Never Change

Rating:
Summary: One of her best! The characters are so real...
Review: ...they'll stay with you long after. By the time you finish reading Never Change, you'll have a hard time remembering that Myra and her patient were just characters in a book. Berg makes them so real. She is a keen observer of oh so many little details--nuances that she picks up observing the patterns of everyday life. One can't help but wonder if the movie rights will follow soon? Seems this story would come to life on the screen--Myra, a caring, funny heroine who only appears to be self-assured. As a visiting nurse, her daily rounds include a delightful collection of patients that feel as real as your own funny old aunt or kibbitzing neighbor, or scared teenage mother you might know. When Myra takes on a new patient, a former high school crush of hers who is now 51 and dying of a brain tumor, Berg does what she does so well--any women will identify with the feelings, the humor, the insecurity that come pouring out. My only complaint is the story is too short. I read it in one night, savoring each page, and I didn't want it to end. Myra is someone I would like to have as a friend. Elizabeth Berg is wonderful!! After so many of the passages I read, I found myself smiling and nodding in agreement. She is so gifted when it comes to expressing what REAL women feel! I rated this book 5 stars only because the scale does not go to 6.

Rating:
Summary: Elizabeth Berg Rules!!!
Review: Anyone who says in any way that Elizabeth Berg doesn't know what she's doing, or should write better, ought to get their head examined. ..Elizabeth Berg is the best fiction writer that I've ever read. She is brilliant. I only wish that I could come close to writing like her. She has a rare gift. I think her books, all of them are the most amazing things ever! I am a reading addict, and I get so excited every time Elizabeth releases another book. ......She's awesome , and I think she's aware of that fact by now...Keep writing Liz, we love you...

Rating:
Summary: Laughter and Tears
Review: Elizabeth Berg has given us another lovely and moving story, that of Myra Lipinsky, a 51-year-old visiting nurse in Boston who has never married and never really even had a good friend. My heart ached for this woman, to have never known the joy of having a buddy whom she could talk to, be with, confide in. Myra had never been asked on a date, never asked to go shopping with the girls or to a movie or a dance. People liked her and talked to her--they just did not become her friends. Yet she did not ask for pity. Her best friend is her dog, Frank, but Myra seems very satisfied with her life, her patients, her house, her routine, and her Porsche Carrera 911.

Myra's patients provide us with a cast of characters who are similar to those in an Anne Tyler book--odd, quirky, and likable despite their flaws. They have become Myra's "family" and friends. She said that she became a nurse because "I knew it would be a good way for people to love me. And for me to love them too."

Into Myra's life comes Chip Reardon, her high school love (unbeknownst to him) and every girl's dream boy, who has returned home to his parents' house in their small home town, ill with an end-stage brain tumor. She is assigned as the nurse to his case and says something so sad: "You know something bad about me? I thought only one thing. I thought, Good. Now I can have him." How she and Chip arrive at a different kind of loving relationship is a wonderful story as only Elizabeth Berg can tell it.

The writing in this book is graceful and lyrical. The author is a former nurse herself and although she did not practice nursing very long, she is obviously an astute observer of people as she seems to get them just right. Myra's dealings with her patients is just right too--she coddles those who need it and forces others into making choices and decisions. This is a serious book about a serious subject, but as presented by Berg, it is not too heavy-handed.

The title of the book is an oft-written sentiment in high school yearbooks. Berg writes "...never change. As though it were a choice. As though one of our greatest lessons isn't that change is the only constant. The seasons tell us, everything in organic life tells us, that there is no holding on; still, we try to do just that. Sometimes, though, we learn the kind of wisdom that celebrates the open hand. Then we know that letting go of everything is the only way to keep the things that matter most."

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful and poignant love story
Review: Even as a child Myra Lipinsky had no friends and failed to connect with anyone. She sold the tickets to the prom, but no male asked her to go with him. As an adult, she had become a visiting nurse. Her occupation is her only satisfaction as she is content with her solitary status especially since her dog Frank provides her with companionship.

At fifty-one, her high school secret crush Chip Reardon returns into her life when he is dying from an inoperable brain tumor. Chip refuses to accept chemo or radiation that will grant him a few more months to live, but at a dramatically reduced style of life. Chip moves into Myra's home where he teaches her to live and she teaches him to love.

Elizabeth Berg has written a beautiful and poignant love story centering on a person accepting his fate and living what time he has left in life to the fullest. Chip's gift to Myra is helping her to open up to her feelings even as she provides him with the nurturing and the support he needs at the end. NEVER CHANGE is a five-tissue box novel, for the tears that flow not out of sorrow, but out of living. Elizabeth berg has written one of the most dramatic and beautiful books of her career, one that celebrates life to the fullest despite the death sentence hanging over the hero's head.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Touching and Beautiful
Review: I laughed, I cried, but most of all I didn't want this book to end. I have read many books by Elizabeth Berg before and she has yet to dissapoint me.

This book is about 51 year old nurse Myra Lipinsky, who has never married and her dog Frank is the only family she has. She is truly dedicated to her career and her patients and she has made a comfortable living for herself. The one problem is she suffers from loneliness and she dreams of having a real family.
That all changes when she is assigned a new patient Chip Reardon, who happens to be an old high school friend that she had a crush on and he is dying. He teaches Myra how to open up and except love and he also shows her how much she means to the people in her life.

This was a very beautiful love story and I thought it was well written. I highly recommend reading this book or any other book by Ms. Berg.

Rating:
Summary: Slow-paced
Review: Initially, when I first read this book, I thought the conversations that Myra had with her patients were extremely boring but as I continue to read the book, I began to understand why Elizabeth Berg included them in her story. As a reader, I learn a lot about what type of person Myra is by her conversations and how she care and interact with her patients. She's not your typical heroine, beautiful, rich with a great job and everyone falls in love with her, Myra is a wallflower, not capable of expressing herself to others and just loving herself. She is contented and at the same time, feels that she lack something in life.

That changes, when she falls in love with her new patient, Chip Reardon, a guy she had a crush on in high school. Even though Chip was slowly dying of brain tumor, he teaches Myra how to love herself and how to love life. In a way, he understands her more than she does of herself.

If you're looking for a exciting love story, this book is not for you. It's slow-paced, with some mundane details and personally, I had difficulty getting through at the beginning but I slowly grew to enjoy the book.

Rating:
Summary: A quick but poignant read
Review: This new book by Elizabeth Berg is written in her easy style. It kept me up late into the night this past Saturday (I started it at around 10:00 PM - finished by 12:30 AM). It moves quickly, and is both funny and sad at times. Myra is an unmarried woman in her early fifties who has established a life working as a nurse. She discovers herself (perhaps for the first time in her life) when she renews a relationship with a former high school friend, Chip, who is now her patient dying of cancer. Facing his own mortality, Chip shows Myra her worth as both a friend and as a woman. The story is touching - and it has popped into my mind several times since I finished it. Although not quite a literary masterpiece, it is a thought provoking read.