Sunnyvale: The Rise and Fall of a Silicon Valley Family
Everyone has at least one story in them.

The Dearly Departed
Not Elinor Lipman's best novel.

Final Confession of Mabel Stark
Robert Hough looks at circus performer's life.

Code Of The West
King Arthur in the Old West.

Falling Hard
Rookie writes of his year at the top.

'57 Chicago
A thriller by newcomer Steve Monroe.

Open House
Elizabeth Berg's Divorce By Numbers.

On Snooker
Mordecai Richler salutes game he loved.

Never Mind Nirvana
Mark Lindquist’s first book in 10 years.

French Lessons: Adventures With Knife, Fork And Corkscrew
In search of new and untried pleasures.

The Roots of Country Rock
Fresh insight into an era of music history.

Gunfighter
Adventures of John Wesley Hardin.

Diana: Story of a Princess
Another biography on Diana, Princess of Wales.

Fast Women
Don’t tell Jennifer Crusie the romance novel is dead.

Castles and Kings
Who knew there were enough castles in Ontario to fill a book?

Cold Fear
A solid, compelling followup for Ottawa author Rick Mofina.

White Swan, Black Swan
Sharp's knowledge of ballet world and writing style make wonderful debut.

Fatal Passage
Ken McGoogan introduces us to little-known Arctic pioneer.

Huckleberry Finn
More adventures of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

What's in a place name?
Alan Rayburn tells the stories of Canada's town, city names.

Canada, Eh? to Zed
Kevin Major's charming children's book about Canada.

The Dying Animal
Philip Roth protagonist dedicated to pursuit of "private pleasures."

Down There by the Train
Second novel by Montreal writer Kate Sterns.

Bitterroot
Beads of guilt drip from James Lee Burke's books.

Positively 4th Street
David Hadju profiles four musicians at heart of 1960s folk revival.

Yeats is Dead
Frank McCourt wraps up novel by 15 writers.

Choke
"Brilliant" isn't the right word, but it's the first word that comes to mind.

Every Wickedness
Serial killer dubbed the Spiderman terrorizes San Fran.

The Metaphysical Club
Book about four 19th-century American intellectuals.

Pasquale’s Nose
Michael Rips brings a surreal new twist to an old genre.

The Uncharted Heart
The short stories of London, Ont., writer Melissa Hardy.

The Fire Fighter
The Blitz has just begun when Jack Finlay is called back to England.

The Naughty Bits
Steamy, fun-filled, scandalous book.

Fabulous Girl’s Guide to Decorum
Entertaining and spicy treatise.

Becky Chan
Jared Mitchell takes us to a time when Chinese movies had no pretension to art.

Martyr's Crossing
Sad tale of turbulent daily life in the Middle East.

The Vendetta Defense
Lisa Scottolini legal thriller.

Headwind
John J. Nance drama turns tables on an ex-U.S. president.

Run Over
Douglas Bell returns to memories of a horrible childhood accident.

Great Good Thing
Children's tale by Roderick Townley.

A Memoir of Misfortune
Compelling memoir by Chinese dissident Su Xiaokang,.

Louis Armstrong: In his own words
Satchmo -- everyone knows this cat.

Sal Mineo: His Life, Murder and Mystery
H. Paul Jeffers offers view into life and death of Hollywood star.

Fearless Jones
This is one of those good news-bad news deals, folks.

133 Ways to Avoid going Cuckoo
They can joke about 'it' (when the kids left the nest) now.

Animosity
David Lindsey sculpts a tale of murderous beauty.

Off The Mangrove Coast
Will the flood of stories from Louis L’Amour ever cease?

A Parent's Guide to Street Drugs
Author talks to dealers on the streets to help parents, kids.

The Truth Is...
Melissa Etheridge tells it like it is in autobiography.

The African Safari Papers
Author Robert Sedlack has a solid debut.

Kissing in Manhattan
David Schickler looks through keyhole into Upper West Side life.

Time Lord
The division of the world, in 1884, into 24 time zones.

The Dirt
Motley Crue autobiography

Muslim Women
Shahnaz Khan writes of the N. American experience.

Mutant
Peter Clement posits chilling warning about genetically-altered food.

The Year of Fires
Stephen J. Pyne takes us back to 1910.

The Prayer of Jabez
Bruce Wilkinson has big success with little book.

Followup falls short of debut
Sarah Dearing falters in followup to The Bull Is Not Killed.

Foreign Correspondences
Toronto novelist Lesley Krueger's first book of non-fiction.

Breakfast with the Devil
L. Wayne Carlson is known as "Houdini" in the prison system.

Behind closed doors
Prostitution and pediatrics no strange bedfellows for Dr. Alexa Albert.

Kids investment book loose on reality
Big assumptions in investing guide for kids, teens.

Worst-Case Scenario ... Travel
Sequel to The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook.

Down the Highway
Bob Dylan is a man of a thousand enigmas.

Dazzler
Fascinating book about Moss Hart, legendary entertainment giant.

Oxford High School Dictionary
Katherine Barber is the mother of a bouncing baby ... dictionary.

Dead and Gone
Fast-paced, twist-and-turn thriller doesn't disappoint.

Taken
Abducted baby turns average woman into vigilante in gripping tale.

No more Foley fakery
Yes, another Mick Foley autobiography.

Thief of Time
Terry Pratchett's latest Discworld novel.

Trauma Junkie
Janice Hudson's Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse.

No Apparent Danger
Victoria Bruce's gripping tale of two volcanic eruptions.

It’s a shame when a Big Fat O guarantees a novelist more book sales than the fact it has been featured in the New York Times. And if one believed all the accolades heaped upon it by other book reviewers/critics, then it’s a wonder it didn’t win the Pulitzer.
So what’s the story? Well, Open House by Elizabeth Berg is about a woman, Sam, who learns that her husband David is leaving her. He wants a divorce. He’s moving out. He’s buying a condo. He thinks he’s in love with his new girlfriend, a young attractive woman. Of course, she’s young and attractive. Do men go for any other type?
Sam’s devastated. Okay, this is believable. But what follows isn’t. She goes to Tiffany’s and writes a cheque for more than $3,000 to buy silverware and a bracelet. On the way home, she spots a black woman — poor of course — with a small child. Sam forces the woman to take the bracelet, to hawk it for cold cash. And the kid’s name? Tiffany, what else.

Hail the King

Sam then decides to open up her big ol’ house to boarders. A nice little old lady with an active sex life moves in. One of the movers is a guy by the name of King who does odd jobs. Sam is immediately attracted to him, although we’re kept guessing (really?) as to whether they’ll become an item.
Divorce isn’t easy or funny but one can’t help but laugh at Sam’s pathetic attempt to get back with David. Can you guess how? Of course, a little oral sex in their former living room. For a brief moment, Sam actually believes the way to keep David in her life is just to get down in that nice submissive position on the shag carpet and he’ll come running back. (Isn’t that what all women believe?)
Well, after that disastrous episode and one doomed date, Sam finds a job, gets in sync with her kid, and, surprise, ends up with King.
King is nothing like David, who begs Sam to take him back. Women around the world cheer as Sam makes a stand and decides to stick with King, a sensitive man, and a 40-some-year-old virgin to boot. Now there’s a catch ladies.
Actually, King did do the deed once. For most of his life, he’s been quite fat. While at university, a group of girls made a bet as to who could sleep with the fat King. One of them did and when King found out that his night of passion was no more than a booze-inspired prank, well, he was just so humiliated he couldn’t have sex until Sam came along some 20 years later. (Oh how I wish I could have been the subject of such a prank when I was at university.)
At the back of this reader’s edition, there’s a question-answer session with the author. When she’s asked if she knew that King and Sam would end up together, she replies she didn’t know King was going to be the one for Sam. King’s character wasn’t even planned. He just walked onto the page.
I dare anyone who has read this book to e-mail me and tell me they were shocked when King and Sam got together.

Smooth writing

There are a few good things to say about the book. It flows well. The writing is smooth and the first few chapters are quite powerful. Here’s a sample:
“You know before you know, of course. You are bending over the dryer, pulling out the still-warm sheets, and the knowledge walks up your backbone. You stare at the man you love and you are staring at nothing: he is gone before he is gone.”
Beautiful writing. And there are other deft touches like this throughout the book. Berg can write; the problem is the story. It doesn’t really live up to its title. Berg could have given Sam a lot more experiences by bringing different people into her home and life, people who would open her eyes to the world, show her something besides suburbia and Tiffany’s.
Instead, the book is stereotypical of the behaviours we expect from men and women going through a divorce. Does some of it ring true? Of course, it wouldn’t be so predictable if there wasn’t some resemblance to real life in those pages. But thankfully, real life is less predictable and more interesting than what you’ll find in Open House.

August 19, 2001