Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite writers and this one didn't disappoint. Her characters are so lovely and real. The main POV in this book is a woman close to my age whose husband leaves her and I could really feel the pain as she deals with this upsetting development.

I love love love this author. Another of her gentle life stories about getting on with getting on. Finished it in a day, just lovely.

This ones pearl was understanding that our choices are ours and ours alone - through the disintegration of Sam's marriage she is able to find what constitutes happiness.

Shallow sketches of uninteresting characters paired with the bare outline of a plot whose every development was easily guessed. Had Berg gone any deeper into any of the characters, we might have had a reason to empathize or sympathize with them, to root for them even, but instead we can hardly wait for the book to end. Which doesn't take long, because there's nothing of substance to slow down the page turning. I started the book two weeks before I finished it, because I set it down after the first third (which was read in under an hour) and then *forgot that I was reading it* because it was so inconsequential.

I picked up this book at a thrift store in Idaho when I was there for a conference. I finished the book I took with me, so I just grabbed this to read on the plane.

I didn't immediately connect with the narrator; she seemed like a lightweight, vengeful toward her soon-to-be ex. And then I saw myself in her. Over and over. And then more. So many of the things that happened to her had happened to me years ago. I still didn't like the narrator, and that sort of scared me, because maybe that meant I didn't like myself. And then one more bad thing happened to her, which had happened to me as well, and I finally loved the narrator.

The book ended on a sweet, tender, hopeful note, and I actually cried. Happy tears.

This is my new favorite book. I must read everything by this author.

Omg! I wished this book would never end. I want to know more! Beautifully written. So touching. Uplifting. Hopeful. I absolutely loved this book.

Good book about a woman rebuilding her life after a divorce.

I am going to review this book based on the first 3/4 and the last 1/4.

At first, I was pleasantly surprised when I picked this one up. Berg described feelings and characters in such detail that I was eager to read more of her work. I really felt for Sam, the main character, and I loved how Berg added Sam's inner thoughts as an aside of the regular plot. I was debating between 4 and 5 stars because I kept thinking about what would happen at the end and I was really into the book.

The last 1/4, I wanted to throw it out the window. I don't like to review with spoilers because I like to think my friends occasionally use my reviews to help their next choice for what to read, like I do with most books. :) Anyway, there was an incredibly unbelievable plot twist that totally ruined it for me. I no longer saw Sam as a real person but rather a fictional character who was desperate and cheesy and all the things she didn't seem in the first half. The end was less than thrilling.

So, Open House gets an average of 3 stars from me.

I’m really unsure about this as for such a large part of the book I found myself repelled by the main character.
For reasons we never have satisfactorily explained, our main character - Sam - is left by her husband who wants a divorce. She claims to have had no idea that there was a problem, satisfied with their rituals and routines as they raise their son. David, for some reason we never find out about, is unsatisfied and takes it upon himself to leave. Bizarrely, he’s hooked up with an apartment and new woman faster than you can say it, so it seems that this is something he certainly has planned for.
Following Sam in those first few days was tough. Such a life of privilege, and clearly stunned by what has happened but her reaction - buying thousands of pounds worth of stuff from Tiffanys - was so far removed from what your average reader is going to experience that it was hard to muster much sympathy for her.
The book focuses on Sam's attempt to get on with her life. She takes in random flatmates and acquires a new friend who seems to accept her for herself. As the book continues she became a little more sympathetic, and I did give a little cheer when she rejects her husband who has his dalliance and then thinks he can pick up where he was!

No big surprises, but nevertheless a good read.

Was that the end? I flipped a page, like I'd just been doing from the first, and now I realize I have no more pages to flip! Its finished. And I am wondering what an ending should do to me as a reader, leave me wanting more, hanging or just plain bored. Well, this book was certainly entertaining. Even incredibly readable. The perfect kind to take you into another world, wherein you find life true, almost familiar.

After her husband leaves her, Sam wants to recreate her life. First there is the issue of dealing with her 11 year old son. What is he to know, how much, when and how? Then there is her mother who thinks that Sam needs to move on, date, have fun, and live. While she looks at her son and feels like a cheap failure, she looks at her mother and remembers the loss of her father, and how the mother went on to date man after man.

Sam cannot find one thing she likes about herself. She even thinks of accidental death.

Rather desperate and torn, Sam is ready to do anything. But she would not let go of her house. With little money to her credit, she opens up her house to borders to in the hope of getting a little help in paying the mortgage. But each of the three individual come with their own set of worldviews, some good, some bad. But each in their own way impact on her life.

This is an immensely readable book. I didn't find anything that made me stop and say wow, this is deep. But then in that light and special way it seemed to speak straight to the heart. As a confession of sorts.

Oh, of course this isn't anything like I usually read, but sometimes a book can happen at just the right moment. it's pure chick lit. Sam is presented with a divorce she doesn't want, so immediately goes out to Tiffany's and makes $12k worth of purchases. Eye roll, preceded and followed by several pages of eye rolling. I was darned near certain of the ending by about page 71. Still, it was fun, required no thought whatsoever. Sometimes you just have to take a break.

I like Elizabeth Berg, her books have kind of crept right up on me and grabbed me. I like her character's eccentricities (even though if I knew them in real life I'd find them annoying)and the analogies she uses (example: "I save his confidence in me as though his words were silver dollars, knotted in a silk scarf and kept hidden in a dresser drawer". Just lovely, poignant imagery.

In this novel Sam (Samantha) is on a tail-spin after her husband abruptly leaves her and their son, Travis. She acts, for the most part, like a certifiably insane person, and while I've never gone as far as she goes I understand the emotions behind her actions. I like how she starts to do weirdly different things, like taking odd jobs from a temp agency and opening up her home to roommates, including a old woman, a gay man, and an Asian woman who changed her name from "Elaine" to "Lavender Blue".

It's a quirky novel with some real, deep-seated emotion behind it. I enjoyed it, it won't be my favorite novel ever but I am glad I got the opportunity to experience it!