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christine_queenofbooks 's review for:
The Confession Club
by Elizabeth Berg
The Mason series is a collection of relatively short novels focused on people finding themselves in a small town (Mason, Missouri).
I loved the premise of The Confession Club - a group of women had been meeting as a supper club, but after discovering how good it felt to share things (in a supportive environment) that they'd done wrong or were embarrassed about, it became a confession club.
While that's the backbone of the book, and where it derives its title, the heart of the book seems to be Iris. She is still adjusting to Mason after having divorced her husband and moved from Boston. Maddy, too, is a main character in this installment - a young mother who is back visiting with her daughter but without her spouse.
Elizabeth Berg writes really beautiful portrayals of friendship and community. But I couldn't help feeling that this book missed some of the charm of her previous two. I was just so taken with the baking references and Lucille's attitude in Night of Miracles (Book #2) - I think perhaps The Confession Club might have benefited from some more fun details as well, like more of the dog or the confession club meetings. Still, an enjoyable read, and one that wasn't nearly as heart-wrenching as the first two.
Thank you to Random House for a free e-arc of this title for review.
Content warnings: homelessness, recollection of divorce, PTSD (discussion of having served in the Vietnam War), recollection of domestic abuse, discussion of assisted suicide, reference to past infertility
I loved the premise of The Confession Club - a group of women had been meeting as a supper club, but after discovering how good it felt to share things (in a supportive environment) that they'd done wrong or were embarrassed about, it became a confession club.
While that's the backbone of the book, and where it derives its title, the heart of the book seems to be Iris. She is still adjusting to Mason after having divorced her husband and moved from Boston. Maddy, too, is a main character in this installment - a young mother who is back visiting with her daughter but without her spouse.
Elizabeth Berg writes really beautiful portrayals of friendship and community. But I couldn't help feeling that this book missed some of the charm of her previous two. I was just so taken with the baking references and Lucille's attitude in Night of Miracles (Book #2) - I think perhaps The Confession Club might have benefited from some more fun details as well, like more of the dog or the confession club meetings. Still, an enjoyable read, and one that wasn't nearly as heart-wrenching as the first two.
Thank you to Random House for a free e-arc of this title for review.
Content warnings: homelessness, recollection of divorce, PTSD (discussion of having served in the Vietnam War), recollection of domestic abuse, discussion of assisted suicide, reference to past infertility