Title: The Year of Pleasures
Author: Elizabeth Berg
Publisher: Ballantine
Year published: 2005
ISBN: 9780812970999
Genre: fiction; chick lit; USA fiction
Pairs well with your favorite flannel pajamas,
a slice of berry or peach pie,
and a glass of Merlot.
As I've noted previously, when I'm in a reading slump, I often turn to a well loved novel that I've read several times over. This past week, that was The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg.
As a woman who has completely started over more than once in my adult life, I identify closely with the main character, Betta Nolan: after the tragic loss of her husband to cancer, Betta sinks into an understandable period of depression, confusion, worry, loss, and so on. Ultimately, she decides to follow through on a dream she and her husband had involving moving to the middle of the country and starting over in a small town.
But, of course, nothing is ever as easy as just picking up and moving. Betta does make the move, but it is filled with a sense of directionlessness and a pull towards something that is ill defined yet also tinged with feelings of fate.
Throughout the story, we learn more and more about the woman Betta was, who she wanted to be, and who she becomes (which is really who she was all along). We meet an adorable cast of characters along the way, ranging from sweet college kids that feel almost like lost puppies looking for their mother to a single mom and her sweet son to a cranky old woman who is dealing with losses of her own, not to mention three old friends from Betta's life before marriage.
I love this novel for its familiarity, not just because I've read it so many times (at least ten!), but also because I see myself in Betta and her joy in little pleasures that she often denies herself even though her husband encouraged her to indulge. I see myself in her love of fine things, comfortable things, joyful things, heartwarming things. I see myself in her love of quirky things and her joy in creating stories both professionally and as a hobby. I see myself in her use of baking and cooking as a love language.
Betta starts out lost and very much alone, but throughout the novel, she rebuilds her sense of self, learns to enjoy life again despite a huge loss, and she creates a new home and a new sense of family and community.
I hope you'll give The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg a chance and that you'll fall in love with the story and the characters just as I did.
And, I hope you'll come away with the knowledge and belief that it's ok to use the good soap that you set aside for company, the plush towels you keep for guests, the chocolate that you only buy on special occasions. Don't wait for guests or special occasions. Use the fancy soap and soft towels. Eat the good chocolate. Buy the little bowl that you love even though you don't know what you'd use it for. Life is too short not to indulge in some pleasures.
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