25. The Year of Pleasures

The Year of Pleasures was a quick read. I don't know how many pages you need to classify something as a novella instead of a novel, but I'm guessing this one - around 150 pages - is kinda close to that limit. I liked that I could get through it pretty quickly, but I feel like the story wasn't as developed as it could have been. It was just long enough to introduce me to all of these really interesting characters and then there wasn't enough time to develop them and find out what happened in their lives.

The description - Berg's unique gift is for capturing emotions and joys in women's lives, this time with the story of a woman who refuses to let widowhood define her, and goes about recreating a happy and meaningful life. She moves to a new town after the death of her husband, where she rents a room in a house with two young men. She forms a mother/lover relationship with one of the young men, then meets a man with whom she also starts a relationship, with complicated results. At the same time, she reconnects with three college friends; they don't live in her new town but they begin to correspond and visit each other. Reinvention of a self and a life, through love and forming connections between one's past, present, and future is at the heart of this beautiful novel.

The description there is a bit sappier then I'd go with, and actually not accurrate unless I missed the "lover" part of the relationship with one of the young men. But anyway, it's a pretty good book. You'll probably like it.