Book Review

Durable Goods

By Elizabeth Berg

Review by April Purnell

Reading Durable Goods makes you realize how your life could change in an instant. We all deal with things in different ways. But sometimes the way we deal with things isn’t really dealing at all.

Elizabeth Berg’s style of writing makes the characters easy to relate to.

Though the book is written in the perspective of a twelve-year-old girl and is set in the 1960’s -1970’s time period, anyone can relate to the feelings that this book reveals.

 The main character is Katie and she is beginning to physically and emotionally develop. Her mother just died so the only real female role model Katie has is her 18-year-old sister Diane. Diane’s coping with her own issues so Diane turns to her boyfriend to help her deal with them.

Their father is in the army. They have lived on an army base for most of their lives because they relocate so often. Their father is not very in tune to his daughters' needs and seems to be keeping himself together by following his strict military routine. He doesn’t allow himself to notice or feel anything.

The girls do not notice their father's pain because they are both working out their own issues. Their father is physically and emotionally abusive to Diane, and Katie feels helpless. 

Rating-

I recommend this book to anyone who wants a good read. This book is the perfect example of how things can change your life forever, and sometimes, it causes us to change as well.