She Treads Softly: The Confession Club

Monday, November 18, 2019

The Confession Club

The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg
Random House: 11/19/19
eBook review copy; 304 pages
ISBN-13: 9781984855176

The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg is a recommended heartwarming feel-good story and her third story set in Mason, Missouri.

A group of women have a weekly supper club that turns into the Confession Club, a meeting where a different woman confesses some hidden secret, misdeed, or regret. Iris Winters and Maddy Harris are invited to join on a trial basis, but they easily fit in with the group of women spanning all ages. Iris is conflicted over a relationship with a homeless man, while Maddy is escaping from NYC - and maybe her husband. Hopefully, the club will provide the support they need right now.

The Confession Club is the third novel set in the small town of Mason, Missouri, following Night of Miracles, 2018 and The Story of Arthur Truluv, 2017. It is an excellent choice for anyone looking for an easy to read novel that promotes friendship optimism, and kindness in a congenial small town community. While I really liked the first two books in the series, this one fell short for me. Iris has some further character development here, but most of the other characters are a continuation from the other books. Some of these women are good people who really care about others. You might wonder, as I did, why most of us don't meet women like this in everyday life. Life as described in Mason almost makes you want to move to a small town.

Berg writes in a simple, easy to read style that fits in well with the heartwarming feel-good stories she excels at writing. While deeper problems are presented, they are not delved into much deeper than a surface presentation of facts and other's reactions are equally shallow. But problems and societal issues aren't the focus here and not what most fans want from Berg. She presents the problems, questions, and issues, but her characters are quick to understand others, offer support, comfort, and forgive misdeeds. This is the series to read when you just need familiar characters who support others - and enjoy cooking classes.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.