Product Description

On the hot Texas army base she calls home, Katie spends the lazy days of her summer waiting: waiting to grow up; waiting for Dickie Mack to fall in love with her; waiting for her breasts to blossom; waiting for the beatings to stop. Since their mother died, Katie and her older sister, Diane, have struggled to understand their increasingly distant, often violent father. While Diane escapes into the arms of her boyfriend, Katie hides in her room or escapes to her best friend’s house—until Katie’s admiration for her strong-willed sister leads her on an adventure that transforms her life.

Written with an unerring ability to capture the sadness of growth, the pain of change, the nearly visible vibrations that connect people, this beautiful novel by the bestselling author of Open House reminds us how wonderful—and wounding—a deeper understanding of life can be.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36176 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-13
• Released on: 2003-05-13
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In Berg's understated and promising fiction debut, a 12-year-old "army brat" comes to epitomize the quality that her father prizes: emotional durability. Narrator Katie lives on a Texas Army base with her 18-year-old sister and volatile father, an officer of unidentified rank. The girls' mother has died of cancer, although Katie never discusses how much time has passed since the loss. Accustomed to a military lifestyle, suspecting that her home will be only a temporary one, Katie leads a fairly ordinary existence. She and her best friend go swimming, talk about puberty and meet boys. When the inevitable happens and the family learns they're being transferred to Missouri, Katie tries to accept the impending change, but her sister, who can no longer tolerate her father's abuse, rebels. Direct, matter-of-fact sentences convey resilient Katie's point of view; the absence of a maternal figure is acutely felt, particularly in the vulnerable but violent father's frightening temper. Overall, however, this subdued tale of a troubled family is more modest than memorable, insinuating rather than fully examining its characters' motives. Author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-After her mother's death, Katie and her father move from their home on a Texas army base. Her sister Diane, 18, runs away with her boyfriend rather than spend any more time with her grieving, distant father. Katie, at 12, is just discovering her potential and working through relationships with friends, boys, her sister and, most especially, her father. Every once in a while, she and readers see the unresolved despair that contributes to his abusive spells. No one in this compelling story is completely right or wrong. Diane cannot see the man's pain or, if she does, cannot forgive him yet. He is seemingly uncaring and cruel, but, at moments, is also loving and concerned for his small family. At the end of this book, readers will feel that the girl and her father are going to make it. Katie is an endearing and persistent heroine, and Berg's prose borders on the poetic. This is an easy read, but its haunting images of coming of age are sure to remain with YAs.
Susan H. Woodcock, Potomac Library, Woodbridge, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Berg's passion for writing is evident in this first novel. For 12-year-old Katie, home is an army base in Texas. The reader struggles along with Katie and her sister, Diane, as they try to cope with the burdens of growing up with an abusive father and no mother. This beautifully told tale grips the reader from page one and does not let go until Katie comes to terms with her sister's appetite for adventure, as she tries all the while to keep pace with her own changes. Even then the prose will continue to haunt the reader. Though Katie has been living in a world that could hardly be called kind, Berg convinces the reader that she nevertheless feels renewed hope. Highly recommended.
- Vicki Cecil, Hartford City P.L., Ind.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Touching, sometimes disturbing, coming of age novel
Katie's life is one of loss. Katie not only loses her mother, but also her faith in Jesus Christ. She tells us that she used to talk to Him as the Communion wafer melted in her mouth. Then, her mother is gone, along with her faith. (If Katie is Roman Catholic, then we know her mother died after Katie's seventh birthday; Catholic children make their first Holy Communion during the seventh year of life.) Katie, however, maintains a spiritual connection- she has visions of her mother at the Blessed Virgin Mary. Katie communicates with her mother's spirit, too.

Katie is pushed around by her sister, Diane and best friend, Cherylanne. Both have rocky relationships with the protagonist. (I think Katie deserved a better confidant than Cherylanne. In fact, there is a brief meeting of Katie and her "in-school" best friend.) It makes sense that Katie admires Diane and Cherylanne- she is being physically abused by an unpredictable father. Katie is slapped around, or witnessing her sister's beatings.

Their father creeped me out. I was hoping that Katie would get far enough away from him. Does she? Well, you'll have to read to find out.

Katie will grow on you. You'll want to help her better her life. You'll want to help her find good friends, get away from her abusive father. I did not like the way Diane always treated Katie- but I agree with Diane that the father should have been forced to stop the abuse.

Bridgette is adorable!

Now, for the false advertising- my hardback copy from the library says that, "Katie spends the lazy days of her summer waiting.... waiting for Dickie Mack to fall in love with her" and "until Katie's admiration for her strong-willed sister leads her on an adventure that transforms her life". First, there isn't much in the way of "love" for Dickie, just that Katie remarks she can get Dickie to fall in love with her. And, the adventure is not much of an adventure, nor is it very transforming. You'll see what I mean at the end of the book.

Yes, read this. But keep in mind Katie has a long way to go!

A real glimpse of a troubled adolescence...
At 12, Katie faces many of the typical adolescent-girl concerns -- stressing over her looks, over keeping up with her sophisticated best friend Cherylanne, over boys. But in other ways, Katie is carrying burdens far too heavy for a girl her age.

She and her older sister Diane are living on an Army base in Texas with their physically and emotionally abusive father following the death of their mother. While Katie gets her share of it -- the book opens with Katie's accidentally causing the toilet to overflow, and being so afraid of her father that she hides under her bed -- her father seems to center the brunt of his fury upon Diane. At 18, she's not holding anything back, and certainly letting her father know she's had enough.

One terrible night, Katie runs into Diane, quietly packing for Mexico, where she plans to live with her boyfriend Dickie. She offers Katie the chance to come along. And while both sisters share the same traumas and heartache, they don't share the same ideas about family and loyalty -- misplaced or not.

This is Elizabeth Berg's first book, and while I personally felt it wasn't as strong as the subsequent ones, I still enjoyed her work. Both Katie and Diane were extremely sympathetic characters, and although some may have written the father as a one-dimensional man, Berg managed to show glimpses of other aspects within him.

If you want to follow the family's story over the course of another year, a sequel called "Joy School" is also available.

A solid 3
Elizabeth Berg is a great writer, this one just didn't resonate with me.
In this book Katie struggles with an all to often distant and violent father. She spends most of her time with the neighbor girl, and trying to get closer to her older sister Diane.
Eventually the sisters runaway- only to have Katie return home to her father, right before they move away.
I love how Berg always knows her character so well. This one moved a little slow, but not too much.
The issue is that - for me- there is no real character growth, and the story is not very deep, or moving, or anything really.
Diane moves away and that is that, they move to Missouri. Her father is still the same person, and Katie is still an adolescent girl with a lot to learn that still walks on eggshells around her father, and still feels guilty when he becomes upset or angered. Katie's dad does finally tell her how she died, how it happened, or rather what finally caused it- but in no way was there suspense leading to this, or adequate drama to make you feel any pain for Katie.

While Katie is an interesting character, her story is nothing unique, and not spellbounding in any way. Instead, the read imagines Katie will go on to live much the same life, and in the sequel you find she does.