Finished Mo 3/30/2020
This is a hardback that Janny loaned to me. I said that I really like the author, and she leant me four more of Berg's novels.
John and Irene have been divorced for ten years, yet they are both deeply connected to their eighteen year old daughter, Sadie. Irene and Sadie live in San Francisco and John lives in Minnesota.
They have successfully shared custody since Sadie was eight. Irene is over protective, and Sadie is chafing at the constant meddling.
Both Irene and John date, yet they both cannot seem to connect.
Valerie, Irene's best friend, says "You have so much love to give! But I feel like you're all the time digging in the tomato bin, saying, 'Where Are the apples?'"
John mentions that he say a cartoon where someone is always asking, 'What is 2 plus 2'?, and since the answer is always '4', it upsets him. This means that he's never comfortable with the way that things are, and he wishes reality was not so hard and fast.
Sadie is truly in love with Ron. They are both eighteen and about to start college.
Sadie tells Irene that she is going rock climbing with friends for the weekend. Irene is dead set against it, but finally relents. Actually, Ron and Sadie were going on a romantic car trip up the coast.
The day of the trip, Sadie is kidnapped by a man who puts her in a cage or a cell. Ron witnessed the abduction and calls the police. Irene is held captive for a day or so, but finally freed by the police.
This incident is so traumatizing that Sadie realizes that she does love Ron and they must get married. Or maybe they were fated to marry all along. But, the kidnapping certainly galvanized Sadie's parents.
I loved the book because it dealt with a man and wife who had divorced long ago and were still trying to make a go of their relationship. But, not in a romantic way, but for the sake of Sadie, they know that they must remain cordial. They come to realize that although they are no longer man and wife, the will be parents forever.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Berg lives in Oak Park, Il and was a registered nurse for ten years. She lived in Minnesota. Her work has been called 'sentimental', and to a certain extent I agree, but her characters are so well conceived and the stories are always very compelling and absolutely believable.
MAJOR COMPLAINT:
Since the kidnapping was such a big event in the novel, I felt that it really didn't get enough attention.
From the book's page on Amazon:
"Even on their wedding day, John and Irene sensed that they were about to make a mistake. Years later, divorced, dating other people, and living in different parts of the country, they seem to have nothing in common—nothing except the most important person in each of their lives: Sadie, their spirited eighteen-year-old daughter. Feeling smothered by Irene and distanced from John, Sadie is growing more and more attached to her new boyfriend, Ron. When tragedy strikes, Irene and John come together to support the daughter they love so dearly. What takes longer is to remember how they really feel about each other. Elizabeth Berg’s immense talent shines in this unforgettable novel about the power of love, the unshakeable bonds of family, and the beauty of second chances."
A complaint against the novel by 'Fiction Book Review':
" When Sadie is safely returned, and rushes into marriage, John and Irene are forced to deal with their own failures, and finally start to understand where they went wrong (as well as what they did right). Unfortunately, Berg doesn't give readers a reason to like care for any of her players, much less to invest in their relationship. And the kidnapping, both exploitative and anticlimactic, is too contrived, nothing but mechanics, the most obvious of inciting incidents. If Berg (The Last Time I Saw You) is out to plumb the depths of the modern marriage in the hopes of touching the profound, it fails to come across here."
I think this is a little strong, but I can see where it's coming from.
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