Never Change

i did cry a few times reading "Never Change". I loved Myra, a woman of few words but always the right ones. She was the high school wallflower. She had no idea how special she was. She is a nurse who does home visits and we get to know some delightful characters through these visits. Rose, who is a sweet elderly lady with an odd way of dressing. Ethel and Murray who love to hate each other, Grace a 15 year old mom learning to look after her newborn son, Dewitt with a gunshot womb and a lot of attitude but the heart of gold underneath... I know cliche. But the book is not sentimental nor is it chiche.
Then Myra gets a new patient Chip the high school hero now dying of cancer. The resulting relationship between them and Diann, his high show more school love, and his parent, unfolds with a lovely reflection on people's ability to cope with a terminal disease. As Chip says "Dying teaches you a lot about how to live". show less

Another tear jerker from Elizabeth Berg, NEVER CHANGE (2001) is something kids write in each other's yearbooks but of course we do change, and so have Myra and Chip. The wallflower outsider, now fifty-one and a visiting nurse, Myra takes on Chip,once the high school hero, now with terminal brain cancer, as her patient. They become close, things happen. Berg, who was a nurse, knows the territory, and mines it to maximum effect. My wife, who read this before I did, was sobbing by story's end. Me? Well, almost. We have both been reading Berg's books for over twenty-five years, and the first one we read, TALK BEFORE SLEEP, was equally moving. Since then we have read nearly all of her books, and there are a LOT of them. Her characters are show more utterly believable and painfully human. Elizabeth Berg is simply a wonderful writer. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

Myra Lipinski has spent her life looking out at everyone else living their lives. Working as a visiting nurse, she cares with tender efficiency for patients who need the kind of nursing care she can provide. She also feels genuine affection for them, bolsters their spirits and helps them outside of her official duties. But she has to remain professionally detached. Fortunately this comes easy for her. At fifty-one, she knows she will always live alone – except for her dog Frank. After all, she’s always been unattractive – the girl who sits outside the school cafeteria selling prom tickets, but never attends the dance. But her assumptions are tested when her old high school crush, Chip Reardon, returns to town. He is dying and he show more needs a nurse.

What I love about Berg’s novels is that she gives us something to think about, but also lets the reader feel with the characters. I felt Myra’s loneliness, exhilaration, peace, fear, anger, and pride. I found myself thinking about what constitutes quality of life, why certain people are attracted to one another, or how a chance encounter can really change the course of one’s life. I like that Berg’s characters are – for the most part – fully fleshed out. Even minor characters show both strengths and weaknesses. Pay attention to the prologue, and after you finish the epilogue go back and re-read the prologue. I love how Berg bookends Myra’s story with these two sections, calling attention to the wonder of normal everyday things. show less

Nurse Myra's employment agency asks her to take a terminal cancer patient--who just happens to be her secret high school heart throb. Grabbed my heart, but there were no quotes I wanted to save so I couldn't quite mark it 4 star. When I was a nurse, it was completely forbidden to accept gifts from patients--yet part of the action depends on Myra doing just that. Perhaps hospice nursing has different rules--I also can't imagine bringing a personal pet along on home visits.

The plot moves decisively and the entanglements with the main character, Myra, the nurse, are
unpredictable and revealing as Chip and Myra discover each other.

The problem is that even toward the book's end, Myra still chooses to be an emotional pushover,
allowing the man she loves to sleep with his old girlfriend in her own house. Geez.

I liked that Myra was not the beauty that is so often the heroine in love stories. I really liked the characters, so many quirky ones. And you would have to be very cold-hearted not to care about Myra and Chip.

A slow, sweet, sad novel about dying that turns out to be more about how to live.

Myra is a visiting nurse who is assigned to care for Chip, the boy she longed for in high school. Chip and Myra have both reached the age of 51, essentially alone. It takes the reality of death (Chip's late stage brain cancer) to force them to confront the fears that have kept them isolated for so long.

Berg's usual lyrical writing, humor, and a memorable cast of supporting characters add to a fine story to make for a lovely read.