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A review of Talk Before Sleep

by Elizabeth Berg

A very beautiful and sometimes difficult look at breast cancer and the journey a few friends make together with the disease at the forefront.

Reviewed by: Ashley E. Underell
About Ashley E. Underell

Talk Before Sleep Grab a box of Kleenex before you begin turning the pages of this book. Elizabeth Berg’s “Talk Before Sleep” is truly nourishing to the soul even though it hurts. A remarkable story told about a beautiful, successful woman named Ruby, who is suffering from breast cancer and her friend Anne, who journey’s through the disease with her. This is a very powerful look at the strength of human bonds and friendships. It is heart-wrenching sad, and at the same time while the tears come, so does a sense of understanding.

Elizabeth Berg draws her characters with more humanness that most authors I know, and they radiate. The women in “Talk Before Sleep” are diverse, each with their own ulterior motives, yet they all have one goal in mind, and that is to keep Ruby comfortable while she is dying. How does one do that? Flowers, food, long walks, remembering, toasting, and telling stories. These are after all, the very things that keep us comfortable while we are alive.

This is not a light read, but a necessary one. I recommend you give this to all the women in your life. It is timely, scary and so moving.

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Talk Before Sleep

Copyright © by Ashley E. Underell, 2002

Reviewed by Ashley E. Underell:
-- The Secret Life of Bees - by Sue Monk Kidd
-- Cowboys Are My Weakness - by Pam Houston
-- Talk Before Sleep - by Elizabeth Berg
-- House of Sand and Fog - by Andre Dubios III









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