The Art of Mending | 
|  | | | Title: | The Art of Mending | | Author: | Elizabeth Berg | | Publisher: | Fawcett | | Type: | Book / Mass Market Paperback | | Publication Date: | 28 February, 2006 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 034548648X / 9780345486486 | | List Price: | $7.99 | | Amazon Price: | $7.99 | |
 This book is also available, brand-new, from 3rd-party marketplace sellers at Amazon.com, from $3.50. |
The HTML code below can be pasted onto your web-site, your MySpace page, or blog - or any number of similar places - to create a link to this page: If, instead of a text link, you'd like to create a link to this page which will display the book cover, if it's available, then the code below will do exactly that:
Check for the same book at these other US book sites:
• [ Abebooks ] • [ Alibris ] • [ Barnes & Noble ] • [ Half.com ] • [ Powells ] … or check UK bookstores
| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
It begins with the sudden revelation of astonishing secrets—secrets that have shaped the personalities and fates of three siblings, and now threaten to tear them apart. In renowned author Elizabeth Berg’s moving new novel, unearthed truths force one seemingly ordinary family to reexamine their disparate lives and to ask themselves: Is it too late to mend the hurts of the past?
Laura Bartone anticipates her annual family reunion in Minnesota with a mixture of excitement and wariness. Yet this year’s gathering will prove to be much more trying than either she or her siblings imagined. As soon as she arrives, Laura realizes that something is not right with her sister. Forever wrapped up in events of long ago, Caroline is the family’s restless black sheep. When Caroline confronts Laura and their brother, Steve, with devastating allegations about their mother, the three have a difficult time reconciling their varying experiences in the same house. But a sudden misfortune will lead them all to face the past, their own culpability, and their common need for love and forgiveness.
Readers have come to love Elizabeth Berg for the “lucent beauty of [her] prose, the verity of her insights, and the tenderness of her regard for her fellow human” (Booklist). In The Art of Mending, her most profound and emotionally satisfying novel to date, she confronts some of the deepest mysteries of life, as she explores how even the largest sins can be forgiven by the smallest gestures, and how grace can come to many through the trials of one.
From the Hardcover edition.
| Other Items You May Enjoy:
Browse Books From These Related Subjects:
Customer Reviews:
• Mothers, Daughters And Family Secrets. 15 April, 2008
50-something quilt artist Laura Bartone is forced to confront the secrets that have long haunted her family during their yearly family reunion.
Laura is not so thrilled to attend but she has never missed a reunion and she is also looking forward to seeing her siblings and her parents and enjoy quality time with her hubby and her two kids at the fair.
After their long drive to their parents' place in Minnesota, Laura's sister Caroline comes clean with Laura and their brother Steve, telling them that she has been abused physically by their mother throughout her childhood.
Laura and Steve are shocked, they cannot believe this has happened under their noses with them not noticing a single thing.... They don't believe Caroline at the beginning but as memories come forward they will learn to make their peace with these disturbing confessions from their sister.
To add to the family's tension, Laura's Dad dies and the trip is cut short. Laura stays with her mother and begins to untangle the riddle of conflicting childhood memories.
An entertaining story about family secrets and labyrinths.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2Z98SPX2OAS5K
• Wow.... 07 April, 2008
And I say Wow because I never saw the end coming, and it did not!
Let me start by saying I am a huge Elizabeth Berg fan, having devoured most of her works, and when I friend lent me her copy of this book, I was eager to begin. However, the more I read, the more I found that I did not like any one of the characters, unusual for an Elizabeth Berg book. I found Laura to be very juvenile and selfish and had to keep reminiding myself that this was a 50- something year old woman, and not a 20 year old one as she was portrayed. The dialogue was unrealistic, especially the conversations between she and her husband--long, drawn out paragraphs of their views on life. And I can also tell you from experience (a friend's not mine, who is a quiltmaker) that one cannot make a living designing quilts, never mind making more than her hardware store owning husband. How the heck much does she charge for these things, and who, in North Dakota would have the dough to cough up for one? Maybe on the East or West Coast, but North Dakota? And then there's Caroline, who I felt sympathy for because she was the most realistic of them all. Just when I thought a heated confrontation was about to take place, where all secrets would be revealed, I was astonished when I turned the page and found the reader's guide! Where's the end? The confrontation to end all confrontations? The book had great potential, however, I got the feeling that deadline needed to be met and was wrapped up in a most sort of warped way. A pity. I gave it so many stars (3) because I must admit, it did keep me going because I was waiting for a revelation that did not come.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A56OQ4S58T3W8
• Everyone's Family 15 August, 2008
I have come to believe that there are no perfect families and no one family runs smoothly. All families are dysfunctional in some way. And so it is with this family created by Elizabeth Berg. I could not help stopping mid-read to reflect on my own family members, friends and self trying to get a better understanding of those I know. This is the second EB book I have read and once again it feels so real and her writing is sooo beautiful.
There are times in the book I do not like the main Character. She was mean as a little girl and while there are many out there and always have been, I hated feeling as if she represented most little girls. This was somehting I was sensitive to but by no means a flaw in the book.
This is a fast read. A well told story.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A13O8I1VYQIRP1
• Such Good Writing... Why The Sudden Ending? 10 July, 2008
I was really loving this book from the moment I started reading it. The writing was perfect - interesting enough to tell a story without the annoying overly dramatized language that some other authors use. I found myself very engrossed in the characters (except for the kids - what teenager do you know would describe family, when asked to define what it means, as "slippery?" But I digress...) The author set up the ending so well, and I couldn't wait to see what panned out with Caroline and her mother, and just when I was about to find out -- Berg ended it. I mean, you find out what happens, but I felt there was a lot of build up (pretty much the whole novel!) for not much of anything. I think Berg could have done so much more with their relationship after their meeting, rather than just end the book. Even so, I am very glad I discovered Berg, who obviously is a highly gifted author, and I would still recommend this book to others. I am looking forward to reading her other books.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AK3KW303M20FK
• Definitely Not Her Best.... 10 October, 2008
Elizabeth Berg is my favorite author. When I saw she had a book out I had not read I snatched it up. From the beginning I hated this book. All the characters were undeveloped, unrealistic and Caroline was just flat out annoying. I continued reading although I had no real interest in how the book would end. I mean, nothing really happened throughout the entire book. The end was shocking (out of the blue and blunt) but a welcome relief for me; now I can start something good.
I'm just glad I knew how talented a writer Elizabeth Berg was before I read this atrocity.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A8VQBXYQ6VVPR
|
