Dream When You're Feeling Blue: A Novel | 
|  | | | Title: | Dream When You're Feeling Blue: A Novel | | Author: | Elizabeth Berg | | Publisher: | Ballantine Books | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 29 January, 2008 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0345487540 / 9780345487544 | | List Price: | $14.00 | | You Save: | $2.80 | | Amazon Price: | $11.20 | |
 This book is also available, brand-new, from 3rd-party marketplace sellers at Amazon.com, from $7.10. |
The HTML code below can be pasted onto your web-site, your MySpace page, or blog - or any number of similar places - to create a link to this page: If, instead of a text link, you'd like to create a link to this page which will display the book cover, if it's available, then the code below will do exactly that:
Check for the same book at these other US book sites:
• [ Abebooks ] • [ Alibris ] • [ Barnes & Noble ] • [ Half.com ] • [ Powells ] … or check UK bookstores
| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Berg takes us to Chicago at the time of World War II in this wonderful story about three sisters, their lively Irish family, and the men they love.
As the novel opens, Kitty and Louise Heaney say good-bye to their boyfriends Julian and Michael, who are going to fight overseas. On the domestic front, meat is rationed, children participate in metal drives, and Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller play songs that offer hope and lift spirits. And now the Heaney sisters sit at their kitchen table every evening to write letters–Louise to her fiancé, Kitty to the man she wishes fervently would propose, and Tish to an ever-changing group of men she meets at USO dances. In the letters the sisters send and receive are intimate glimpses of life both on the battlefront and at home. For Kitty, a confident, headstrong young woman, the departure of her boyfriend and the lessons she learns about love, resilience, and war will bring a surprise and a secret, and will lead her to a radical action for those she loves. The lifelong consequences of the choices the Heaney sisters make are at the heart of this superb novel about the power of love and the enduring strength of family.
From the Hardcover edition.
| Other Items You May Enjoy:
Browse Books From These Related Subjects:
Customer Reviews:
• I Have To Vent! 28 May, 2008
This was my first book by Berg and I do intend to read another if for no other reason then to see if she pulls another "Dallas" type ending and totally ruins it for the reader in the last two chapters with a "Bobby in the shower" type finale. I loved 95% of the book--the descriptions, the letters, the family dynamics--even though many wrote that they felt those parts were too wordy or too saccarine sweet. WWII has always held a certain fascination for me and that whole time period seemed romantic and glamourous while at the same time, a period of great sacrifice. I do think Berg did a good job capturing that and made me see that life as Rosie the Riveter wasn't as great as the posters made it out to appear.
But oh, that ending. I have to admit it...I felt like I had been kicked in the gut. I was listening to it on CD in my car and when I got to the last two chapters I just sat in the driveway stunned.
How Berg could make her readers believe that Kitty could give up the love of her life and how Hank could just step in to Michael's shoes is ridiculous. I agree with one reviewer...Berg must have had her publisher standing behind her tapping his/her foot on this one. It reeks! It's almost like incest in a way. YUCK! I am embarrassed that I had recommended this book to friends when I was half-way through it. I feel so cheated and unfullfilled.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1UOJ2N9TBDKRH
• Not Good 16 June, 2008
There's a difference between a novel and a story. A story is a chronological overview of things that happened. A novel is an in-depth look at characters, lives, and events. This book was a story. I never once felt connected to any of the characters. And besides that, I read the last chapter over and over again, trying to figure out what just happened. And when I figured it out, I was in disbelief. What a horrible ending. I want to spare you: Don't read this book. It's not worth your time.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1MYMFU1XWV
• Pointless Drudgery Read. Really. 21 June, 2008
This book was pointless. And it took a long time getting there.
I was really, really disappointed because the back cover made it seem like this was going to be a great, heartwarming tale of three women on the homefront and the men fighting in the war by using their letters to each other. The back cover lied.
First off, there's really only 1 main character-Kitty-a self-centered, shallow girl (supposedly she's a mid-twenties woman, but you'd never know it by how she thinks and acts). Kitty was a pretty unsympathetic character, who whined through most of the book. I was sick and tired of her attitude by the twentieth page, but thought maybe the author was going to have her grow up and mature through the book. Nope. She was exactly the same through the whole thing, though the author SAID she had changed in the last ten pages of the book. But,no, she hadn't. The only changes Kitty went through was that the home and family she'd been dreaming about through the entire book suddenly weren't what she wanted.
The real problem with this book was that it didn't have a story. The author tried really hard to give you the feeling of the forties (constantly giving the names of certain fashions, using slang (though some of the slang was more fifties than forties), giving the names of popular songs, etc) the problem was, she tried so hard it went over the top and felt really fake. I mean, how many times can you name the latest blouse's style name?
The book just plodded along with no real purpose for most of the book. The author tried to interject several modern thoughts and issues into the book which just didn't jell with the times. And a lot of things just didn't make any sense. For instance, Kitty goes to get a job at a defense factory. It's made out to be a horrible thing, with neighbors thinking she's 'fast', with no men giving up their seat to her because she's wearing pants, with the men at the factory harrassing her in various ways, etc. The thing is...women were enouraged to go to work in the factories because it freed up men to fight. They weren't thought less of! I'm sure there was some incidences of things like that happening, but most of the factories tried to accomodate women-starting up fabulous day cares and things of that nature. Women workers were thought of as patriots, doing their part on the homefront-talk to a grandparent, they'll tell you.
Kitty complained about the factory work for the entire book until suddenly, in the last few pages she loved the work and wanted to become a career woman. Huh? She also decided that she didn't really like children and didn't want any of her own-something she tells her new boyfriend, who, up to that point had been the radical voice in the book (he being a conscientious objector). The boyfriend does a complete about face and decides he wants a traditional home and family. It was very odd. And then, to top it off......spoiler here!.....the boyfriend suddenly marries Kitty's umarried sister who just had a baby. I actually had to go back and re-read several pages to figure out that one. It still eludes me.
The whole book was a mess. When I close a good book, I do it with a smile and feeling that I've taken in something worthwhile. When I closed this one, I couldn't help but think of the hours of my life I could never get back....Skip this one.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A9JTNN888G1IE
• Interesting And Inspiring! 31 May, 2008
What a sad story but so tragically beautiful, enhanced by Elizabeth Berg's lyrical and vividly descriptive style of writing. The characters are well-developed and the depth of sisterly love in this story is palpable. How difficult it must be for military families in time of war...a poignant reminder to appreciate and to be grateful to those who sacrifice their lives for the freedom and liberty we must not take for granted.
I found the ending of this story confusing, and had to re-read the final two chapters several times before I fully understood what had transpired. I would have liked this story better had it ended differently.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AINRTJ8VUFDAV
• In The Mood... 18 June, 2008
Good read with lots of informative history of this era. The author seemed to rush towards the ending and then all of a sudden, there it was, leaving the reader wondering if a chapter got missed. The ending didn't seem to fit without a bit more story.
- Reviewed by customer ID: ADF1AQLNIZK5L
|
