Reviews

The Adventures of Pebble Beach has been getting great reviews. Here are some of them:

“Pebble’s inner dialog is the key to this book being a fantastic read…”
Review by Mary Nale, editor of Attune Magazine

Here’s what Mary has to say:
“This is a woman’s story, no doubt about it. This is Barbara’s first novel and it’s so damned believable! Pebble’s inner dialog is the key to this book being a fantastic read.
Pebble could be you and she could be me.
Pebble lives in Copenhagen but she’s originally from the US, she has two sons and she’s recently divorced. She’s almost 45 and she’s struggling with the very same things every single woman has struggled with.”
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5 Stars on Goodreads
“I just finished this very, very cool book (and I usually don’t say that about books).

I’ve read more than a few of the author’s books before and highly recommend them if you seek a “how to fix your life by fixing you” guide. But because the other books are very practical, but fun and accessible, I was curious to see how she’d do in the fiction genre. She did well indeed.

The story works, the characters are realistic and just as fucked up as you or me. It’s NOT a sermon it’s a story that has something to say. I literally just finished the book now, and all I can say is go get your own copy… You’ll be reading it again and again.

I already miss Pebble (main character), because she’s as lost as real people are but there’s hope without the cheesy over the top drama you usually get.

Read it!” by Marie Als
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“This book hit me on all levels – mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. It made me laugh, it made me cry …”

Review by Bonnie Cehovet Jan. 31, 2014

Bonnie writes:
“I am definitely a fan of Barbara Berger’s work! In “The Adventures of Pebble Beach” (a book that she wrote in 1987), Berger moves into the genre of fiction … which happens to be a great way to get her point across! Her heroine is Pebble Beach, a newly divorced woman in her mid-40’s, trying to raise two teenage sons while struggling to forge a career for herself as a copywriter. She has a tendency to be attracted to the wrong man, is dealing with issues of insecurity and low self-confidence, is not at ease with the aging process, and is terrified that she will not be able to support herself and her two sons.

Both her professional and personal misadventures are issues that single women over forty can identify with. How Pebble handles these misadventures is presented in a realistic, yet humorous manner. Her rather distant father, her “from another generation” mother, and her quick on the uptake uncle form background while they help move the story forward.

Pebble grows personally and professionally in this book, with the help of her therapist. (A therapist who by the end of the book is making her own little life changes!). I love that Pebble has this running internal conversations … don‘t we all have them! I can see myself in her … and I have about twenty years on her!
This book hit me on all levels – mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. It made me laugh, it made me cry … and it brought back internal scenes that I have been able to move on from, but that I see as universal issues. It’s all good. Some of the things that we face in life are the same things that Pebble is facing – low self-esteem, relationships that do not work (but that we keep being drawn back to), poor communications (with self and others), and living up to the expectations of others. Life has a tendency to get complicated, after all!

The background of the book is Copenhagen, where Pebble lives. It was quite interesting to read the little tidbits about the city, and socializing within the city. Pebble’s professional life takes her into the sphere of some major players … where she goes from being ostracized to … well, you have to read the book to find that out!

A very good read on its own … and an excellent resource for figuring out how to deal with life!”

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“The book makes you laugh, cry and think…”
Review from a Danish weekly magazine

“A SINGLE LIFE SEEN FROM INSIDE Are you the type that is attracted to the wrong men – and do you do the most insane things to keep your relationships with them anyway? Are you terrified by the thought of being an old, wrinkled raisin that no man will ever want? And are you – once in a while – just a little hungry after sex? Yes? Well then you will really be able to identify with Pebble Beach. She is in her mid-40s, newly divorced, and mother of two teenage boys. She is struggling to make a career for herself as a copywriter. At the same time she’s trying – using all the tricks of the game – to make it as a single woman. Or in reality she’s trying to find a new man – but in fact it’s really going rather poorly on all fronts. “The Adventures of Pebble Beach” was written by Barbara Berger, the woman who’s written more than 10 self-help books so among other things, the reader closely follows Pebble Beach as she goes through an intense therapy process in her search to find herself. The book makes you laugh, cry and think as well. It touches on themes like addictive relationships, low self-esteem, alcoholism and poor communication in an entertaining yet serious tone. A good and informative book for singles – and for those who don’t understand single women!”
~ Bibi, Danish weekly magazine Søndag

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“The real value of The Adventures of Pebble Beach is that you learn and gain insight without even being aware of it…”

Review by South African Doctor and motivational teacher Rene Augustyn

Rene writes: “I finished reading your book last night. I found this book dynamic, intense, stimulating and a real depiction of the complicated lives we all tend to create for ourselves. Pebble only took her power back after reaching a saturation point, a point where she mastered her ‘fear of loss’.

It is astounding to read how her compulsive desire to please positioned herself in mortal danger. You succeeded extremely well with your depiction of her mental blindness and inability to identify individuals or situations that added very little or no value to her life. Most of us tend to see only what we want to see in others. This goes for everything else in life. You brilliantly displayed the horrific price Pebble paid before she woke up to her real potential. I loved how you shared her self-talk and futile attempts to make sense of the games that she became embroiled in.

What I found enlightening and disturbing is that you will find a Pebble drama in every building, home or office that you observe when you look out of your window. You will without doubt discover the Pebble Beach in yourself when you turn away from the window and look in a mirror.

Your subliminal ability to leave your reader with a question in his mind about his own compulsive and often obsessive behaviour in certain areas of his life gives this book longevity. It will be an idiot that reads this book and then sends it off to a second hand book shop. I recommend that we as readers take Pebble Beach off the shelf when we find ourselves struggling and straining to make sense of anything or anyone. This amazing book will then remind us once again where we allowed ourselves to get sucked in by illusions created in our futile minds that might once again return to our old and outdated software that we operated on historically. (Habitual reaction Patterns).

The real value of The Adventures of Pebble Beach is that you learn and gain insight without even being aware of it. You become so embroiled by Pebble’s adventures that you fail to grasp that you are at the same time busy with a purification process while you load wisdom and insight into your sub-conscious archives.”
~ Doctor Rene Augustyn, South Africa http://eagleman6788.wordpress.com/