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stephtherose_'s review against another edition
3.0
Prose was pretty but not really my thing. Also hit a littttle too close to home with the whole ‘virus’ thing…
misschelle007's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
shmarvie's review against another edition
5.0
This story is nothing short of wonderful. The way KTW writes this story is very dreamlike, which only makes sense with the title/synopsis, but it’s all the more reason why this story works so well. I believe it to be very on theme with the story she was telling.
There’s not in-depth character analysis and so maybe you don’t quite connect with the characters as much as you would in something else- that doesn’t make them any less real. I know people have complained about this so i wanted to mention it. You receive just enough for things to make sense- why they dreamt the things they dreamt when they fell to this epidemic. I don’t want to spoil so I won’t say much here, but I will say it’s very smart and clever!
The story bounces around from multiple characters, sometimes connecting characters in such a genius way that is exciting to read, just like you happen to hop from one dream to another in your own sleep. While you’re in your dream, you don’t think you’re dreaming (we’ve all had those dream that feel so lifelike it almost discombobulating when you come out of it) and she plays with this with a few characters and I was thoroughly impressed.
Also there have been comments that the story doesn’t wrap up but I found it to quite nicely.
I can’t wait to read this again.
There’s not in-depth character analysis and so maybe you don’t quite connect with the characters as much as you would in something else- that doesn’t make them any less real. I know people have complained about this so i wanted to mention it. You receive just enough for things to make sense- why they dreamt the things they dreamt when they fell to this epidemic. I don’t want to spoil so I won’t say much here, but I will say it’s very smart and clever!
The story bounces around from multiple characters, sometimes connecting characters in such a genius way that is exciting to read, just like you happen to hop from one dream to another in your own sleep. While you’re in your dream, you don’t think you’re dreaming (we’ve all had those dream that feel so lifelike it almost discombobulating when you come out of it) and she plays with this with a few characters and I was thoroughly impressed.
Also there have been comments that the story doesn’t wrap up but I found it to quite nicely.
I can’t wait to read this again.
okjaaaaa's review against another edition
4.0
This book hit a certain spot with me. It’s the perfect mix between Station Eleven and the Night Circus, yet it still manages to be its own incredible and magical thing.
The Dreamers is a cocktail of whimsy, suspense, adventure, science and tangible humans. Written elegantly, warmly and harrowingly. Just like a dream.
A definite new favourite.
The Dreamers is a cocktail of whimsy, suspense, adventure, science and tangible humans. Written elegantly, warmly and harrowingly. Just like a dream.
A definite new favourite.
blaineduncan's review against another edition
4.0
Review originally appeared for The Alabama Take:
https://thealabamatake.com/2019/05/21/the-dreamers-like-sleep-rich-and-beautiful/
How often is it that we hear, even from ourselves, the longing for more rest, more sleep? In my house alone, it’s once a day. In Karen Thompson Walker’s new novel The Dreamers, it is much more about trying to awake.
The Dreamers centers on the fictional, small college town of Santa Lora, California where a mysterious and highly contagious illness causes those under its sway to fall asleep and seemingly stay that way.
The illness begins in the local college dormitory, where not even youthful vigor is a combatant for the virus. It soon spreads quickly and outwardly: the entire town is either infected or affected until the government steps in to quarantine — but not before it puts babies, children, adults, and grandparents into a deep, dreaming sleep. Mai and Matthew, part of the college dorm at the outset, avoid the plague long enough to be of help to their town. Sara and Lilly, whose father always prepared them for the end of times, find those warnings inadequate for girls in their early teens. Ben and Annie fight hard to keep their newborn safe from the infection as desperation creeps into their neighborhood. Rebecca, asleep and hospitalized from the illness, has no idea what’s growing inside of her.
Much like Walker’s previous (and equally as lovely) work The Age of Miracles, she takes a somewhat benign concept and explores the human toll that it would have on a community. (In the case of The Age of Miracles, perhaps more so: in it, the entire world’s rotation begins to slow.) The idea of oversleeping sounds joyous to the overworked, overstressed, and overcaffeinated world in which we live. But what would happen if those we love continued to drowse for weeks and weeks or even years? What happens to us when we sleep, even for a few hours of normal dormancy?
The book also examines the unseen lives that grow within us both in those moments and without — the subconscious and its connection to our pasts and our presents. Here, Walker reckons with how those past and present connections manage the future or if the future manages them. All of the philosophy of the relationship of dreams, reality, past, present, and future can get a little unwieldy, even for a talent like Karen Thompson Walker, and it’s evident that the author is at her best when she enriches with small details: the discontinued, favorite whisky of an older professor he longs for in the end; blooming, adolescent love; the care of our pets; the development of a fetus into a baby in a sleeping mother’s womb; the idea of what it means to be a parent. The Dreamers, also like Walker’s previous novel, likes to look at youth in the face of tragedy — most notably through the point of view of a young, college girl who develops a crush on one of the sole survivors of those who have fallen sick. What does it mean to be normal during times of duress?
The book is equal parts calming and terrifying — part lyric poem and part horror story — and is enough thoroughly mesmerizing. Believe it: The Dreamers, despite its subject matter, is an energetic, shifting page-turner.
It begs us to ask what a dream truly is, what is a dream’s connection to humanity and to reality, all of which are fascinating. In the end, though, those questions don’t quite cause the book to stumble. Instead, Walker’s beautiful, engaging prose paired with a consuming narrative that comforts the notion that some dreams don’t come with final answers.
https://thealabamatake.com/2019/05/21/the-dreamers-like-sleep-rich-and-beautiful/
How often is it that we hear, even from ourselves, the longing for more rest, more sleep? In my house alone, it’s once a day. In Karen Thompson Walker’s new novel The Dreamers, it is much more about trying to awake.
The Dreamers centers on the fictional, small college town of Santa Lora, California where a mysterious and highly contagious illness causes those under its sway to fall asleep and seemingly stay that way.
The illness begins in the local college dormitory, where not even youthful vigor is a combatant for the virus. It soon spreads quickly and outwardly: the entire town is either infected or affected until the government steps in to quarantine — but not before it puts babies, children, adults, and grandparents into a deep, dreaming sleep. Mai and Matthew, part of the college dorm at the outset, avoid the plague long enough to be of help to their town. Sara and Lilly, whose father always prepared them for the end of times, find those warnings inadequate for girls in their early teens. Ben and Annie fight hard to keep their newborn safe from the infection as desperation creeps into their neighborhood. Rebecca, asleep and hospitalized from the illness, has no idea what’s growing inside of her.
Much like Walker’s previous (and equally as lovely) work The Age of Miracles, she takes a somewhat benign concept and explores the human toll that it would have on a community. (In the case of The Age of Miracles, perhaps more so: in it, the entire world’s rotation begins to slow.) The idea of oversleeping sounds joyous to the overworked, overstressed, and overcaffeinated world in which we live. But what would happen if those we love continued to drowse for weeks and weeks or even years? What happens to us when we sleep, even for a few hours of normal dormancy?
The book also examines the unseen lives that grow within us both in those moments and without — the subconscious and its connection to our pasts and our presents. Here, Walker reckons with how those past and present connections manage the future or if the future manages them. All of the philosophy of the relationship of dreams, reality, past, present, and future can get a little unwieldy, even for a talent like Karen Thompson Walker, and it’s evident that the author is at her best when she enriches with small details: the discontinued, favorite whisky of an older professor he longs for in the end; blooming, adolescent love; the care of our pets; the development of a fetus into a baby in a sleeping mother’s womb; the idea of what it means to be a parent. The Dreamers, also like Walker’s previous novel, likes to look at youth in the face of tragedy — most notably through the point of view of a young, college girl who develops a crush on one of the sole survivors of those who have fallen sick. What does it mean to be normal during times of duress?
The book is equal parts calming and terrifying — part lyric poem and part horror story — and is enough thoroughly mesmerizing. Believe it: The Dreamers, despite its subject matter, is an energetic, shifting page-turner.
It begs us to ask what a dream truly is, what is a dream’s connection to humanity and to reality, all of which are fascinating. In the end, though, those questions don’t quite cause the book to stumble. Instead, Walker’s beautiful, engaging prose paired with a consuming narrative that comforts the notion that some dreams don’t come with final answers.
tishywishy's review against another edition
4.0
Much like The Age of Miracles, The Dreamers is a slow, uphill realization that all is not well and how society may crumble apart. Not in the rapid descent into pillaging and violence but how fear and anxiety can make us fall apart on the inside, forcing its way out in how we interact with our loved ones, our neighbours and strangers. A steady creeper story that kept me enthralled til the end.
millylewis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
alexena's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
vonderbash's review against another edition
5.0
I received a copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway.
First off, it’s so beautiful written and I adore the style. It reminded me of The Book Thief.
This was a trip to read in the time of COVID-19. It’s almost like the author predicted the future. Masks, quarantine, unexplained virus, full hospitals, sick doctors and nurses, people claiming it’s all a hoax, people acting like there’s no consequences to being contagious, people doing everything right and still getting sick.
It may seem weird to read something so similar to what’s happening in the world right now, but this story is beautiful, the characters are interesting, and there’s just enough mystery to suck you in.
First off, it’s so beautiful written and I adore the style. It reminded me of The Book Thief.
This was a trip to read in the time of COVID-19. It’s almost like the author predicted the future. Masks, quarantine, unexplained virus, full hospitals, sick doctors and nurses, people claiming it’s all a hoax, people acting like there’s no consequences to being contagious, people doing everything right and still getting sick.
It may seem weird to read something so similar to what’s happening in the world right now, but this story is beautiful, the characters are interesting, and there’s just enough mystery to suck you in.
mllejoyeuxnoel's review against another edition
5.0
Walker’s writing is so mesmerizing that finishing this book is itself like waking from a dream. I get lost in her prose and lose all sense of time. She makes it easy to miss my stop on the train because I am so engrossed in her poignant descriptions of this life. A beautiful book.