The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D by Nichole Bernier

I'm always looking for a new book to read. If I find one by a new author - all the better!  I read about The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D. from a Newsletter I've received for years and it is very informational for book clubs. "Reading Group Choices" is the web site that sends the newsletter. You can find it HERE.  This website has so much information about books, it includes synopsis, book club information, free book opportunities. I've received many free books over the years from this web site.

I was interested in the synopsis they offered about this book. It intrigued me so I got it for my Kindle... Never mind that I have stacks - hmmm three relatively short stacks  :) of books for the summer! It did not disappoint.

This is a debut book by Nichole Bernier and just came out this month. 

Synopsis:

"Summer island vacation with her family was supposed to be a restorative time for Kate, who’d lost her close friend Elizabeth in a plane crash. But when she inherits a trunk of Elizabeth's journals, they reveal a woman far different than the cheerful wife and mother Kate thought she knew. The complicated portrait of Elizabeth — her upbringing, her marriage, and journey to motherhood — makes Kate question not just their friendship, but her own deepest beliefs about loyalty and honesty at a moment of uncertainty in her own marriage. When an unfamiliar man’s name appears in the pages, Kate realizes the extent of what she didn’t know about her friend — including where she was really going when she died."

" Before there were blogs, there were journals. And in them we’d write as we really were, not as we wanted to appear. But there comes a day when journals outlive us. And with them, our secrets."

 Not too long ago, I heard a troubled teen say, "My parents have made me the way I am today." I disagreed. I realize we have nature and nurture, but we also have free choice. Each of us can decide what we want to become, who we want to be. The choice is ours. The choice is mine. I must take responsibility for my own actions. As I read Bernier's book I thought of this conversation many times. This is a journaling, a record of not letting a past control your future.

I also realized the "why" of my never wanting to write a journal. I've tried many times. But each time I realized I wasn't truthful or open in my journaling. I was writing what I wanted others to see - with the realization that someday, someone may see what I'm writing. - as part of the synopsis said "... there comes a day when journals outlive us.."  This book will make you think. I looked at myself while reading this book. Some of what I saw, I didn't like. Some was good. 

You know I like to "mark" passages that speak to me. One in this book was Elizabeth speaking of her mother "... why someone would go somewhere else to open up to people for strength and togetherness when her own flesh and blood was right next to her looking for the same thing."  I knew exactly what her mother was searching for. Sometimes it's so much easier to let someone you don't know see all the black, gunky stuff inside of you. Especially mom's, we believe we must be strong for our families. And we do - to some extent, but if we never let our children see our weaknesses, will they grow up struggling with the idea of needing to be perfect?

Another passage I have marked - a married couple, "They looked for a long time at one another and there was nothing awkward in the look... It was a naked look and it was all right there: the waiting and the worry the dwindling communication and the secrecy and the deception.. The anxiety, and the longing for guarantees - against calamity ... when there were none to be had." I remember having these exact feelings. 


The fears many people have as they look at our world. It has gotten so complicated - so "unsafe." Again, how I respond to what's going on around me is my choice. I can make a complicated world even more complicated - or I can create a peaceful attitude all around me.

The characters of the book - their lives were not parallel with mine, no - "ah that happened to me" BUT their thoughts are much the same as mine. Different circumstances, same feelings, same thoughts.

"There is nothing new under the sun..." Ecclesiastes tells us. And the older I get the more I really understand this teaching.

A very well written book. A good story. What makes it so good is that Bernier was able to put the thoughts of so many of us, - women, daughters, mom's, wives -  into a story about two women - two families. 

It's a very good book. As I said before it will give you pause to think. 

Nichole is the author of The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D, a novel inspired by a family friend's healing following the September 11th attacks. She is at work on her second novel, and lives outside of Boston with her husband and five children.

 

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