Samantha's husband recently left her and her 11 year old son Travis. She expresses herself through Martha Stewart, shopping at Tiffany's and renting out rooms in her house to many different personality types.

The characters throughout the book all teach Samantha something about herself and she re-discovers herself and her strength along the way.

I really enjoyed this one. I listened to it on audiobook and was completely enraptured in the storyline. Beth Fowler was the narrator and she did an incredible job. I laughed out loud and really connected with what Sam was going through.

Looking forward to reading more by Elizabeth Berg.

I shall write this review in the style of Elizabeth Berg:

Tedious and obvious, it was. Well, and grammar. Bad grammar. Well, maybe not bad enough for life, but bad enough for your English teacher. I sighed. My *English* teacher. He gave me a D-, an act of *extraordinary* generosity. Well. But at least I used plenty of stereotypes. Maybe racist ones. But stereotypes.

Ten. Ten stars. This is an ideal writer for me. Yeah.

Perfect for what it is.

What a fun, crazy book. I recommend it to anyone who wishes to be amused by the antics of a recently separated woman ("Sam") with an 11-year-old son, who takes on a roommate to help pay the mortgage. The subsequent revolving roommates are absolute characters who add immensely to the drama. Sam's preteen son's indifferent, sometimes nasty attitude is right on (I would know). I loved the other characters in the book as well. Sam's long-distance friend, Rita, is blunt and honest and over-the-top but at least you know where she stands; and her new friend "King" is likable and sweet (the way they meet is quite interesting). What a great friend he turns out to be. King not only hooks Sam up with a temporary job agency but babysits for her as well. The story follows Sam as she struggles with her sadness and low self-esteem after her husband leaves her, how she handles her intrusive mother and grudgingly accepted blind dates, and how she "finds" and finally loves herself. The ending will surprise you. Really. It will.

Elizabeth Berg's writing is similar to Jennifer Weiner, whom I adore. She's witty, funny and surprisingly - very surprisingly at points - straightforward. Throughout the book I giggled like a school girl, grinned like a circus clown or laughed out loud. Can't wait to read her other books.

If there was a 1/2 star, I would probably give it 4 1/2. I don't know that it's worthy of "amazing" (5 stars), but I was definitely entertained and would recommend it to others.

Elizabeth Berg has created a very real and relatable character experiencing grief and the loss of a marriage after divorce. She is at first in shock, and then we see her experience self-pity, anger, and eventually growth and redemption. It is a journey of self-discovery, the loss of hope and love and the later recovery of self.

Open House is about Samantha (Sam), a wife and mother of one boy, who is a stay at home mom and full time carer for her man and her boy. When her husband leaves her, she feels as though her life has crashed and that she is lost. The loss makes her question everything about herself and her life.

“I remove my wedding rings and put them in the jewelry box. So many others have done this. I am not the only one. I am not the only one. But here, I am the only one.”

When the initial shock wears off, she determines to create a new life for herself and her son. She relies on two friendships, as well as her fairly clueless mother. At times she even gets advice from her 11 year old son. But mostly, she relies on herself, and this is what makes the book good. We watch her grow and change, pulling herself out of a depressive state, examining her own desires, acting with some healthy selfishness, and becoming both self-reliant and self-confident. She isn't always likable or even empathetic, but that was part of the power of the book, because none of us are. It is easy to wallow and hard to change, and we are treated to a very real examination of that process of change and progression.

The story is thoughtful, provoking, intuitive and sometimes quite funny. It is something many women will recognize themselves in.

It was ok. Some things didn't age well. And there were some plot points that kind of went off the rails a bit. It was a little all over the place

3.5 stars rounded up

What a delightful little book was Open House by Elizabeth Berg. It's been sitting on my bookshelf for the longest time just waiting to reach the top of my TBR. Samantha Morrow is 42, has an 11 year old son Travis and is happy in her life and her marriage. Unfortunately her husband is not happily married, has moved out and decided they'll be divorced. Sam is devastated and simply doesn't know how to make this new life work. I'm fortunate not to have experienced this first hand however Berg certainly made this experience real for me. Sam is insistent upon staying in the family home so to enble this she decides to rent out a couple of rooms. She also decides to find work for the first time in her adult life. With wonderful skill Berg managed to bring her characters to life and with them I traversed their journey and experienced the gamut of associated emotions. There were some light moments, even some humourous ones and the author managed to shine a light on human relationships of various shapes and sizes.

Fortunately Elizabeth Berg was selected as the BT Author read for December. I've read a couple of her titles and have enjoyed each one and this was no exception. Given it's only the 2nd of the month I might try to squeeze in another of her titles before the month is out. If you enjoy womens fiction you could certainly do worse than this and I'm very glad to have finally read this book.

This is a heart-warming story of a woman, Sam, discovering her own strengths after her husband leaves her and her 12 year old son, and files for divorce. At times, her reactions to her situation are filled with sadness, anger, a desire for a little revenge ("you break my heart and I break the bank") and, ultimately, determination to survive and find a new life. This is a book about taking risks, finding your own second chances, and recreating your life after a personal tragedy. The characters are a bit quirky, but are one's that I will remember. I thoroughly enjoyed the book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was truly shocked by how much I disliked this book. I've been enjoying Elizabeth Berg's books since I picked up a copy of Say When at my library in 2004-- since then I haven't read one I didn't enjoy a great deal...until now. This story was awkward, weird, and depressing. The characters were very hard to connect with, or even like. Finally, the conflicts were tied up with a neat, tidy, and abrupt bow in the end while glossing over a great deal of pain and trauma. It also had the feel of trying too hard to be something it wasn't. I'm really surprised that THIS was chosen as an Oprah book club selection when Ms. Berg has written wonderful books like The Year of Pleasures and Range of Motion.

Whine. Whine. Whine. That's the first two hundred pages. The only reason I stuck with it is because the first person narrator did have an interesting voice between the whining. But she truly doesn't get anywhere. Just whining and pining for her husband who left her and who she knows was bad for her but even after two hundred pages she would take him back! I mean so much so that when, after another 50, pages he does want to come back I'm thinking why not? It's not like you've grown emotionally, you may as well go back to your old life...

As for the title "Open House" it's in reference to the roommates she takes in to help pay the mortgage now that she's facing divorce, but each roommate comes and goes quickly and only serves as a caricature for amusement. Ditto for King, originally "just a friend" but inevitable love interest - he's too perfect, too ridiculous (went to MIT but he's a dog walker? Lame.)

I just read about the made-for-tv version of this story and if you are interested in this story, I'm guessing this would be the better way to go and in the movie they make King a roommate which makes more sense.