Search - The Year of Pleasures

I have just found my newest favorite author! I can't even begin to say enough good things about this book! It is a wonderful story about a woman who loses her husband to cancer, and how she learns to live without him. The author has a way of making you think about your life and the everyday things that we take for granted or fail to notice. I even considered not posting this book so that I could keep it with my own treasures, but it seems such a shame to not share it. I hope that those of you who read it enjoy it as much as I did!

Wonderful, WONDERFUL book! Book of grief and rebirth, friendship, and renewal. I loved it! Absolutely one of my favorite Berg books. Deals with starting over after the loss of a spouse.

One of the author's more simplistic novels, nevertheless very well-written and enjoyable. Very good insight into a newly-widowed woman's new beginnings.

Elizabeth Berg is such a great story teller! This book sucks you in and doesn't let you go until the end. I loved reading it and got attached to the character. Definitely didn't want to see it end.

I'm only giving this book three stars because I found the ending to be very weak. Berg spent most of the book building up the story of a childless widow who moves from Boston to a small Midwest town, the new friends she makes, and old friends she reconnects with. At what felt to me like the middle of the story, she suddenly begins a wrap-up that skips several months and leaves too many loose ends.

That "first half" was a comfortable and somewhat luxurious read, like the "pleasures" (good food, beautiful things, etc.) from which the title is taken.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story of a newly widowed woman finding her way toward her future by going off in search of adventures and pleasures. It's well written, and the emotions expressed are very real - I sometimes found myself crying right along with her!