Nichole BernierCritiques

Mixed feelings. Couldn't put it down but didn't like it either. I kept waiting for more revelations about the marriages (happy or sad) and wanted Kate to make some decisions about get life instead of just meandering on on limbo.

It was interesting to see inside what people hide from others but all in all it just made be sad to see four people trapped by circumstance into lives they didn't much like.

I won this book in a blog tour shortly before it's publication. I heard a lot about it on book podcasts and was interested in reading it but just never picked it up. I got sick last week (which I rarely do) and picked this book up to read because it felt like comfort food and it really was. It was such a beautiful book. I loved the way the story of Elizabeth in the journals is woven in with Kate and her story. It was a very interesting way to tell a story.

It's a great story, well told, with interesting characters, deep feelings and thoughts on friendship, marriage and a healthy dose of self-examination.

I was pulled in right away by the premise. I've always been curious about what people who are not famous, or public figures, do with their personal writing. I wonder how many make provisions for their words, thoughts, and perhaps secrets? Lots of food for thought on that alone.

Nicole does a great job delving into her main character, Kate's dismay, shock and anger when given the awesome responsibility of how or if to disseminate her friend's journals.

From my perspective: I'm writing a novel that also involves questioning how well we really know each other, and aspects of ourselves we hide or suppress, especially through the lens of marriage. Hence, I was very interested in how she handled the relationship complexities once Kate realized how little she knew her friend. This brings about insecurities in her own relationship, and I have to say I agree with Nicole's handling of the outcomes. It is has a satisfying resolution.

A minor hiccup early on: Elizabeth's first journal entries are way too self-aware for a preteen/teen, and I found that distracting but once past that the book is real gem.

Nicole writes beautifully with lovely descriptions of settings and scenes "...sun-bleached Valentine paper hearts drained to gray." An effortlessness that is really a testament to skill not simple writing.

I wanted to love this book, but I found it frustrating. I kept feeling like it was so close to being a great book, but never got there. The relationships were really interesting, but didn't feel quite fleshed out enough to work; the mysteries surrounding the last months of Elizabeth's life were close to being page-turners, but never quite got there... And I hated the ending. Hated. So...an ok book, an easy read, but i think it could have been so much more.

Enjoyable read because of the concept, diaries willed to a friend, but won't win any awards for the writing.

There must have been something about this book to keep me reading - I did finish it. I suppose I kept reading in the hope that some fascinating relationship issue would be revealed. It wasn't. Having read all the way through I can now save you that effort. That book starts mediocre, doesn't really improve in the middle, and finishes without any substantial improvement. I think the essential problem for me (and it might be very different for you, especially if you're a Middle Class American Mom) is that Bernier didn't seem to really get deep enough into her characters. The concept of the story is fine and a bare plot outline makes it seem appealing, but it needs a writer with the skills of say, Robin Black, to bring out that potential.½

Loved the ability to know Elizabeth through her journals and see Kate's reflection of her own behavior through those pages. Great exploration of marriage, family, the power and pull of satisfying work. Loved the writing.

After the death of her friend Elizabeth, Kate is given her journals to decide what to do with them. As Kate reads the journals she realises she didn't really know Elizabeth at all.

This book is, in part, about the differences between who we are and how others see us. Kate knew Elizabeth as a devoted wife and mother, a friend that she met in a suburban Connecticut play group. But when Elizabeth dies in a plane crash, she leaves her journals to Kate. During a vacation at the beach, Kate starts reading and learns how little she knew about Elizabeth. As Kate struggles with her own insecurities and questions (Has her marriage gotten stale? Should she go back to work? Can she keep her family safe in a post-9/11 world?), she learns that Elizabeth wasn't as polished and secure as she appeared.

I listened to this book on audio, and it worked well in that format. At times, I felt like the themes of this book(Do we really know each other? Can we ever find a balance between work and motherhood?) overshadowed the story, but these are the questions that I struggle with as well, and Bernier doesn't propose easier answers. I appreciated that.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. The premises sounded captivating: A woman leaves her journals to her best friend instead of her husband and children. What secrets are there that she would never want them to know?

Sadly, the book was a complete bore. Yes, things were revealed, but I honestly didn't feel any type of connection with anyone and even after pages and pages of information, I really got nothing out of it.

I imagine this would be an ok book for a book club as everyone could sit and debate the issues brought up, but why bother? Life is to short to read and discuss mediocre books.

Sorry - I can't recommend this one.

What happens to your journals, the place you share your secret life, if you die suddenly? After Elizabeth’s unexpected death, Kate inherits a trunk of her close friend’s journals and brings them on vacation to read. This is the summer after 9/11, a time of intense re-examination of both national and personal safety. As Kate discovers Elizabeth’s secrets, she questions both their friendship and her own choices and yearnings. This book is tender and compelling. And it made me wonder what I should do with the dozen dusty journals in the bottom of my closet.

There are different kinds of books. There are the "reads", the ones that whisk you along on an entertaining ride. There are informative non-fiction books. There are books of opinion and personal revelation. There are Great Books, written decades, even centuries ago, but which people still read, because they're original communications about important things. The Great Books will always be discussed.

There's a newer type of book which means to usurp the function of the Great Book: the Book Club Book. A Book Club Book is the adult version of an Afterschool Special. The issues are packaged, presented, and made ready for discussion by upper middle class housewives. There's often even a handy "guide" at the end for middle class housewives too dim to know what the issues are.

Sometimes Book Club Books are also "reads". I'm thinking of "The Help" and "Water for Elephants". This book isn't really a "read". It's just a Book Club Book.

So go ahead and read it. The topics you'll be discussing are motherhood vs. career, communication between married couples and friends, and how to react to a dangerous world where disaster could strike at any minute from any quarter. Or don't read the book and just talk about these things. Unless you've been living in a cave, you've lived enough of life yourself to take part in the discussion.

There are different kinds of books. There are the "reads", the ones that whisk you along on an entertaining ride. There are informative non-fiction books. There are books of opinion and personal revelation. There are Great Books, written decades, even centuries ago, but which people still read, because they're original communications about important things. The Great Books will always be discussed.

There's a newer type of book which means to usurp the function of the Great Book: the Book Club Book. A Book Club Book is the adult version of an Afterschool Special. The issues are packaged, presented, and made ready for discussion by upper middle class housewives. There's often even a handy "guide" at the end for middle class housewives too dim to know what the issues are.

Sometimes Book Club Books are also "reads". I'm thinking of "The Help" and "Water for Elephants". This book isn't really a "read". It's just a Book Club Book.

So go ahead and read it. The topics you'll be discussing are motherhood vs. career, communication between married couples and friends, and how to react to a dangerous world where disaster could strike at any minute from any quarter. Or don't read the book and just talk about these things. Unless you've been living in a cave, you've lived enough of life yourself to take part in the discussion.

This is Lifetime movie stuff. Angst of trying to juggle motherhood, marriage, and profession and deal with loss.

Kate's friend Elizabeth, mother of three, dies in a plane crash that occurs shortly before the September 11 attack. A line in Elizabeth's will leaves a trunk full of her journals to Kate, with instructions to "start at the beginning." As Kate reads the journals during her summer vacation with her two kids and her husband Chris, she discovers an Elizabeth she hadn't known, and mourns for both lost Elizabeths.

The two women were more similar than Kate ever realized; Elizabeth worked hard to be the "perfect mom" and "perfect wife," sacrificing her career and not talking about her passion for her work because other mothers in the playgroup didn't empathize. Kate, too, is torn between staying home with her children and going back to work as a pastry chef, which she loved. Both women's husbands, overtly or subtly, downplay the importance of their work and prefer that the women stay at home with the kids.

This, more than the mystery of why Kate was on that plane in the first place, seems to be the core of the story, and it taps into the "you can('t) have it all" debate. The reader has little direct insight into either husband, only the wives' interpretations; the story is primarily in third person from Kate's POV, interspersed with entries from Elizabeth's journal. This is a common tension in marriages, but Dave seems especially traditional (backward?) and Chris seems unsympathetic.

Privacy, secrecy, trust, self-reliance, the impossibility of knowing another person completely: these issues are at the heart of the novel, and both Kate and Elizabeth think about and revisit them in the context of their lives. These are timeless themes; though the husbands are somewhat one-dimensional, the women are believable and sympathetic. This is a character-driven novel, but with enough plot twists to keep it moving forward.


Quotes:

I can't believe it's possible to walk around feeling this way and no one can see. (Elizabeth's journal, 19)

But that's the funny thing about people who don't fit into a box. They grow to infiltrate everything, and when they suddenly go missing, they are missing everywhere. (30)

Was it possible, she wondered, to have solitude together?....It was a gift, solitude. But solitude with another person, that was an art. (55)

But there are no real accidents, only decisions that feel like accidents, one after another, that take you down a certain road and take on a momentum that can't be reversed. (Elizabeth's journal, 108)

It was true of most decisions. The effects of your choices might not be clear at the moment they were made. But if you turned back to see where you'd come, there they'd be, the ghost of the path not taken leading to the places you would never go. (131)

[Chris] possessed naturally a balance others sought...an innate equilibrium that kept him from the shaky highs or debilitating lows. The downside was that he had trouble sympathizing with people when their troubles derived from something intangible. He called them complicated. (140)

[Dave]'s not a strong man, but every fiber of his being needs to believe that he's a good one. (Elizabeth's journal, 145)

Married life is a subtle turf war and quiet politeness....We're totally out of sync and don't know what to do with each other, two people who've been handed job descriptions for work that never materialized. (Elizabeth's journal, 163)

I have to accept that I have no more idea of what happens in the solitary parts of his mind than he has of mine, and wonder if all couples are like this. In love and simpatico in many ways, but ultimately unknowing and unknowable. (Elizabeth's journal, 194)

In the end I come back to that same feeling I've always had about confidences. They rarely give anything back, you rarely leave feeling any better, and you can get more out of just writing to yourself. (Elizabeth's journal, 247)

In a reduction some attributes are exaggerated, and some evaporate. (265)

There was something reflexive in the forgiveness...once you knew what made a person into a collection of oddities and defenses. The work to reach the knowing was exhausting, not the forgiving. (305)

...we never really know what is happening in the lives and hearts of others; this compassion leads to imagination and empathy, which are both critical in writing fiction. (Acknowledgments, 309)

Just received this. Have a couple books in progress, but hope to get to this within the week or so. Looks promising, thanks to the First Reads program!


Okay--this is subtle and sad and not to be read by anyone dealing with recent grief, unless you want to wet all the pages with tears, but it is a very good novel indeed. Friendship, love, and how we know one another in this life are the themes here as Bernier navigates the world of choices women make, how we tell our stories, and where truth lies.

I debated whether or not to read this novel. It was given to me by a friend and she enjoyed it, so I decided to give it a try. I'm so glad I did because I really liked it.

It's a novel about two friends and the journals left behind when one of them, Elizabeth, dies in a plane crash. She left her journals to her friend, Kate, who feels it's her duty to read the journals. Kate discovers Elizabeth's deepest thoughts and, although she thought she knew her friend well, she did not. A conflict arises with Elizabeth's husband who feels he should have the journals.

This is a sad, sentimental, and moving novel about friendships, marriage, families, journaling, and how well we really know our friends.

Enjoyed this book. Elizabeth dies in a plane crash and in her will, leaves her journals to her friend, Kate. In reading the journals Kate finds out she really didn't know her friend at all.

"She had a fleeting thought of the things that had not happened - a self-detonating martyr, Chris's burned wallet returned to her by the embassy - and wondered if things would ever be simple again, a trip just a trip a sound on the porch."

The key to this novel is whether you can ever really know what someone else thinks of you - or whether you can ever really know them at all. Elizabeth has died in a plane crash and left her life's journals to her best friend Kate rather than to devastated husband and now single dad-of-three Dave. Dave's peeked and found a man's name, not his own, and is pretty grumpy about it. Kate takes the trunk of journals on holiday with her family for the summer and becomes absorbed in the history of her friend, discovering that things were not at all as they appeared.

Elizabeth is a real piece of work (in a crazy but good way) - but I suppose she has to be or this wouldn't be much of a book. Kate strikes me as much more ploddy and calm, but then Elizabeth writes about how her friend took down some precious comments in the playground, or Kate recounts moments in fast-paced kitchens - so I suppose self-image is under consideration here too. I love the idea of learning about a person through their journals - it's so honest and unflinching and unfiltered. Kate discovers lots of things she had no idea about, realising that maybe Elizabeth wasn't just the perfect housewife she appeared to be, but had struggled with grief and solitude and a career behind the scenes.

Bernier writes at length and often and with real emotion about the struggle of a mother - whether to go back to work or not, how to balance her own needs with those of her children and husband. Fear is also a recurring theme - the novel is set in "the nervous summer after 9/11" and Kate is constantly scared of terrorism. Or disease. Or fire. Or anything really, she's just afraid. These themes are some of the best parts of this book; Bernier approaches them from a number of angles and puts her characters in difficult situations to test out their responses.

As with other books I've read recently about women, the men are a little flat and predictable. Don't go back to work. We don't need the money. The kids need you. Or do go back. Whatever. I don't care if you're worried that I'm travelling in Bali and Jakarta and Cambodia. Don't mess up my memories of my dead wife. Have another kid. Don't tell me when you might have cancer. I just felt that Bernier made them much less intricate than Kate and Elizabeth so that they could cause actions by the women, but not make any real contribution to the plot themselves.

Lastly, the setting - how are there this many idyllic islands in the US that I didn't know about? Other novels with islands: Love Anthony, Blackberry Winter, Snow Falling on Cedars. Ideally, the protagonists should have a part of the island that is little known, not overrun with tourists. There must be seclusion but also neighbourliness. Is this a thing over the pond? I'm a little flummoxed because it seems a bit twee. Anyway, it's all pretty and serene and relaxing.

I don't seem to have justified an 8/10 rating here. Put in this way - I cracked it open about 4.30 on Friday. At 6.10 I looked up, a bit choked up.

I was lucky enough to read The Unfinished Journals of Elizabeth D by Nichole Bernier as part of an Allen & Unwin read-along hosted by a fellow book blogger.

Essentially it's the story Kate, who is grieving the loss of her friend Elizabeth (of the title) who kept a journal throughout her life, which was cut short after a plane crash, leaving her husband a widower with young children.

In her will, Elizabeth leaves her journals to Kate, mentioning that she will have the sensitivity to decide what to do with them.

I found the novel confronting in the beginning. As Kate was reflecting and processing her friend's passing, it was hard not to draw parallel comparisons to your own life and consequently forcing me as the reader to consider my own mortality. For this reason I found myself feeling rather depressed at times and reluctant to pick up the book.

What I did enjoy - whilst trying to bat aside that heavy feeling - was the sense or theme of identity Kate was battling or searching for within herself and only just discovering about her friend by reading Elizabeth's journals.

Two marriages are also observed between the pages of the novel and the pages of Elizabeth's journals, that sparked much discussion during the read-along. I enjoyed the fact that the two main female characters (Elizabeth & Kate) and their respective husbands weren't perfect, nor were they ever completely or fully characterised or revealed in the book. The author didn't spoon feed the reader every little tidbit and then tie a bow on it.

The reader was not given every journal entry we may have wished to have read (bummer) and although the 'big' answer to the mystery was provided at the end, subtle consequences and outcomes were left open. I appreciated this as it's more realistic and in keeping with life, although some readers prefer to have their novels delivered on a silver platter with every little thread tied up at the end. What type of reader are you? I loathe a completely ambiguous ending!

I've also got to comment on the cover, I absolutely adored it! It's not entirely a soft cover or hard cover but somewhere in between. The cover protrudes over the pages a little to protect them, and it's just a gorgeous and beautiful book to hold in your hands.

Since reading The Unfinished Journals of Elizabeth D, I have purchased a fountain pen in readiness to begin a travel journal. Was I influenced by Elizabeth or would I have done the same anyway? Who's to know... All in all, a good read.

An incredible read about friendship, marriage and the responsibility of both.½

This review is divided into 3 parts (it was for a read along, thank you to the publisher for providing the book). Please note there are **spoilers**.

Week 1
Once I opened this book, I already knew that something bad had happened to this Elizabeth D – why else would she leave her journals unfinished? The beautiful cover of the book (a picnic basket left on a bench on a verandah) was also slightly ominous. (Off topic, this is one of the most beautifully designed books I’ve read for some time – beautiful embossed swirls, lovely fold out covers with the blurb and author information. Well done Lisa White for the cover design!) The book opens talking about someone called Kate, her husband Chris and her two children, James and Piper. It delves into Kate and her family’s life straightaway and we need to work out how these people relate to the mysterious Elizabeth D. We find out quite quickly that Elizabeth D is dead (in a plane crash in New York, shortly before 9/11) and Kate and family are en route to her widower’s house to pick up her journals.

This opened up numerous questions for me. Why a plane crash that was soon overshadowed by the events of September 11, 2001? Is that symbolic of Elizabeth’s life – to be overshadowed? Why is Kate, Elizabeth’s friend to have the journals and not her husband or children at a later date?

Kate and Chris are on their way to an island, where Chris is working from home and Kate reads the journals. The narrative becomes entwined between Kate’s life and Elizabeth’s past. Questions are asked about what is the ‘proper’ role as a mother (work, don’t work) and how to deal with grief.

The book took me a little while to get into, as I needed to get the characters straight in my head and who fit in where. As I read more, I enjoyed the relaxed pace of Kate’s days on the island and reading about the Elizabeth the readers don’t know, but the other characters find…well, out of character.

I must admit that I haven’t put the book down to wait for next week – I’ve continued reading because I can’t wait to read more about Elizabeth.

Week 2
Back again for Week 2 of this readalong and I have a confession to make – I’ve already skipped ahead and finished the book. The part we’re discussing today (pages 137 through to 272) is where the book became really interesting for me.

Why did it become interesting? For starters, I think Kate really came into her own as a character and stopped being the vehicle for Elizabeth’s journals. I think the symbolism of Kate smashing the lock of the trunk containing the journals helped to delineate her from Elizabeth further. By smashing the lock, she’s also destroying the part of her life that Elizabeth represented – the happy stay at home mums.

Motherhood also plays a big role in this section. While Kate has previously felt that Elizabeth’s life revolved around her children and that her only role was to be a mother, we now know that to be false. Elizabeth really enjoyed her work in graphic design and was somewhat resentful at having to give it up (as well as college to care for her dying mother). Elizabeth has Kate questioning whether she wants to either have another child or to return to her work as a chef. It’s not a decision that can be made easily – not for Kate or anyone.

I really enjoyed learning about how Elizabeth and Dave met – the grieving widower we first met appears quite different to the aspiring golf champion. The juxtaposition shows just how much grief can change us, in addition to giving up something you love for someone you love.

Kate’s paranoia (consciousness?) about terror attacks and diseases also starts to become more prominent. Her insistence on the children washing and showering after touching the rabbits is overkill, and even Chris, her husband notices. Is it just the jumpiness of a post 9/11 world where everyone was looking at backpacks suspiciously or is there something more personal going on? 9/11 was probably the first event in Kate’s life where she would have felt directly threatened by events beyond her control. As a mother, she naturally feels protective towards her children, but where do you draw the line? What is worth worrying about and what isn’t? I think Kate’s recurrent thoughts about her family being threatened show just how protective she is as a mother, as well as capturing the essence of those times really well.

There were some great light moments in this section too – loved how Elizabeth called 911 when she dropped the thermometer! This also shows Elizabeth’s fierce love for her child, even though she doubts it sometimes. Also her love for Dave, even though she feels bitterly the way he disappeared before they were married. Was her trip to Joshua Tree payback for that?

Week 3
My thoughts on finishing this book were initially that I should have guessed the ending! There were so many hints sprinkled through the first and second sections that Elizabeth was a good candidate for cancer. Her mother (and aunt too I think) died relatively young from cancer, she had the abnormal Pap smear – all signs that she was likely to have an inheritable BRCA mutation. I am really kicking myself for not working it out!

I found it amazing that Elizabeth didn’t tell Dave about her diagnosis. Going through probable metastatic cancer with a poor prognosis is hell, let alone doing it alone. Why did she keep it to herself? It must have been an incredible burden. Was it Dave’s reaction (or lack of one) to the abnormal test results previously? Did Elizabeth think he’d disappear again? What about the likelihood of passing the mutation on to her children – shouldn’t they be allowed to know the truth?

That brings us on to Dave. He really thought that Elizabeth died on the way to a rendezvous with a lover. Is the truth more painful to bear – that Elizabeth refused to divulge the truth about her health? Does that show that Elizabeth didn’t trust Dave or that she loved him so much she was willing to save him pain? It’s an interesting conundrum. Which would you choose?

Kate’s determination to tell Dave the truth about what happened to Elizabeth seemed to drive a wedge between her and her husband, Chris. As it turned out that Dave was already discovering the truth without the aid of the journals, did she really need to? I think that she did. Kate had a firm sense that justice and loyalty to Elizabeth should be done, almost at any cost. The ending, where Kate comes home to Chris, gives us an inkling that everything may just turn out okay for them.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and analysis during the readalong. While I’m not a mother, I could emphasise with Kate about how scary the world was post 9/11 and I really felt that Nichole Bernier captured that sense of unease and wariness. The theme of women having ‘multiple lives’ also resonated strongly – women these days are expected to be mum, career superwoman, lover, fashion plate, tech savvy, chef extraordinaire…the list goes on. (I believe it is similar for men too!) We can’t be everything – Kate is forced to face the truth herself – she can’t be the Best Mum, Best Wife and Best Chef. All we can do is what we believe is best for ourselves and our loved ones.

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Kate and Elizabeth’s friendship began after meeting in a suburban mother’s group. Bonding over the trials of juggling parenting, career ambitions and marriage, they traded favours and confidences but Kate learns she never really knew Elizabeth at all when she is left her journals after her tragic death.
“I’m leaving them to her because she’s fair and sensitive and would know what should be done with them, and ask that she start at the beginning.”

Kate’s reluctance to read Elizabeth’s journals soon gives way to curious fascination as the diaries reveal Elizabeth’s heartbreaks, anxieties and regrets – a dead sister, a dysfunctional mother, artistic dreams stifled, a difficult marriage. Elizabeth was not the uncomplicated women Kate judged her to be but instead someone who hid her private pain from those who presumed to know her best.
Bernier slowly peels back the layers of her characters and their relationships through Elizabeth’s journal entries and Kate’s reflections about them. Kate’s marriage has its secrets of its own, she knows Chris is hiding something but is not sure if it is just the occasional cigarette or something more serious. Kate is also hiding her anxieties stemming from the death of Elizabeth that was swiftly followed by the tragic events of 9/11.

Kate and Elizabeth are reminders that people are always more complex than they allow you to see. Both of the women in The Unfinished Journals of Elizabeth D are realistically flawed, struggling with their roles as individuals as well as wives, mothers. We never actually meet Elizabeth, who has died a few months before the novel begins, so we rely on her diaries, and Kate’s analysis, to learn about who she was. As Kate works her way chronologically through the journals as asked, she expects to find Elizabeth was in the midst of an affair at her death but not even the journals reveals all.
Kate comes across as cold and self involved at times but Bernier allows her the space to assess her own life and grow from what she learns about Elizabeth. I related to Kate’s anxieties for her family, it’s something I struggle with and not something I try hard to conceal. Kate also made me consider my own friendships and how honest the intimacies we share are.

A read that is sure to inspire some moments of self reflection, The Unfinished Journals of Elizabeth D is a thought provoking, poignant novel about the secrets we keep from others and ourselves.½

I don't think that I understood the message. Was it: don't judge other people based on their appearance, don't trust anyone, life is short so appreciate it, you never really know someone...? My mom gave me this book, so I read it because I love my mother and didn't want to hurt her feelings, but I really think that maybe I am the wrong audience for this book. I am a mother, I was a wife, but I am also one cynical, jaded b**ch...So, just half a meh from me....

This wasn't the right book for me and I'm probably not the right target audience. I found the story predictable and the characters flat. I wish I had more to say about it, but I was just very underwhelmed by the book.½