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Read Dream When You're Feeling Blue (2007)

Dream When You're Feeling Blue (2007)

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Rating
3.5 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
1400065100 (ISBN13: 9781400065103)
Language
English
Publisher
random house

Dream When You're Feeling Blue (2007) - Plot & Excerpts

Another Elizabeth Berg book-I am really on a streak! It seems as if when I go to the library and I don't really have a book in mind to read-I can wander over to the 'B's' and she always has a book on the shelf. This novel is about the Heaney family during World War II. The Heaney family has 6 children: 3 girls and 3 boys. The book details the struggles of the war at home, saying goodbye to the men they love who are fighting, and the constant letter writing back and forth to one another. It was interesting to read about the expectations of the families at home and how united the whole country was behind the war. It was striking to read how different it is now with our current war going on. Although the Iraq war is difficult and unpleasant to think about, it doesn't seem to be the main focus of life. I hear more about gas prices and the economy. This certainly wasn't true back in WWII, the war effected and was central to everything. This book brought up the complexities of the war-it really made me feel the strain when the men were out fighthing but then I could also get sucked into the more trival aspects that were happening to the family (the dances the girls went to-their brother getting sick-their brother running away to enlist). I enjoyed this book because I am currently in a class called Gender and Social Change. The book explores the rigid gender roles of the 1940's (the Heaney parents cry when one daugther takes a job in a factory to help with the war effort) and how those roles are challenged and begin to change. I kept thinking of my Grandma and Grandpa when I read this one, who were both involved with the war. I also liked the book because it talked about the closeness and loyalty these sisters had to each other despite some fights and tears over men and clothes. I am close to my sisters so I could really relate to that. I really didn't like the ending though, it was too abrupt. There had been so much character development and then to suddenly have something improbably switch between them was disappointing. It had a sad ending, but in an unexpected way.Favorite quote:"Believe me next time we will have sandwiches," Margaret had said. "But you've got to try new things; that's the only way you know if something's good. Imagine if Ruth Wakefield had thrown away those Toll House cookies-they were an accident you know! Don't worry, you won't see me making this recipe again; I've given it the Black X. I wouldn't feed it to a Nazi." She stared miserably at another bite on her fork, put it in her mouth, and spoken around it. "Although if I did, we'd probably win the war a lot faster."

Four discs into an 8-disc book, I'm bailing. I gave it a lot of play, because I really like the WWII home front setting, but...This book was TERRIBLE. It had all the character depth and dialogue truth of Nancy Drew (whom I'm not criticizing, because she is a mid-century series character written for children by multiple people), except with an eccchy Greatest Generation gloss. Every character was a stereotype and every speech was some variation on "Gee whillikers" or "It's a bird! It's a plane!" Instead of providing the living skeleton which lets the narrative drape and move over it, the historical research poked through, page after page of jarring, unnatural Facts in Action jutting out of the prose (gee whillikers).Note: I didn't even GET to the ending that so many readers are objecting to, not least because I realized, as an impetus to ejecting the disc, that I legitimately don't care which overseas love interest dies or what the aftermath is. Also, for the reader who liked it because it's like Little Women: yeah, that will happen when you just steal the paper-doll version of the characters and stick 'em in your book. To clarify: Kitty is Jo, Louise is Meg, and Tish is Amy. Think the analogy's bad because there's no Beth? Wrong. Tommy is Beth. Jesus Christ.

What do You think about Dream When You're Feeling Blue (2007)?

Given to me by a friend who was cleaning her bookshelf. She was disappointed with the end of this book. So was I. Up until the last 2 chapters, I really loved it, and loved the glimpse into WWI from the home perspective. Fabulous. However, the last two chapters brought me up short-- not in a "gosh-what-a-twist" kind of way, but in a "What the hell was Berg thinking" kind of way. Louise's actions in the 2nd to last chapter are totally out of character. And if the relationship that Kitty has with her fly-boy is all about honesty and learning to talk to each other, what the heck happened?
—bookczuk

I liked this book. There needs to be a 3 1/2 star rating, because it's somewhere between "liked" and "really liked". I thought the story ended rather abruptly... you got the sudden feeling that the author suddenly tried panning out and giving the whole life perspective when she'd been progressing by days and months before that. The story, then, felt somewhat contrived, and you're left guessing on the main character's thoughts when up until that point they'd been fairly explicitly shared with you. What I really liked was the letters! I thought framing a story around the letters was great, and gave such a personal cast to World War II.
—Angela

I guess I'd really say 2-1/2 stars. A part of what I enjoyed about this book were all the Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois references. Most of the book takes place before my time, but a lot of the things mentioned were still around when I grew up there. Things like Marshall Field’s store with the Walnut Room, Berghoff, The Palmer House, Riverview Park, Peterson’s Ice Cream Parlor and more. I guess its like when you see a movie that was shot in your home town, its just kind of fun to recognize things.The story was ok. Focused around three sisters, so of course there was love, rivalry, laughter, tears, etc etc etc. Of course there was a sensible sister, a more independent, glamourous sister, and a younger sister, basically a flirt. And it was set during the war, so you knew someone was bound to be dead before the end, for realism’s sake. Lots of reading letters to each other from boyfriends and other soldiers they'd met at dances, etc, and promised to write to. Lots of talk of war and rationing and all that kind of thing. I liked parts, I disliked parts. The “twist” in the ending tho, as others have mentioned, was too sudden. The chapter before the last one was one I had to read twice, because it totally confused me, as I guess it was intended to. The last chapter made it more clear, but didn’t make it make more sense. In fact, I read the Readers Guide that was included, hoping for more of an explanation that just wasn’t there. I won’t say more, for the sake of not giving something away to anyone who is reading this book now or in the future, but while a lot of the rest of the book was really researched and meant to be as realistic as possible, that ending didn’t seem realistic to me at all. Not from what went on earlier, and not as easy as it seemed to have happened.
—Lois

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