing nothing in common except their 16-year-old daughter, divorced parents John and Irene reconnect in the wake of a devastating tragedy and discover things about each other that they had not revealed during their marriage. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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