Customer Reviews

Escaping Into The Open

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Elizbeth Berg's book is worthwhile for many reasons: her comfortable prose, her reassurances, her authority, but most of all for her writing excerizes.

Not that these sorts of exercizes aren't in other books, but Berg's (no relation) way of explaining them is clear and helpful. I used them, and they were, for me, effective. To wit:
two stories I wrote beginning with these exercizes have been published. No higher praise than that is due.

Some men might be put off by this book which is excessively sprouty, true, but Elizabeth Berg's writing is worth looking into, and so is this book.

I am a big fan of Elizabeth Berg's and I was thrilled to discover she had a book on writing. As a stay-at-home mother and published writer myself, it was wonderful to read about how Berg started. I was pleasantly surprised by the recipes at the end and I always enjoy Berg's direct, though quirky, sense of humor. I highly recommend this book, especially to women looking for some writing inspiration. This is the only book that I've read that has writing exercises I actually look forward to doing.

I enjoyed this conversational, encouraging, somewhat "splashed across the pages" writing book.

It is almost like Berg wrote the book as a Stream of Consciousness exercise with one chapter, for example, all writing exercises meant for elminating blocoking and another chapter filled with recipes and other chapters with excerpts from friends and peers.

This was vaguely annoying to me and at the same time, it was very worth reading for the tremendous gold nuggets such as this one:

"If you have the calling to be a writer, its not going to go away any more than the shape of your nose will. Your need and longing and the ability to express yourself will come back. Like love, you can't force it. Like love, it will find you when it's ready."

and

"When you write, you need to have a certain willingness inside you, an auto induced mood of simultaneous quiet and energetic readiness that lets your imagination know its ok to come out now."

Berg is primarily a fiction writer, so she writes a lot about topics which would be especially beneficial for writers of fiction.

All in all a respectable, decent read but not among my favorites.

If you are a writer, you'll get nothing from this book except the satisfaction of contributing a royalty to Ms. Berg. She, obviously, was one of the lucky ones. She wrote homilies about her children which she sold to an equally saccharine female Editor of a Woman's Magazine. Duh!
Since she has nothing of value to offer an aspiring author and had a certain number of pages to fill, she wraps up this volume with a "true confession" of a friend she alienated, and FOOD RECIPES, for God's sake!

Spend you money on any book by Martin Cruz Smith, Nelson DeMille, Lawrence Block, James Lee Burke, Andrew Klavin or James Hall. Use them as "textbooks" to learn how to write. Leave Ms. Berg's time-killer for any rainy afternoon when you need a sleeping aid. Better yet, it makes a fine door stop.

Although it is very true that no one can "make" you a writer, Elizabeth Berg gets to the core of the matter: everyone thinks if they can read, they can write, so don't be afraid to try.

Of course, even if you can write, it doesn't mean you can write well. That takes practice (just like everything worth doing!). And Ms. Berg gives some great suggestions as to how to unlock the inner writer with useful exercises. She has a generosity of spirit, and great way of writing which invites everyone to at least give it a try. Berg even includes some recipes at the end (because it's important to eat well when writing!), which I think adds to the charm of the book.

This actually lead me to read one of her novels, "Open House", which I truly enjoyed, I just wish it had been a bit longer. Now she's also on my list of "favourite authors".

Admittedly a book of a writer's life, and she started out as just another ordinary single Mom. But, supporting your kids by writing doesn't compute for peons like me. I enjoyed this book despite her focus on Her own life, and not on the craft or art of writing.

What a great book- easy to read and understand. If you are considering writing, for profit or fun, this book really helped me open up and let the ink flow- without me sensoring ever word before it hit the paper!

Berg's easy conversational style makes this book fun and easy to read. Her writing prompts are among the best I've ever read and will absolutely get anyone writing, as will her down to earth encouragement. I enjoyed the book so much that I picked up two of her novels to see how she applies what she discusses in this book.

I disliked Ms. Berg's book from the introduction onward. Unlike the previous reviewer, I would not place this book in the same class as Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird or Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones, which are both fabulous writing books. Ms. Berg seemed more interested in detailing her own accomplishments than in anything else. Spend your money on Lamott, Goldberg or Ralph Keyes (The Courage to Write) instead. Authors who will truly help you to begin to "write true".

Ms. Berg begins her book with some personal notes about her life and how she came to write -- she's an ordinary person just like you and I, who loved to write and followed her dream. Reading this book made me feel like I could conquer the world -- of writing that is. Ms. Berg helps you knock your feelings of inadequacy aside and dive into the written word. Throughout the book she gives homework and writing exercises that are very inspiring and thought provoking and ends the book with a couple recipes, which I thought was a nice, quirky touch. I love my copy of this book. It is the first one I reach for when I need to explore another writing exercise, to get those creative juices flowing.