This book is the type that you would not hesitate to take to the doctor's office but at the same time could enjoy on the train. It's cover does not hint at the joy and pain that is included in the story of a mother who has lost her mobility and the daughter who strives to care for her. The ending is unexpected and while you would think the content would keep you up at night, this is not the case. It is the book to pick up when you need a dose of reality and a big smile on your face!
Helpful Score: 6
I read everything Elizabeth Berg writes, and I wouldn't say this is her finest, but the writing has her usual luminous quality and is a pleasure to read. This is written thrugh the eyes of a young teen girl, in the early 1960s, in Tupelo MS, who lives with her beautiful young mother who was crippled by polio when pregnant. The father has deserted, and they are able to live independently, although in poverty, only with round the clock care for the mom, most notably provided by a black woman named Peacie, whose man friend has become active in the civil rights movement. There is a constant threat, not only of civil unrest, but of the state caseworker deciding to institutionalize the mom and put the girl in foster care, for lack of proper caretakers available. The ending is way too 'pat' and easy, but the family and the times they lived in are beautifully rendered.
Helpful Score: 6
You will not need your bookmark for this book. It is a fast read....it will grab your attention on page one and not let go till the end.
Helpful Score: 5
Not one of Berg's best books, but it's a good read. It moves a bit slow early on, but picks up a lot. I liked that it was based on a reader's story. I thought it was nice of the author to take a reader's story and turn it into a fictional novel.
Helpful Score: 4
This story was kinda lackluster, despite the fact that it was inspired by a real person. The character development seemed without depth.
Helpful Score: 3
Elizabeth Berg has done it again. 14 year old Diana Dunn, her mother Paige and caregiver Peacie are characters you won't forget. Set in Mississippi in the 1960's, the problems facing these folks are set against the backdrop of the turmoil of the times.
Humor and drama make this not only a fun but an educational read.
Humor and drama make this not only a fun but an educational read.
Helpful Score: 2
"I love all of Elizabeth Berg's stories, but never so much as when she is writing from the point of view of a young girl, as she did with Katie in "Durable Good" and "Joy School". And so it is with great pleasure that I recommend "We Are All Welcome Here", another moving tale told from the perspective of young Diana..." amazon
Helpful Score: 1
I have read quite a few of Elizabeth Berg's book and I found this book to be very thought provoking. The story is based on a true story which always makes me more interested. I think this book made me think of the strength in family and the preseverance of an individual to succeed regardless of obstacles. It touches on youth and the difficulties of dealing with friends and family during trying times. I really recommend this book, great to read especially when life gets you down. A real keeper.
Helpful Score: 1
Wow! This book made me want to read MORE of Berg. I'm putting all of her books on my wish list. Based on a true story, this book is about how an amazing woman and her equally amazing daughter deals with a disability. Well written - I re-read it 2 times.
Helpful Score: 1
A quick read, hard to put down story about a girl dealing with her mother's polio.
Helpful Score: 1
Never read anything bad by Elizabeth Berg..another great book
Helpful Score: 1
Quick read with great intertwining, interesting, believable characters. Loosley based on a true story with a guest appearance by Elvis. Great for book club discussion, too.
Helpful Score: 1
I did not think Elizabeth Berg, whom I usually enjoy reading, did a great job on this book. I read it for bookclub and others in my group agreed that the ending was weak, and that some characters and topics could have been more fully developed.
Fascinating book. The story is fictional, but inspired by a true story. This is the story of Diana Dunn, who's mother is paralyzed from polio.
This is a great story of family, love and perseverance, as well as an indictment of 1960's society norms about the rights of handicapped people.
The end has a twist that is so fanciful it's not believable. And yet at the same time, it's the sort of happy ending you wish for a family like this.
This is a great story of family, love and perseverance, as well as an indictment of 1960's society norms about the rights of handicapped people.
The end has a twist that is so fanciful it's not believable. And yet at the same time, it's the sort of happy ending you wish for a family like this.
Set against the backdrop of the civil right movement in 1964, comes a story of 3 women who are struggling against overwhelming odds for her own kind of freedom.
very good
Such a heart warming story of love and caring. I read it in one day. I couldn't put it down! I highly recommend it!
Had waited for sooo long- went and bought it--SHE JUST AMAZES ME WITH EACH NOVEL
Another wonderful book from Elizabeth Berg. She writes with such insight and poignancy...hard to put down!
Enjoyable read and fast to read.
I loved this book! The lives of these women, the connections to civil rights tensions during this time period, and the wonderful storytelling style of Elizabeth made this an unforgettable and moving tale. gabecornett
A delightful story of the relationship between a mother and a daughter during the summer of 1964.
I enjoy reading Elizabeth Berg's books. Her style reminds me of Ann Tyler's writing. I feel as though I am a voyeur into someone else s life and from the sidelines judge if that is what I would do in the situation. Just when I think I've figured it out Berg adds an unexpected twist to the plot.
Good read. I enjoy all of Berg's books.
This is the second book by Elizabeth Berg that I have read, and I loved it just as much as the first. She really has a great writing style--it draws you in and makes you feel like you know the characters. In addition to the compelling characters, the story itself is compelling. You find yourself falling in love with and rooting for Paige and Diana. The book also has wonderful historic touches to it, as pieces of the turbulent 60s are woven into the novel. Overall, I really recommend it!
Very good book, but sad, too. I cried at the end.
Berg gives us another fine novel. As is often the case with her work, the heroine is a perfectly ordinary person whose life has an unusual twist. In this story, our heroine is a girl living in a small Southern town in the early sixties, her father a distant memory. Racial tension? Yes. Growing pains? Yes. But the twist to the story is the mother - paralyzed from the neck down by polio that struck during pregnancy. How they cope with, around and despite of the household's focal disability makes for an intriguing and powerful story of growth and hope.
Elizabeth Berg, bestselling author of The Art of Mending and The Year of Pleasures, has a rare talent for revealing her characters'hearts and minds in a manner that makes us empathize completely. Her new nove, We Are All Welcome Here, features three women, each struggling against over-whelming odds for her own kind of freedom.
It is the summer of 1964.In Tupelo,Mississippi, the town of Elvis's birth, tensions are mounting over civil-rights demonstrations occurring more frequently-and violently-across the state. But in Paige Dunn's small, ramshackle house, there are more immediate concerns. Challenged by the effects of the polio she contracted during her last month of pregnancy,Paige in nonetheless determined to live as normal a life as possible and to raise her daughter,Diana, in the way she sees fit- with the support of her tough-talking black caregiver, Peacie.
Diana is trying in her won fashion to live a normal life. As a fourteen-year-old, she wants to make money for clothes and magazines,to slough off the authority of her mother and Peacie, to figure out the puzzle that is boys, and to escape the oppressiveness she sees everywhere in her town. What she can never escape, however, is the way her life is markedly different from others'.Nor can she escape her ongoing responsibility to assist in caring for her mother. Paige Dunn is attractive,charming,intelligent, and lively, but her needs are great- and relentless.
As summer unfolds, hate and adversity will visit this modest home.Despite the difficulties thrust upon them,each of the women will find her own path to independence,understanding, and peace. And Diana's mother,so mightily compromised,will end giving her daughter an extraordinary gift few parents could match.
It is the summer of 1964.In Tupelo,Mississippi, the town of Elvis's birth, tensions are mounting over civil-rights demonstrations occurring more frequently-and violently-across the state. But in Paige Dunn's small, ramshackle house, there are more immediate concerns. Challenged by the effects of the polio she contracted during her last month of pregnancy,Paige in nonetheless determined to live as normal a life as possible and to raise her daughter,Diana, in the way she sees fit- with the support of her tough-talking black caregiver, Peacie.
Diana is trying in her won fashion to live a normal life. As a fourteen-year-old, she wants to make money for clothes and magazines,to slough off the authority of her mother and Peacie, to figure out the puzzle that is boys, and to escape the oppressiveness she sees everywhere in her town. What she can never escape, however, is the way her life is markedly different from others'.Nor can she escape her ongoing responsibility to assist in caring for her mother. Paige Dunn is attractive,charming,intelligent, and lively, but her needs are great- and relentless.
As summer unfolds, hate and adversity will visit this modest home.Despite the difficulties thrust upon them,each of the women will find her own path to independence,understanding, and peace. And Diana's mother,so mightily compromised,will end giving her daughter an extraordinary gift few parents could match.
i loved this book.
