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A review by knuckledown
Durable Goods by Elizabeth Berg
5.0
It's interesting to read Elizabeth Berg's novels after consulting her book on "the art of writing true" so many times. Berg certainly knows how to do that. I think what I admire most about her, in fact, is the way she can take the most ordinary, realistic aspects of life and make them beautiful with words. Her metaphors are perfect: subtle, a little odd, but perfect once you think about them.
This is actually the first of the three books about Katie, but I actually read the second and third before Durable Goods. The other books are incredible, but this little book is a gem. It shows where the character of Katie comes from in such a way that it probably would have enhanced my enjoyment of the others to have read it first.
Like The Art of Mending, this book deals with an abusive parent, in this case Katie's father. There is never a long, descriptive passage about him hitting Katie or her sister, but it makes no difference. You feel the fear and also the complex love and pity that they have for their father. That is the power of Berg's writing.
This is actually the first of the three books about Katie, but I actually read the second and third before Durable Goods. The other books are incredible, but this little book is a gem. It shows where the character of Katie comes from in such a way that it probably would have enhanced my enjoyment of the others to have read it first.
Like The Art of Mending, this book deals with an abusive parent, in this case Katie's father. There is never a long, descriptive passage about him hitting Katie or her sister, but it makes no difference. You feel the fear and also the complex love and pity that they have for their father. That is the power of Berg's writing.