Kellerman's Stone Kiss captivated me until I finished it. Now, I am obsessed with the psychopath who makes a reappearance in this mystery from the earlier novel Justice.

I heard Diane Rehm interview Elizabeth Berg a while back about her new novel, The Year of Pleasures I loved the sound of her voice over the radio. Her novels sounded intriguing and I am so out of touch with modern fiction. The next time I was at the library, I found Berg's novels on the shelves. picked up Say When and read that over the Memorial Holiday weekend. Not the worst popular fiction; probably closer to the best. Her writing had a certain sweet melody that at times sang just right; at other times, I skimmed and skipped. However, I did not skip to the end. Most interesting about the book, which is about a short period of time in a couple's marriage, is that the main character is a man. I enjoyed that. The Book Reporter critic captured how I felt about Griffin:

But the emotional life of Griffin, caught at this moment of crisis and reflection, is powerful nonetheless. Berg's prose is deceptively simple, neatly packaging a complicated story. Griffin is an undeniably real character; he is written with honesty and integrity, yet his flaws are large, many and important. Zoe, too, is an interesting and realistic character. Ellen is harder to understand; she is complex, sad and just as confused as Griffin. Because the story is written from Griffin's perspective, Ellen is harder to understand and relate to. She is elusive to the reader perhaps because, despite what he says, she remains elusive to Griffin.

Capturing the nuances, the hope and the frustration of a marriage in trouble, Berg has written a wise, wonderful and bittersweet novel that raises many questions about love and relationships. Griffin is, in many ways, an everyman. We know Griffin and relate to him and really want this marriage to work.

For a "woman's novel" about marriage and intimacy, it's rather intriguing and original for the female character to remain elusive and harder to understand. It feel deliberate and artful, but not manipulative.

She can't help it if Oprah chose another of her novels for her book club.