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veraveruchka 's review for:
Durable Goods
by Elizabeth Berg
This book is one of September selection for Short & Sweet Treats Book Club.
It's so hard to put this sweetie down (but unfortunately I HAVE to, hence the rather long reading time). There's a lump in my throat, I'm so close to tears. Told from the perspective of twelve years old Katie Nash who live in the early sixties, this is a story about growing up, compassion, and forgiveness.
I love how Berg portray the Nash family. The protagonist Katie, going through her storm-and-stress period rather calmly. Her voice and perspective are sometimes childlike, but she is contemplative and realistic. Her experience of losing her mother affect her deeply, somehow the longing for her mother haunts us too, even when she's not explicitly thinking about her mother. I love the Nash girls' sisterhood, how they have their own share about annoying and creating problems for each other, but doesn't mean the sisterly love between them stopped. I also love how the abusive Mr. Nash are not fully victimized. He doesn't hate his daughters, he just unable to communicate his feeling, including love and pain. It's so interesting to read Katie's sometimes contradictive emotion toward her father. She's afraid of him, she has sympathy for him, and this is never explicitly stated but we just know that she loved him no matter what. The characters feels human, multidimensional. I expect the ending to be more...rough emotionally, though. But seeing that this is a series, the unresolved problems and emotion in the end of this book might be addressed in the next.
The side characters are interesting too, especially Cherylanne, Katie's neighbor and best friend. She start as an annoying character who dominate Katie's life, but she grow softer and might be genuinely love Katie in her own way.
Another plus : the reading book club questions at the end of the book! This makes me reflect more about what I just read, relive some emotion, and relate it to some of my own experience. This way, it has more profound effect. Sadly, this feature is not common for Indonesian books. Our reading experience passed just like that :(
I'm going to hunt for the second and third book in this series. I heard there are a movie based on this book too. I'm not exactly a movie-watching type, but I'm going to check it up too.
It's so hard to put this sweetie down (but unfortunately I HAVE to, hence the rather long reading time). There's a lump in my throat, I'm so close to tears. Told from the perspective of twelve years old Katie Nash who live in the early sixties, this is a story about growing up, compassion, and forgiveness.
I love how Berg portray the Nash family. The protagonist Katie, going through her storm-and-stress period rather calmly. Her voice and perspective are sometimes childlike, but she is contemplative and realistic. Her experience of losing her mother affect her deeply, somehow the longing for her mother haunts us too, even when she's not explicitly thinking about her mother. I love the Nash girls' sisterhood, how they have their own share about annoying and creating problems for each other, but doesn't mean the sisterly love between them stopped. I also love how the abusive Mr. Nash are not fully victimized. He doesn't hate his daughters, he just unable to communicate his feeling, including love and pain. It's so interesting to read Katie's sometimes contradictive emotion toward her father. She's afraid of him, she has sympathy for him, and this is never explicitly stated but we just know that she loved him no matter what. The characters feels human, multidimensional. I expect the ending to be more...rough emotionally, though. But seeing that this is a series, the unresolved problems and emotion in the end of this book might be addressed in the next.
The side characters are interesting too, especially Cherylanne, Katie's neighbor and best friend. She start as an annoying character who dominate Katie's life, but she grow softer and might be genuinely love Katie in her own way.
Another plus : the reading book club questions at the end of the book! This makes me reflect more about what I just read, relive some emotion, and relate it to some of my own experience. This way, it has more profound effect. Sadly, this feature is not common for Indonesian books. Our reading experience passed just like that :(
I'm going to hunt for the second and third book in this series. I heard there are a movie based on this book too. I'm not exactly a movie-watching type, but I'm going to check it up too.