Talk Before Sleep

Rating:
Summary: Poetic, funny, heartwrenching; a MUST-READ for all women!
Review: "Talk Before Sleep" celebrates women's friendship with some of the most poetic and touching language you'll ever read! In each scene as Ruth, Ann, and assorted other women friends gather for Ruth's final weeks, you'll laugh, fight, and ache along with each of them. When the inevitable does come, you'll cry for Ruth as you would for any of the women you hold dear in your "real life." This is a truly moving story, made even more satisfying by Berg's exceptional writing. It will dare you to think about possibilities you'd never have imagined before, and as a result, you'll appreciate your friends, your sisters, your mother SO much more after reading it. Gift-giving was easy last Christmas: I gave a copy of this book to every woman I know!

Rating:
Summary: How does one cope with Death of a loved one?
Review: Elizabeth Berg's TALK BEFORE SLEEP is the story of a friendship. Ruth is dying from cancer, and her best friend Ann is trying to cope. We see things mostly through the eyes of Ann. Through flashbacks we find out how they met, how they felt about each other and what brought them together.

Both are married and both have a child, but each of them are like night and day. Ruth lived life to the fullest and always took risks. Ann seemed to be the more conservative of the two, but that didn't stop them from being friends.

The book was about how Ann and Ruth's other closest friends helped Ruth and each other prepare for her death. Be prepared for a lot of tears, especially by the end of the book. I felt that this was probably one of my favorite Elizabeth Berg books, and as usual, I was not let down.

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Summary: Runs the entire gamut of cancer
Review: From the diagnosis, to the denial, to the intimidating medical lingo, to the fear and unknown of dying, "Talk Before Sleep" is one of the most realistic pieces of fiction that I have ever read.

Beautiful, glowing, take-no-prisoners Ruth lives to the fullest. And then the unthinkable -- breast cancer, surgery, chemo and the exhausting fight to survive, a war waged not only by Ruth, but by her friends, Ann, Sarah, L.D., and Helen. Told through Ann, we see Ruth slowly deteriorate as the cancer spreads and she must face death head-on. This is a soul searching book that asks questions we would all benefit from considering. The questions go beyond the theological into the realm of self-examination. How have I lived? What would I do differently? How do I want to die? Am I living every moment? Ruth's pain is well expressed, but so is the pain borne by her friends. We see the agony and denial, the reality and the fear that the four women who love Ruth the most must endure as they try to support and ease Ruth in her final days.

This book is not just a depressing look at a painful death. It is a celebration of a beautiful woman who enjoyed life and squeezed what she could from it to the very end. It's also about the legacy and the spirit we leave behind. I confess I cried, something only two other books have been able to cause.

Very well done!

Rating:
Summary: This isn't a quirky read about cancer
Review: Most books about women dying of cancer tends to be melodramatic, but not this one. Elizabeth Berg takes you on a journey between two best friends as one of them embarks on her final journey for life. Annie and Ruth became the best of friends after meeting each other at a party. When Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer, Annie learns the meaning of love and letting go while Ruth handles her dying with grace and humor.

This is a book I would definitely recommend for friends to give to one another. Elizabeth Berg knows how to write about women ~~ how they talk, eat, live and gossip among themselves. This is a treasure about friendship. Men don't understand the connection women feel for one another ~~ how we need to laugh and cry during life's most stormiest times, and how we need our friends' love and friendship as well. Berg does a wonderful job drawing the readers into the private lives of the characters ~~ and you don't feel that you are standing on the outside either. You're drawn to Annie because of her nurturing, caretaker nature, and you're drawn to Ruth like a moth to a flame ~~ full of life and laughter.

If you haven't read this book yet, I would suggest you do so soon. Breast cancer is still the number one killer among women and though this book doesn't really talk about cancer itself, it does talk about love, friendship, survival and death. It is a book to treasure ~~ to pass on between friends, mothers and daughters.

Rating:
Summary: A great novel, but so sad.
Review: Talk Before Sleep" is the story of Ann and Ruth and their friendship, told from the point-of-view of Ann. We learn right from the start of the story that Ruth has been diagnosed with breast cancer, that there is nothing else that can be done for her, and that she is dying. The book shows the development of the womens' friendship from the time they meet, and more than anything else, I think the author tries to show the strong bonds of love and friendship that exist between the women and how special and unique a "best friendship" can be. Much of the time, it almost feels as if the novel is nonfiction, and Berg admits in an author's note that she lost a friend to breast cancer and wanted to write about that experience.

The novel is short, around 200 pages, and I finished reading it in only a few hours. I have to admit that I found the story very difficult to read--not because it was badly written, but because it was so tragic and sad. It did make me a cry (a lot), but the tears didn't feel cathartic. I hate to sound so dramatic, but I felt depressed and grief-stricken by the time I reached the end.

Rating:
Summary: Life Changing
Review: This novel is a MUST READ to any woman with a best friend!

Reading "Talk Before Sleep" was a life changing experience. I tend, as most women, to have one or two close friends. When I read this novel, I was amazed at the way that Ms. Berg captured those friendships into words. After readng the book, (in less than a day) I then reread it, and passed it along to my best friend. She and I both saw ourselves in the main characters of the book. And, a few months later, my friend was also diagonsed with cancer. During her treatment, we both lived the closeness and love felt by the characters of the book. Her story, thanks to prayer and a wonderful medical staff, has a much better ending. She has beaten pancreatic cancer and is living and laughing with us today. Thanks to Ms. Berg, we did not feel ashamed at being scared, crying, laughing, and praying together during her terrible illness.