Open House by Elizabeth Berg

I just finished reading Open House by Elizabeth Berg but I apologize for not knowing the year it was chosen to be on Oprah's book club list.

"Open House" tells the story of Samantha (Sam) who is trying to come to terms with the fact that her husband has just left her. Now she must face the challenges of being a single mom to her 11 year old son and find some way of bringing extra money in so she and her son can stay in their house not to mention trying hard not to break down in tears several times a day.

As the reader of this book I felt like a big shoulder that Sam was crying into. Berg does a good job of connecting the reader to Sam's innermost thoughts and feelings and for the most part I think she conveys a pretty realistic viewpoint of the feelings that someone experiencing a separation/divorce might be going through. There were a couple of situations described however that I thought weren't quite necessary to include in Sam's story. I liked some of the other characters that Berg develops in the story and their wisdom they share with Sam.

All in all I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

Karen