Durable Goods: A Novel (Katie Nash)

Katie is experiencing adolescence while being pulled in different directions by her family members from older sister, Diane to her very own drill sergeant of a father, and her best friend Cherylanne. Read for the beginning Katie’s adventures.

Durable Goods is the story of young Katie, a pre-adolescent girl that is anxious to grow up and at the same time is dealing with things that the average teenager shouldn't have to go through. She's just lost her mother to cancer, her father beats both her and her sister Diane, and she feels often that she's all alone. She misses her mother terribly,and often envisions seeing and talking to her mother as if she had never passed away. The book is written from her point of view, so the reader learns about Katie from a more personal perspective.The plot line in Durable Goods is thin, I thought, but the author created a very likeable character in Katie. The first half of the book builds up the character and introduces her relationships with her father (abusive) and sister (sometimes friend, sometimes enemy) and her best friend CherylAnne, who is two years older and is very wise and womanly for her age.Katie is a strong person for her young years, and that is what makes her so likeable. Dealing with the death of her mother and her confrontations with her father show how strong she really is. Whereas Dianne tries to escape from her problems, katie tries to deal with them.This is Elizabeth Berg's first novel, but it was not the first novel of hers that I've read. I think it was an impressive first novel and would be a good place to start for anyone new to her books. Other books I'd highly recommend is Joy School, which continues the saga of katie, and What We Keep, a story about an older woman who is trying to deal with her past.

Elizabeth Berg has created a hero of young girls with Katie, the 12 year old army brat (a brat she is not). Katie and her 18 year old sister are trying to cope with their verbally and physically abusive father. All of them are recently reeling from the death of their mother from cancer .A difficult age at 12, Katie has befriended another army brat next door. Although somewhat submissive to this friend, Katie is happy to have the sophisticated advice from her slightly older friend about everything from how to do your nail to menstral issues. With her older sister distracted by a boyfriend, she does the best she can to fill in the blanks of surviving adolescence.Her older sister, Diane is not only taking blows from the father, but verbal abuse especially in regards to her relationship with her boyfriend Dickie. It is not an infrequent occurance for Diane to take physical punishment to protect Katie. Now 18, Diane makes up her mind to leave home with Dickie. She urges her little sister to come with her as she is afraid that when she leaves home, her father's bitter wrath will make Katie his next domestic victim.It is difficult for Katie. She alternates between loyalty for her father, anger and the angst of adolescent confusion. At the last minute, she elopes with Diane and Dickie.Two books take up where this one leaves off. Quick and rewarding reads, Katie becomes the unsung hero of young girls and Elizabeth Berg fans everywhere.

Oh, the angst of growing up female! No matter how much things change, one thing stays the same: Being a 12-year-old girl is rife with the chaos of feelings. Author Elizabeth Berg tells the story of Katie Nash, who is on the cusp of adolescence, in such a compassionate and authentic way that every woman will recall that tender and emotionally-filled time of life.Living in the early 1960s on an Army base in Texas, Katie has an 18-year-old sister, a mother who has recently died of cancer and an Army father who abuses the girls. Her best friend lives next door. Told over a period of a few months, the book is a classic coming-of-age story with a heroine who is so genuine most readers will feel like they know her--or were her at one time.This is a very short book that is easy to read but filled with pithy observations about life. It will make you smile, it will make you sigh and it will make you cry--all hallmarks of a well-written book.

I loved this book. Great writing, enviable talent. I will read more of her books.In Durable Goods, twelve-year-old Katie’s mother has died, and we meet Katie when she’s hiding under her bed to avoid the wrath of her father. As an Army kid, moving around constantly, Katie has unique insights on saying goodbye to friends and a home she just started feeling comfortable in. Her friend Cherylanne, who is obsessed with fashion magazine’s tips for looking good, is a fun supporting character—timing her tan to flip over in twenty-minute increments, for example. Other well-drawn characters are Katie’s older sister and her boyfriend, and a father that doesn’t express himself well and sometimes his attempts to express himself devolve into violence.The writing is just great. At one point, when Katie is afraid to jump off the high dive, she says, “There are different kinds of time in the world. When you get called on and you don’t know the answer and the teacher waits, that is one kind of time and it is like this.”This is a quick read. I recommend it.

I finished 'Durable Goods' last night and am re-reading it today, marking the original lines. She has a simple but powerful writing style and uses diamond-sharp similes.There's no complex 'plot' as such in this book. The story is about the thoughts and feelings of a 12 year old girl, Katie, struggling to get along with her 18 year old sister, and their volatile and aggressive Army Dad who does not permit his daughters to cry. Katie is also still trying to come to terms with her mother's death.For all that it's a heart-warming up-beat book told in present tense first-person point of view. There is much gentle humour as Katie longs for the onset of puberty while her best friend, Cherylanne, is already 14 and expert in the ways of women, the world, and glossy magazine 'chic'.It made me smile a lot but also made me feel like crying at one point.We've all experienced having to move, leave close friends behind, at some time in life and reading this unlocked some deep stuff. It touches chords, even in a man.The mini interview info at the back of the book says she wrote a third book, 'True to Form', as one of her readers just had to know what happened to Katie after 'Joy School', so I'm looking forward to reading the other two now.For anyone thinking of starting writing, she has also written: 'Escaping into the open - the art of writing' which provides much encouragement.

Great quality and great book

本嫌いだった私が、高校生の時に図書館で何気なく手に取った本。読み出したらとまらなくなって、最後は、さわやかに感動したことを覚えています。本ていいな、と初めて思った作品です。12才という微妙な年頃のkatieは、お隣の少し年上の女の子と少し背伸びした事をしてみたりするけれど、心にはまだ子供の部分が残っていて、死んでしまった母親を思ったり、厳しい父親の優しかったころを思い出したり、そんな不安定な感情がひしっと伝わってきて、読み終えたあとに、何かが心に残る、そんな作品です。上手く伝えられないけれど、親子の絆を感じるというか、、、きれいな作品です。今回は英語で読んでみたけれど、非常に簡単な英語で、読みやすいです。