Customer Reviews

Dream Journal

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4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dream Journal takes on two tough subjects: a mother's fatal illness and the two-headed monster, teenage alienation/ rebellion. And the result, in well-written prose, successfully delivers suspense, tears and joy. The story centers on Livy the summer before her seventeenth birthday. She is a bright, responsible girl whose mother is dying inside the home. Her father, a football coach, spends much of his time at the mother's bedside. But sometimes he leaves the house and Livy becomes the reluctant caretaker. She is lonely and isolated until she opens the door to her best friend. Together they explore life without adults, make new friends, and harvest the consequences of poorly thought-out choices. The readers are led into Livy's world in her Dream Journal, which is her repository of hope, dreams and reality. It is in her journal that her heart opens to her mother, father and self. The result is a page turner, every word a well-crafted pearl. Bravo Karen Halvorsen Schreck!

Livy Moore is sixteen years old, and facing something no sixteen-year-old should have to face.

Her mother is dying.

Upon learning this, upon hearing for certain that it is inevitable, Livy shuts herself off from her friends, from her family, and from her own life.

Recording it all in her journal, Livy shares with readers the powerful emotions involved in love, loss, and life. She's forced out of her hiding place, forced to confront the reality that hiding from life will not make it all go away and will not make it any easier.

DREAM JOURNAL is a painful, honest, and wonderfully written story that should not be missed. Populated by realistic characters and full of the emotions that make Livy's story real, it's a sad, hopeful story, and one readers will not soon forget.

Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce

This story of a 16-year-old girl working through her mother's battle with cancer treated some deep themes and intense emotional experiences with thoughtful care and sensitivity. It's full of beautiful images, memorable scenes, and very believable characters. I would highly recommend Dr. Schreck-Halvorson's work.

Dream Journal is a emotional story of how people deal with grief. The story opens as Livy, our main character, recounts her dream in the journal her mother gave her. Although Livy's mother is in critical condition and is very close to dying, Livy's dad swears her to secrecy so that no one will know the the pain Moore's are going through. People deal with loss and grief in a variety of different ways, it just so happens, Livy's father's way of dealing with her mother's cancer is by acting like everything is fine. As for Livy, she hides. She hides from her mother, her father, and her best friend. Eventually, Ruth, Livy's best friend, looses interest in Livy leaving her alone with a group of trouble-making seniors she barely even knows. Even though Dream Journal is a well written sad story of loss and goodbyes, it was not a very enjoyable book. First off, I began to immediately dislike Ruth for abandoning Livy in her time of need-Ruth was suddenly too busy chasing boys and getting into trouble. Livy also started associating with a group of party-hardy teenagers who jeopardize their chances of escaping small-town life with a thought-to-be harmless prank. To me, Livy's personality was numb like the pain she was feeling, so naturally the book is pretty depressing. I cried-which I rarely ever do-and I had bad dreams while reading it. The ending of Dream Journal was predictable, as was Ruth's misfortune.

Recommendation: While it was a very dramatic and a painfully honest story, I don't feel like Dream Journal is a "enjoyable" book to read; of course it probably wasn't mean to be. Because I feel only so-so about this book-mainly because I don't like depressing plots or themes-I can only recommend to older teens who can relate to the loss, grief, and confusion Livy goes through.

For ages 16+.
(Includes: sexual content/references, language)

I read this book by the lake last summer and I loved it. It made me laugh and cry and think about my own stories. Loved the characters. Could totally relate.

This is a beautiful book about the pain of losing someone you love, in the midst of all the challenges and choices young adults face. Livy's inner life, her emotional swings, her expectations for herself and her recurring confusion and disappointment with herself ring true at every step. Her relationship with her mother is eloquently and poignantly drawn.I cried my way through the ending.

Award-winning writer Karen Halvorsen Schreck hops between heavyweight emotion and typical adolescent angst when relaying the multi-faceted story of 16-year-old Olivia's adventures over the summer prior to her junior year in high school. On the surface, Schreck's story reads just like any other young adult novel --- filled with the typical talk about boys, fitting in at school, teens rebelling against authority, and so on. What makes it different, however, is that the protagonist's mother is dying of breast cancer, her father doesn't quite know how to handle it, and none of the characters are exactly comfortable facing their separate or collective realities --- let alone talking about them.

When Livy first learns of her mother's illness, the finality of the situation doesn't register. Over the next two years, as she watches her mother grow progressively weaker, she still doesn't (or won't) own up to what's actually going on, preferring instead to bury her nose in books and act as though everything's perfectly normal. Then, just as her sophomore year ends and her mother languishes blankly in the hospital bed in the living room full-time, Livy finally begins to acknowledge that things aren't going to get better, and in fact, they're growing much worse --- fast.

In response, Livy starts going out more with her friends, drinking more and flouting her father's rules. She develops a wild crush on a one-dimensional football player named Charlie and hangs out with him and his friends at Goodlove Forest Preserve, where they swim, flirt and carry on, as horny teenagers are apt to do. In a somewhat hastily drawn side-plot, the group encounters their first real catastrophe when a prank involving fireworks goes awry, and Ed, the "sensitive boy" figure in the crew, winds up in the hospital with his hands blown to bits. In the end, Ed's hands heal, Livy realizes that Charlie is a selfish dud, and Livy's best friend, Ruth, decides that small-town life is too boring and leaves to live with her aunt in Chicago.

For the most part, these two aspects of the book --- Livy's mother's illness and the effect it has on her family, and Livy's growth into a young woman --- play off each other as they would in life. The gross weight of pending death is offset by the ardor of the teenage journey toward independence and self-realization. There are times, however, when some readers may wish for less of a stark contrast between the two threads, as overly carefree scenes involving skinny dipping ring false against a backdrop of a mother's death and seem too out of place in the presence of such grave thematic elements. Although Livy's mother's death is handled with a delicate yet unflinching honesty, there are a few beautifully drawn moments that could have been expanded upon.

Nonetheless, DREAM JOURNAL is a gallant effort about surviving loss, by a noteworthy writer.

--- Reviewed by Alexis Burling

Dream Journal is compelling from beginning to end. The author draws you close into Livy's world - madly gone awry as the realities of her mother's terminal illness hit home. As Livy copes and doesn't, you find yourself living in this dream journal with her. I was touched in ways I did not expect, and was surprised at how this story helped me process some of my own. A great book for teens and adults alike. Thank you to Ms. Schreck for a book that gives much more than a compelling read.

Here is what my wife, a pastor in the United Methodist Church, has to say about Karen Halverson Schreck's new book:
"I am an adult, a pastor, and a friend to many adults and teens who have had a parent die. When I read "Dream Journal" I had an experience of the painful realities of a family going through illness and death. The emotions, dialogue, relationships that are a part of this story are real and at times as hard to read as they are to live. Thank you to the author for facing all of it and writing with such courage and honesty. I have already bought four copies to share with friends. It is a gift to be able to share such a poignant and good book."

I'm a little sleepy this morning because I couldn't put down this book last night. It compelled me to finish reading it. I'm at a loss for words. I'm choking up even as I write this. I'm not certain how to respond other than to say that the book moved me deeply. "Dream Journal" is not just for teens. Nor it it exclusively for individuals who have experienced the loss of a loved one. I was moved by the familial relationships, and the role of close friends during times of trial. I'm going to call my mother right now, just to let her know how much she means to me.