A Rita Hayworth look-alike and her sisters keep the home fires burning for young men going off to fight WWII in Berg's nostalgic tale of wartime romance and family sacrifice. Hoping her boyfriend, Julian, will propose before shipping out to the Pacific, beautiful redhead Kitty Heaney discovers not only is she not engaged, but she's enlisted as the delivery person for her sister Louise's engagement ring from Michael, her boyfriend, who has departed for the European front. Distance makes Louise's and Michael's hearts grow fonder while Kitty discovers independence through her job at a bomber factory. As the months go by, Louise learns she is pregnant and Kitty meets an attractive soldier (one of many the girls encounter) at a USO dance. As the young soldiers offer a range of feelings about war from humor to anger, wonder to despair, Berg captures changing attitudes toward working women and single mothers in this sentimental celebration of a bygone era.
I loved loved loved 99.9% of this novel, all except for the last three or so pages! It definitely fed my intense curiosity and fascination with the WWII era--it is an incredibly detailed account of the day-to-day lives of the women on the homefront. It is alternatively funny and heartbreaking. I didn't want this story to end! And in fact, the ending is the only bad thing I can say about this book---it's stunningly awful. So, in true Wendy fashion, I choose to ignore the author's ending of choice and make up my own. With that caveat, this is definitely in my list of best books I've ever read.
2 comments:
This is one of my all time favorite books. I didn't mind the ending--it made the book more authentic.
No no NO! the ending sucked. And it was completely unrealistic. I can say that because you're my mother, we're honest with one another. (heh heh)
But that doesn't change that the book itself is one of my alltime favorites, too! See, we can agree on some things. :)
Post a Comment