Home Safe

Home Safe - A safe and predictable story

A disappointing read with cliched characters, a flat plot , and a not-unexpected ending. Woman becomes widow, realizes she can't do anything for herself, endlessly nags her grown daughter to "find a man", and then "finds herself" by teaching a writing class. The main character was annoying, her daughter sounded like a 10-year-old, and the story lines resolved in the most predictable ways.

Read "Durable Goods" or "Talk Before Sleep" for better works by this author.

10 out of 12 people found this review helpful.

This is the author, Elizabeth Berg

reminding readers that neither editor nor author forgot the date of 9/11. The text reads that Tom's WEDDING was planned for Saturday, September 15th. And now, as this is my book, I'll give it five stars. My books are like my children, so I'm sure you'll understand the impulse.

4 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Feel Good Book!

Berg just has a great way of writing - she drew me in. I love her writing about a writer and it made me want to talk to her to see if she had ever had periods where she couldn't she write, and how she overcame it, etc, etc.

This is definitely a feel good book and I'm tempted to call it a coming of middle age book. Interesting how the story unfolds and how it ends (no, I wont' spoil it for you!) But I really recommend this book. Especially if you are a Berg fan already, this one won't disappoint!

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Not the worst book I have read

The book was slow to get into. The book also did not resolve what I felt needed to be resolved in the end. The summary of the book left me high hopes that did not quite materalize. I will try more from this author.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Very disappointing and contrived

As a writer whose husband died unexpectedly, I picked this book up because I, too, suffered an entire year not being able to write anything. However, an intelligent woman, with money, would not fail to see her own dependence and interference with others' lives, and certainly wouldn't be blind to her husband's other life.

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Loved it!

This was a terrific read: a mystery, a romance, and an elegant exploration of the process of writing and the nature of creativity. It's something I'll recommend to others.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Nice, Easy Read

Just like its title promises, Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg is a comfy, pleasant, and not too challenging read. A widowed author deals with writer's block while navigating life alone. She has to learn how to handle household chores, finances and parenting without the man she can only remember as perfect. But just as she is settling into her quiet, lonely life a secret is revealed that sets her on a new, uncomfortable path.
What makes this novel interesting is the relationships, particularly the parent-child dynamic between the main character and her grown daughter. Who is taking care of whom and why? Who needs a better job and who needs a date? Where is the line between caring and meddling? Navigating this relationship is the ultimate goal for both.
Home Safe starts off a little sappy as we see life through the widow's eyes. Her life was idyllic, her marriage wonderful, her husband a saint. But helped by a colorful mix of characters she begins to wake from that fog to see reality, past and present. The book gets more interesting as her story becomes more realistic.
This is a good book for a lazy weekend or a long flight. It won't stir your soul or call you to arms. You won't really learn anything, but you will be entertained.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

True to form, Elizabeth Berg!

Another great book by Elizabeth Berg. Her writing style is so easy to read and her characters are just like people you know. Helen's feelings of being unsettled and clinging to her child after the loss of her husband ring true to anyone who has been in Helen's shoes.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Always a fan!

Another great Berg read~

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A must-read touching story!!

You'll definitely enjoy this beautifully written tale of love, loss, identity, and the intricate bond between a mother and daughter. It tells the story of middle-aged author, Helen Ames, who's grieving the sudden death of her overly-protective husband. Turning to her adult daughter for help with everyday life's challenges puts a strain on their relationship and creates problems. Helen is dismayed when she finds herself unable to write and has to put her writing career on hold. To make matters worse, her late-husband had withdrawn a large portion of their retirement account for unknown reasons, making it necessary for her to find another job. As the story unfolds, she begins her unsteady journey from dependency to learning to cope on her own.

Ms. Berg is wonderfully descriptive in her storytelling. She is incredibly gifted in her ability to conjure scenes and express emotions that I could actually experience with the characters. Her storyline was very captivating, from the first page to the last. I thoroughly enjoyed the enlightening insider's view of the realities of being a writer. Also, there's a lot of wisdom to be gained in the poignant, evolving relationship between Helen and her daughter. I absolutely loved this engaging book and I highly recommend it!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Worth the read

I read this book over a weekend. Elizabeth Berg's books are always this way--so wonderfully written and engaging and absorbing. You invest in her characters and the books, though they are so much more about character and feeling and the human experience than about action and conflict, somehow read like page turners. As always, more than once I read passages in her books that are so profoundly true to life that I feel moved by a sentence or a perfect phrase, somehow so insightful. She is the greatest writer of women's lives and feelings I have ever read. I loved how this novel seemed to provide us little "meta" glimpses into her own autobiographical experiences of being a writer. It's hard not to assume that some of Helen's feelings on writing, writer's block, and the business of writing are Elizabeth's own. There were a couple plot devices that were perhaps a little too coincidental or well-timed, but I didn't mind in the least, because they added such interest. What I love most and remember most about E.B.'s books is not the action of the story as much as how I felt while reading it -- how her power of observation provides such insight. Elizabeth, if you ever read these reviews: ignore the Margot Langley's! You can't begin to imagine how much your books mean to many of us. This one was so wonderful and I'm truly grateful for her as a writer.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

you need to read this book

good book. read it.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Home Safe

This was a decent read. If you like to read books about people and life experiences, this is for you.

"Feel Good Books" are not for me.

I think this is the first "feel good book" I've ever read and it is the last. It was simple, whimsical, and anti-climatic. The story showed potential to approach social issues, but purposely avoided them and made everything turn out happy. I prefer books that are at least exciting, suspenseful and amusing. My favorites are complex and thought-provoking. This book was not my cup of tea.

I liked it

A poignant story of feelings, dreams, mistakes and resolution.

disappointed

I was disappointed with this book. Main character is too whiny and insecure for me to relate to her. The story is 'choppy', which is distracting. Segmanents abruptly end and suddenly the story is in another place, time and scene. There is no transition from scene to scene. I have read other books by this author and enjoyed them. Sadly, I did not enjoy thus one.

Great Read

I enjoyed this book. Easy read and quick read.

Sappy

Main character has issues such that it was hard to relate to her insecurities. The daughter was a snot.

Loved it.

Partly what I loved about this book was the very flawed, but extremely likeable Helen. She's the mother who drives you crazy, but that you love deeply despite all of that. The author writes beautifully and evocatively, reminding me how lovely changing seasons can be and how being lonely and on your own can be a painful blessing. Elizabeth Berg understands all of this and writes of it in a way that reminds me how good and sad and wonderful it is to be human. This was my first Elizabeth Berg book. I cannot wait to read her other novels.

Slow...

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