Berg,Elizabeth. Ordinary Life: Stories

Elizabeth Berg (Open House, 2000) has an uncanny ability to examine the undeniable spirit of women through her characters. One hardly ever encounters one of them who is not caught at a crossroads, facing the one moment in their lives when they have the opportunity to examine their lives and either overcome whatever obstacles they face or make peace with what their lives have become. Her latest outing is no different. In Ordinary Life, Berg tells fifteen stories. Perhaps the most moving is the title story, told in the first chapter. Mavis McPherson is in her seventies and is finally taking stock of her life. Too frugal to spring for a spa vacation and unwilling to distress her family too much, she has taken up residence in the bathroom. With a bathtub stuffed full of blankets and pillows, a stack full of magazines, a journal and a limited amount of snacks, she declares to her husband that she is "on retreat." Mavis has pronounced that she will stay in the bathroom for an entire week. Her husband is sure she's flipped her lid or has finally come down with Alzheimer's, but that's not the case at all. Mavis has merely decided that she needs some time for reflection. She wants to relive the moments in her life that have meant something to her. She knows that without physically removing herself from her day to day responsibilities, she will be unwilling to give herself the time she needs.

The other stories in this collection are just as moving. The fallout of a wife's affair, coping with a parent who has Altzheimer's, a woman and her bird that simultaneously have cancer, these are all of the events that live within the covers of this book. Berg's greatest talent is in the ability to make the ordinary, extraordinary. At times too painful to swallow, Ordinary Life will alternately make you cry and laugh. You may find yourself having to put it down, but you'll also find yourself longing to pick it up again.

Nanci Milone Hill, March 18, 2002.