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    Open House
    Open House
    Open House
    Audiobook6 hours

    Open House

    Written by Elizabeth Berg

    Narrated by Becky Baker

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    An Oprah's Book Club selection Samantha Morrow's husband has left her, and after a spree of overcharging at Tiffany's, she settles down to reconstruct a life for herself and her 11-year-old son. Her eccentric mother tried to help by fixing her up with dates, but a more pressing problem is money. To meet her mortgage payments, Sam decides to take in boarders. The first is an older woman who offers sage advice and sorely needed comfort; the second, a maladjusted student, is not quite so helpful. A new friend, King, an untraditional man, suggests that Samantha get out, get going, get work. But her real work is this: In order to emerge from grief and the past, she has to learn how to make her own happiness. In order to really see people, she has to look within her heart. And in order to know who she is, she has to remember--and reclaim--the person she used to be, long before she became someone else in an effort to save her marriage.Deeply felt, beautifully observed, and written with perfect emotional pitch, Open House is the unforgettable story of how a woman re-creates her life after divorce by opening her house to strangers and her heart to the simple miracle of possibility.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateNov 21, 2000
    ISBN9781598872972
    Open House
    Author

    Elizabeth Berg

    Elizabeth Berg is the award-winning author of more than twenty-five books, including the New York Times bestsellers True to Form, Never Change, Open House, The Story of Arthur Truluv, Night of Miracles, and The Confession Club. She lives outside of Chicago. Find out more at Elizabeth-Berg.net.

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    Reviews for Open House

    3.5/5

    763 ratings40 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I've had mixed success with the author and this was one of the mediocre reads. Sam's husband walks out on her and their 11yo son. She's never worked, and is at loose ends over what to do and how to feel. To afford the mortgage, she takes in boarders - some lovely and some quite odd. And embarks upon a romance with the guy that moved one on the roommates into her home.
    • 2/5
      main character was so helpless and unlikeable. Overall, poor character developement, very little plot and whiny. A women is suddenly left with by her husband to raise their 11 yr old boy. She deals with finding herself again.
    • 4/5
      When David decides to leave Sam, Sam does the "logical" thing - she goes shopping and spends $12,000 at Tiffany's. Eventually she awakens from her most feared nightmare and begins to live her life for herself rather than for her husband.
    • 2/5
      I did not finish this book, despite being a big fan of some of Elizabeth Berg's other work. I just didn't feel the need to spend time in a depressing situation with unpleasant people.
    • 3/5
      It was a love-hate relationship for me and Sam.

      I loved her inner dialogue with herself, especially when she would think the absolute worst about someone or a situation and then find out something else and be like "Oh. Uh, nevermind." Don't we all do that?

      I hated her and her need to have a man in her life.

      The last chapter was icky.

      And now, into the library donation box it goes!

    • 2/5
      Open House sounded like it would be an interesting story about a woman finding herself following divorce. Well, I have to say that I truly disliked this story. I thought the main character was over the top and while she may have found some peace with her new life after divorce, I didn't really see that much growth overall. I didn't like the writing in this one. I was expecting a lot more from this and just didn't get it. I will admit that I did some skimming in the middle, but I still feel that I read enough of the book to give it the rating I have chosen.
    • 2/5
      2-1/2 stars. Elizabeth Berg is such a good storyteller and this is no exception, but it is a bit scattered and disjointed. The story opens with Samantha (Sam) essentially dismissed by her husband of 15 years, David. He moves out and requests a divorce, leaving Sam and her 12-yr. old son Travis (and the reader) to sort through the why and the what next. Sam goes on a crazy spending spree, which it is clear David can afford, but in one of the book's inconsistencies, she can only keep the house if she takes in boarders. This results in a parade of people coming and going, which seems like a crazy thing to expose your emotionally fragile child to. The point is to open Sam's tiny world which she had allowed to shrink during her marriage. She has one good frank friend Rita, her man-crazy mother Veronica and Travis to start with. Lydia is one of the boarders -- a lovely old, old-fashioned woman, but she moves out soon to get married. (irony). Enter Lavendar Blue, a depressed, new-agey college student who doesn't last, then Edward, a gay, ego-boosting hairdresser. Meanwhile, Sam meets King, an MIT grad who is working as a mover and shows up to take away David's things. He introduces Sam to the concept of temporary work and becomes a good friend (and later, more), so she works in a laudromat, as a telemarketer, a construction worker and other odd jobs that give her confidence. The point of Sam coming into her own, only now, single in her 40s is well-taken, and there is some funny comic relief in Veronica's approach to life and Sam's obsession with Martha Stewart (who actually calls her!) but much of the story is Sam's interior agonizing and insecurity and some of the choices she makes are outrageous and random. It's frustrating and the reader feels more dragged along than anything.
    • 4/5
      Life is tough, but does not end with a divorce, it is just another change process, sometimes for the best. Best quotes:Pg. 33: But I don't like fancy jewelry; I never have. The fancy things I like are sheets. Pots and pans. And the things I REALLY like aren't fancy at all: pöd aprons and hankies. Butter wrappers from the one-poud blocks. Peony bushes, hardback books of poetry. And I like things LESS than that; the sticky remains at the bottom of the apple-crisp dish. The ways cats sometimes run sideways. The presence of rainbows in the puddle of oil. Mayonnaise jars. Pussy willows. Wash on the line. The tick-tock of clocks, the blue of the neon sign at the local movie house. The fact that there IS a local movie house.
    • 4/5
      this book is a sweetly simple, and poignant read that charmed the socks off me. Comforting as well, and nicely written in terms of flowing realistically. I loved the characters to pieces, and wish the book didn't have to end.. it was literally too hard to put down, and I ended up finishing it at 3 am this morning. Not because it's gripping, fast-paced, or adrenaline filled. I just had to know if the main character accomplished what she needed to, and realized what she needed to know!!
    • 3/5
      I thought Berg was a reliably interesting writer, but I reacted negatively to the beginning of the book, which basically portrayed Samantha as feeling utterly betrayed and useless when her husband asked for a divorce. She goes on a shopping spree to "pay him back" which is completely ridiculous.Fortunately the book swings back to Berg's usual upbeat style, & we see her making the acquaintance of a man as a friend & regaining her trust in the world.Predictable, but not terrible. The story skips over all the details of divorce & finances, and shows their 11-yr old son as basically doing OK.I picked up this book because I thought it was one I had read long ago about a woman who also took in boarders when her finances took a dip. In that one, however, one of the "boarders", I believe, was a homeless person.
    • 3/5
      Elizabeth Berg's books are a little too sentimental for me but I met her at a book event and she is lovely. I listened to Open House on my phone and enjoyed it. Samantha Morrow, recently single, pines away for a husband who has just left her. Gradually she adjusts to life with her young son, takes in boarders to help pay the rent, works as a temp and finds a new love. When her ex husband decides he wants back in his life, Samantha triumphantly rejects him. Most of Oprah's book club books are little meatier than Open House but I suppose the empowered woman aspect of the main character helped tip the scale. It was pretty good and very feel good.
    • 2/5
      So, I'm starting to think that Elizabeth Berg has a thing about unrelated adults moving into twenty-something style roommate situations. That was the plot in Tapestry of Fortunes, and that's what we have here. In this book Sam finds her marriage ending, much to her surprise. Sam doesn't want to be divorced. She desperately wants her husband back. So, Sam starts falling apart in spectacular fashion. She spends thousands of dollars and decides that to stay in her house she's going to take in boarders. Oh, but these boarders can't just have private lives. They're expected to hang out and socialize with Sam (i.e. listen to her complain). She actually gets rid of one boarder because she isn't cheerful enough and doesn't want to hang out. Anyway, what Sam never really bothers to consider in this whole arrangement is her eleven-year old son, Travis. This poor kid is stuck in the middle of a divorce and his mother is too busy playing Martha Stewart and finding roommates to pay him much attention. I felt badly for Travis. There's also a horribly obvious romance subplot to the book. The less said about it, the better.
    • 4/5
      An entertaining account of a middle aged lady facing divorce, learning about herself and what makes her happy. Not necessarily deep but entertaining despite some irritating self pity episodes.
    • 3/5
      This was a good, quick, brainless read for me. After reading Jane Eyre and a book on Buddhism this gave me something brainless. For about twenty four hours. I can't say there was anything I disliked about it, it's simply a little mainstream for me. There was nothing particularly special about it. Except for King. King is a great character and I wish the author had taken the time to more fully develop him. Give him more of a history, more strength.
    • 5/5
      What happens when your husband leaves and you have to make a living all on your own? It can happen...and sometimes it turns out better than imagined.
    • 4/5
      Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite authors due to her strong character development and compelling story lines. This book while not my favorite, is quite good. Samantha finds her long marriage coming to an end, and is struggling to come to terms with her husband's choice. Samantha sets out to begin a new life for both herself and her so. In the process she begins to rediscover herself.
    • 3/5
      Quite an entertaining read, this book takes an honest look at one woman's life as she struggles to come to terms with her impending divorce. A nice short read.
    • 4/5
      Sam Morrow's husband David has left her and their 11-year-old son, Travis, and she has come unmoored. She doesn't know what to do or who to turn to and there's no one that seems terribly fit to give her any of the help she needs. That, and she can't seem to stop desperately wanting David to come back despite her mother's and her best friend's assurances that she's better off without him. She goes through a woman's stages of grief alternately crying and shopping and determining to become a new and better person. It's not long until she realizes that she'll need a roommate or two not to mention a job to be able to keep living in the house she once shared with her husband. The following weeks find Sam opening up her house and sometimes her heart to a variety of new people. There's Lydia, a friend's elderly mother who hasn't given up on love. There's King, a man who has traded in career and prestige to work odd jobs and learn to enjoy life. There's Lavender Blue who hates her real name and the world and thinks life has nothing good in store for her. There's Edward, the gay hairdresser, who brings hair styling to the table as a fringe benefit of having him as a tenant. It's this motley collection of people that will teach Sam that, even if one chapter of her life has come to an end, her life and love are far from over.I really enjoyed Open House and was taken by surprise by Berg's writing which is surprisingly powerful in its own understated way. Berg's story helped me to understand and relate to a life utterly unlike mine, and she drew my sympathies to a narrator whose situation, while not atypical, is foreign to my own experience. Despite our differences, I related to Sam as she struggled to find her footing in a world where the familiar has been stripped away. The wrenching pain of the end of a marriage is vividly rendered, and Sam's slow healing is cathartic for both her and the reader. Now, if you're anything like me, you've read this story or maybe watched it on TV half a dozen times. Girl gets married young, girl gives up self for husband and family. Then the husband leaves, and the woman has to pick up the pieces and rediscover herself at the same time. You've read it, but you haven't read it done this well. Berg has taken an old story and with a convincing narrator and a keen eye for emotional nuance has succeeded in making it fresh again.
    • 4/5
      Good book, fast read. All about divorce and separation.
    • 3/5
      I borrowed this book from one of my best girlfriends who likes to read sad, sad novels. After the first few chapters, I wondered how she came to give me the recommendation of the book being "stellar." Seeing the book's relationships unfold between Sam and her mother, her husband David, friends new and old, her son and multiple tenants was interesting. It had me looking introspectively at all my relationships, current and past, and thinking about the different life events that have shaped each one.I would recommend this book for readers who like most of Oprah's Book Club books. Potentially a non-recommend for someone who has gone through a painful divorce, as some parts of the book are rather raw. Once I got through the first third of the book, it went along smoothly and was an interesting read.Overall: Slow start with a few story-line bumps along the way that I did not care for, but a good story of survival, rolling with the punches and life changes that shape who we are, no matter how much we resist.
    • 4/5
      I love this book! You are drawn into the story of a newly divorced mother, Samantha, as she struggles with raising her son and finding herself. Lessons are realized when Samantha rents a spare bedroom in her house to an elderly widow. Samantha must learn how to cope with her new reality or lose what little family she has left.
    • 4/5
      Open House is the story of Samantha Morrow's pathetic attempt to keep her husband from divorcing her and continue living as she and their son, Travis had come to expect. Although their marriage appeared stable to her, David, her husband, believes they have nothing in common. At the onset I must admit I despised "Sam". Totally dependant upon her husband she comes across as needy, prejudicial, impetuous and insecure. I found her unsuccessful attempts to draw her husband back into her life and their home were absolutely pathetc. Author, Elizabeth Berg, has me believing that a long, hot contemplative bath will somehow cleanse Sam of her sorry self and take control of ther situation - alas, it does not. Perhaps it is Travis' request to live with his father that is the catalyst that moves her to let go of the past. His request was heartbreaking and was the moment when I finally sympathized with Sam and began liking her just a little bit.Could it be that what she wants in life is what her mother, Veronica had once known and boarder, Lydia has just regained? Undying, eternal love? Perhaps it is not so distant nor unattainable as she believes.By story's end, I had grown to like Samvery much and had hope that she had found her way. Berg is such a talented writer, she can make the reader gasp and laugh in the same paragraph. She subtly turns Sam from a distressed, no talent, domestic princess into a stronger more empowered woman who can see life does not end when a marriage ends.If this is an example of Berg's work I most certainly wish to read more.... and soon.
    • 4/5
      Once again, Berg does not disappoint. Each of her books I've read has a captivating story line and strong character development. We all get to know the narrator, along with the eclectic mix of people she takes on as boarders, following her divorce.
    • 4/5
      A bit predictable and difficult to get into, (I didn't connect with the protagonist for at least the first twenty-five pages), but ultimately a very good book. Moving without being cheesy, which is really saying something! A great book which deals with the topic of loss.
    • 3/5
      easy read. a woman, sam, who does not work and has an 11 year old son has just separted from her husband by his choice. You have a window to her steaming thoughts as she deals with her anguish and moving on with her life shortly after the separation along with her gaining independence and self-esteem. It was a little difficult at first to embrace the main character; I, being the same age as the character, felt out of touch with her. Once I realized the book takes place in an earlier time (copy right 2000), I was better able to accept her position.
    • 4/5
      I liked it. I felt brave for picking it up, bringing it home, because my husband had just told me he wanted a divorce, and the central character of the book is going through a similarly served entree, and I just felt like I wanted to see what it would be like when someone you really love leaves you. Live it vicariously, see if I was brave enough. Because I was seriously considering jumping off a bridge, and I wanted to see how someone might go through it and actually come out on the other side.Mind you, if hubby hadn't said it, I probably would not have picked up this book. But he did, and I felt woefully unarmed, unable, unwilling to go through all that. So I read the book.I loved the characters, with all their flaws that are not too cliche, too predictable. I love that she made some difficult decisions, fell flat on her face, picked herself up again, tried harder.I love that the person she falls in love with about 3/4 of the way through this book is not perfect.I love that she refuses to be alone as much as possible, by renting her home to a wonderful diversity of human beings, and that when she must be alone, she cries and lives through it. I needed that grounding, that soulful peace.This book is probably not for everyone. This weekend, my husband said he was sorry, that he took it back - and it wasn't too late; I only lived for five days with this grief and worry.Long enough to read this book, and to know that it is not a human failing to want more. And that life is a river, that we all want the same things: to be wanted, to reflect on things and find understanding in another person.
    • 4/5
      Such real, memorable characters. I really feel like I got to know the people in this short book about a woman's life post-divorce.
    • 4/5
      While Samantha seems a little like a doormat (who would let their departing husband silence any discussion??) I like the way she slowly but surely begins to own herself - to make decisions based on what she wants - to admit to herself her likes and dislikes. I also liked it that she didn't hurt her child in the process. Sometimes in dealing with our own hurts, we forget about the little people we are responsible for, and I was glad that Sam didn't do that. A very affirming story.
    • 5/5
      Elizabeth Berg always gets into the hearts of her characters--real people, real situations in fiction. In Open House Samantha's husband of many years leaves her, heartbroken and lost. After a large spending spree at Tiffany's, Sam faces the cold fact that she must start to reconstruct a life for herself and her 11-year old son. To remain the house that has been her home, she takes in a couple of boarders. Lydia, the first boarder offers quiet, thoughtful advice and comfort. And a new friend, King, suggests that she get out, get going and get work. Sam begins to realize that she has to make her own happiness and reclaim the woman she was before she was David's wife. Berg presents fiction that contains real life lessons.
    • 4/5
      I am going to open with “I really enjoyed this book.” I haven’t been reading as much lately (thanks a lot 2008 Election!) and now that I can rest easy and get back to my real life…this was a good book to start with.“Open House” isn’t a new story – it’s the story of a woman, Sam, who is blindsided when her husband asks for a divorce, who finds herself at a crossroads in her life, who is unsure what to do next, and who discovers a new side of herself with the help of old and new friends.The story has been told before, and will be told again…but there are moments in this book that really made it stand out. The author moves the story along well, and I enjoyed the characters (though they might be a bit stock…gay hairdresser, eccentric mother, husband who finds a new young girlfriend…), but it was the small moments of brilliance that made this book for me.Some are just funny. After Sam’s mother tries to mend her (then) teenager’s broken heart with a pair of pedal pushers…”When we were roommates in college, Rita had once asked, extremely gently, if my mother was mentally retarded, “No”, I said. “Just…Southern.” That was the only explanation I could come up with at the time. And I still make do with it.”Some catch the reader off guard in the most honest of ways. “I wash up and go into my bedroom, intent on reading one of the new books I bought the other day. I turn back the bedclothes, and then, just like that, all the good feeling I’ve built up that day seems to drain out the soles of my feet. I stand there for a while. And then I get down on my knees, and whisper, Help me into my folded hands.”And “I don’t hold Travis (her son) anymore, of course – not to read to him, or for any other reason, either. I wish I’d known that the last time was going to be the last time. But of course that information would have been as painful as this moment.”And “This is my new life: I push pain away all day, and the moment I put my arms down it walks into me and has a seat.”I like that Sam’s journey takes a realistic path. Instead of a more traditional denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance…she experiences all of the feelings at different times. As above, she can have a great day and then have that wash away in a moment. She can be experiencing waves of sorrow or guilt and still take a small piece of beauty from a moment.“I stare wearily at the kitchen table, at the swatch of sunlight that lies over the basket of paper napkins. The pattern on the napkins is illuminated; white-on-white roses. I never saw those roses before. I have lived my life blind.”And gradually, she takes all of these little moments, whether they come from inside or from someone else, and starts to rebuild. “Sometimes I want to say, “It’s all right. You don’t have to say that. I’m not so sad today.” But I never do. Instead, 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.” And although most of her emotions are focused on herself and her son…this emotional roller coaster does offer her views of those she loves that she never would have seen otherwise. Her eccentric mother? Turns out she is a woman who just like Sam, has experienced grief and pain, and who did the best she could for her children in the face of it.“What occurs to me, now, is that what my mother had been doing all that time was weeping. With astonishing quiet. And that when she was done, she’d washed her face, fixed her hair, put on lipstick, and then gone out to the kitchen. She turned the radio on low and then made dinner so that it would be ready when it always was….But what did (she) Veronica do after she put us to bed? I wonder know. And I imagine a mother who took a mask off her face, then pushed hard into a pillow to weep for the loss of her husband, for the loss of the life she was supposed to have, for the only man she ever – I actually gasp, thinking this now – loved.”Disguised as a painful divorce, frustrating and sometimes seemingly impossible to unwrap, this time in Sam’s life turns out to be an amazing and incredibly valuable gift.