An interesting book or story means a narration that overwhelms a person, makes a reader live the life of characters, strive to understand their feelings, and feel them along with the characters of a book or a story. Nowadays, there are only few authors who can make a reader feel along with the characters; there are even fewer authors who describe the life as it is without any decoration. In her books, Elizabeth Berg describes a real life; some of her stories are based on her own experience and on her memories from childhood. This makes a reader believe the author and gives the audience the feeling of being a part of the story. This paper is devoted to one of the stories of Elizabeth Berg “The Matchmaker”; the story that was published in her book Ordinary Life in 2002. The paper is aimed at showing the peculiarities of the story; why it is so popular and how it shows our life. It is well-known that every story, every novel, or verse reflects the life and moral standards of its time. The story “The Matchmaker” reflects the peculiarities of the modern time as well.
The main character of the story is Sarah Harris who is eleven years old. Sarah is a nice girl, however, at this age she was stuck between childhood and adolescence; she was trying to find herself in this world. The story begins when a girl decided to make Anna Gunther, a seventy-five-year old woman, fall in love with Artie Miller, a seventy-five-year old neighbor from down the street. She confessed that she was doing that on purpose. The girl wanted to learn the science of love and if it worked, she would go on being a matchmaker at her school. This summer she felt alone because her friends went on vacation somewhere out of the town and Sarah needed something to do. Sarah came up with the idea of becoming a matchmaker not accidentally. She was teaching Anna Gunther English and knew that the woman had nobody, except for her mother. Sarah got acquainted with Mr. Miller fast as well: he helped her to dig her dead turtle. After the accident, Sarah came up with the idea to make them fall in love with each other. When they met, it became clear to Sarah that they already know each other. However, only after this “accidental” meeting Mr. Miller visited Anna Gunther for tea. Sarah regretted about this matchmaking because she missed her lessons with Anna. On the other hand, she saw that Anna Gunther was happy with Artie Miller.
The main idea of the story is matchmaking. However, there are several plots that come along with the love story of two old people: those plots are about Sarah’s feelings as a teenager. The author shows that Sarah has already grown up; she is a matchmaker. On the other hand, she is still a child who plays dolls with one of her friends (although, the girl confessed that Kathy O’Connor could have never become her best friend because she said ridiculous things). The third plot is showing that Sarah is already a little woman because of the boys who wanted her to take off her pants. The point is that in this story the author showed three different sides of the character of one teenage girl who still does not know what to do in life. Perhaps, that is why, she researches water life with her microscope and finds it rather interesting, probably even more interesting that matchmaking.
