Dream When You're Feeling Blue

I found this to be quite a good book, despite not being particularly interested in life in war-time America. Berg's Heaney family seems to be largely realistic representations and as such provided quite a bit of interest to this reader. I think the book was probably well researched - perhaps too well - at times it seemed as though we were being given a history lesson! I continue to enjoy Ms Berg's reading and I always take the audiobook option. In this book she even did Irish and English accents, with the Irish voice being the more believable.

I've read Elizabeth Berg before and wasn't overly impressed. This book, however, might have changed my mind. Dream When You're Feeling Blue describes the loves, emotions and lives of three sisters during WWII in such a way that you feel transported back to that time. There is independent, yet traditional Kitty trying to sort out and accept her emotions. There is Louise, devoted and mature. Unfortunately, the third sister, Tish, was a woefully underdeveloped character.

50 pages into this book I was sure I knew how it would end, who wouldn't make it home from the war and who each sister would marry. But Berg took me off guard. I was moved and saddened by the surprise, but appropriate, ending.

I'm not ready to rush out and read everything show more Berg has ever written, but I will consider her books the next time I find myself looking for a light-hearted and quick read. show less

I thought it was very good book right up until the ending. Suddenly it jumped a couple of years ahead for a chapter, and then 60 years ahead. All to tie up what happened to the characters. I think she should have just ended the book before that, or wrote a sequel to flesh it out. Discounting the ending, I enjoyed the book very much. It provided a lot of food for thought about what happened to the women who worked in the defense plants after the men came home.

Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg; (5*)

I think that perhaps this is my favorite Berg. I loved this book.
Kitty lives with her five brothers and sisters in a small house in Chicago in the 1940's. She is waiting for the day her boyfriend, Julian, comes home from the war. But other things are happening in their lives. Her sister's unexpected announcement, one of her brothers does something drastic for the war effort, and Kitty meets another man that could change her destiny forever.
Although some people have complained that the book is slow I savored the slowness. It took me back to another time when people weren't in such a hurry and did the best they could with what they had. Also I noticed in the acknowledgments that Berg show more had talked to her relatives and other WWII veterans so I felt the book was well researched. This is a lovely glimpse of days gone by.
And yes, I love this novel ..... even though both of Kitty's fiances end up marrying someone else and she ends up a spinster. I think she found happiness in her life. show less

Not my favorite of her novels. Don't get me wrong; I LOVE her style, her voice, her characters, and the way she writes. I love WHAT she writes, time and again!
The setting in this novel was very realistic in the beginning and middle. what happened during the war was spot-ON, and the characters were amazing. the research the author did for this time-period made me SO happy!
but... the ending was all wrong. there was NO WAY someone would make the decision one of the sisters did, not in real life.. no matter what!! I just don't think that could/would happen. Sorry... I mean, these sisters really loved each other, no matter how much fighting they did, true. But to give up something that means SO MUCH to you, just to make another happy? Even show more to keep them alive...? Nope, I don't think so. Not only would this decision NOT have cleared things up completely, as is seemed to in this novel, but there would have been some residual mental issues. Possibly even bad repercussions!! People have feelings, and a decision like this would have effected everyone, very badly, in the entire family. I don't see how the father allowed it, and no one saw through her reasoning!
The way the sister made everyone go along with her decision was completely left out of the book, as well. Possibly, IMHO, because there's no way she could have made everyone else go along with it, irregardless. NO argument would have been enough. None. --And then, 60 years were skipped; NOT FAIR, Mrs/ Berg!!
I do still recommend this novel, for all those who love this era, or would love to learn more about it. But when you read this novel, for goodness sakes, bring a box of kleenex! I teared up off and on throughout the entire thing. WOW, so heartfelt and sad, but wonderful.... until the ending. lol show less

This book was fine. It tells the story of an Irish-American family living in Chicago during World War II. It's essentially a novel of the homefront, and in parts, it was really engaging. But in others, it was heavy-handed and awkward, and I found the ending just so odd and off-putting, that I finished it dissatisfied. Overall, though, it's not a bad read. And it's another hardcover off my shelf that I can now purge :)

Dream When You're Feeling Blue is a story about three sisters doing their best to survive being left at home during World War II. Kitty, the eldest, writes to her steady boyfriend, Julian, while her sister Louise writes to Julian's best friend Michael, who proposed just as he was leaving for the Army. And their youngest sister, Tish, writes to just about every gentleman she meets at the USO dances she loves. Kitty struggles with both her devotion to Julian and her decision to work at a defense job helping to assemble airplanes as everyone at home struggles to support the war effort.

I have to say, I really enjoyed this one. It's a light read, but it's a glimpse into what wartime looked like for those who weren't on the front lines. All show more of Kitty's family members are affected in their own way, and the stories told here remind me of those I've heard in person about coping during the war. Kitty is an independent little thing, and her struggles to find herself and determine how she wants to live her life really strike home with me.

I have to mention the ending, though: you're either going to love it or hate it, because it comes out of nowhere. It definitely didn't register the first time through, and I had to go back and re-read the last two chapters several times before it sunk in. Having read other reviews, I think I'm in the minority in my appreciation of the ending -- some have mentioned that they believe the last two chapters are out of character for Kitty, but I do think it follows what Berg intended. show less