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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
"No one is using the word -quarantine-, but Mei looks it up. From the Italian, -quaranta giorni-, forty days. Forty days: the period that ships were once required to wait before entering the port of Venice - time enough, they hoped, for a contagious disease to burn itself out".
--
"A few sick strangers... is only one of a hundred bad stories that must be overlooked every day. To close one's eyes can be an act of survival".
--
"This is how the sickness travels best: through all the same channels as do fondness and friendship and love".
- -
Very vague and mysterious in tone but matches the idea behind the story itself I suppose. A slow burn for sure regardless of how hard-hitting a contagion story is right now.
--
"A few sick strangers... is only one of a hundred bad stories that must be overlooked every day. To close one's eyes can be an act of survival".
--
"This is how the sickness travels best: through all the same channels as do fondness and friendship and love".
- -
Very vague and mysterious in tone but matches the idea behind the story itself I suppose. A slow burn for sure regardless of how hard-hitting a contagion story is right now.
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.75. Reading this 2019 book in 2021 was creepy, and interesting in how it followed the different characters so closely. I enjoyed it. One or two scenes especially got to me and left me deeply crying, I felt so keenly what the characters were going through. I am in awe when authors are able to create that kind of powerful feeling.
This novel, as well as her debut novel, [b:The Age of Miracles|12401556|The Age of Miracles|Karen Thompson Walker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1342487370s/12401556.jpg|17382941] , spawned from a single question; What if? [a:Karen Thompson Walker|5142414|Karen Thompson Walker|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1544817449p2/5142414.jpg] has a distinct style of writing. Her chapters are generally quite short, usually only a page or two. She also tends to use a lot of short sentences rather than ones with lots of clauses and adjectives. However, she is amazing at allowing the reader to see in the character's point of view. You are transported to this world, a realistic world where fantastical events transpire. In "The Dreamers", there is a mysterious illness that falls upon the students at a California college. The small town surrounding campus is soon falling down with the same illness, an illness that puts the victim into a deep sleep. In this comatose-like sleep, the sick are thrown into a world of dreams. This unknown illness wrecks havoc on this sleepy college town.
Karen Thompson Walker introduces us to many different characters, ranging from the college students to children and their parents. She intertwines their story lines effortlessly, not unlike [b:Station Eleven|20170404|Station Eleven|Emily St. John Mandel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1451446835s/20170404.jpg|28098716]. There are a lot of similarities between this book and Mandel's debut novel. However, the ways these women interlace the character's storylines are very different. While Mandel's book is segmented into sections of several chapters within the same storyline, Walker chops up the short chapters with paragraphs from different storylines. Ultimately, Walker brings the character's storylines together more quickly than Mandel did.
I would recommend this book to fans of Station Eleven, those interested in interpretations of dreams, and fans of sci fi and books featuring contagions.
Karen Thompson Walker introduces us to many different characters, ranging from the college students to children and their parents. She intertwines their story lines effortlessly, not unlike [b:Station Eleven|20170404|Station Eleven|Emily St. John Mandel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1451446835s/20170404.jpg|28098716]. There are a lot of similarities between this book and Mandel's debut novel. However, the ways these women interlace the character's storylines are very different. While Mandel's book is segmented into sections of several chapters within the same storyline, Walker chops up the short chapters with paragraphs from different storylines. Ultimately, Walker brings the character's storylines together more quickly than Mandel did.
I would recommend this book to fans of Station Eleven, those interested in interpretations of dreams, and fans of sci fi and books featuring contagions.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
I'm torn between 3 and 4. I enjoyed this book, but there were too many characters (and yet I would like more insight into some characters like Annie and Matthew). I liked the dreamy (pun!) and omniscient quality of the storytelling. The examination of dreams versus reality could have been explored more, but I probably would have liked that story less.
But I HATED the Rebecca storyline, and it drops me to a 3. It was pointless and stupid, and I cringed every time she came into the story again.
My favorite storylines were Mei and Sarah. With Sarah, the author really captured the experience of a motherless child and what it's like to be 12, both child and adult. I remember sneaking around, rummaging through my father's belongings, trying to find the smallest hint of my mother.
With Mei, you could really feel the character growth from shy introvert to reluctant hero, and her connection to Sarah was very sweet and realistic. HOWEVER,.
But I HATED the Rebecca storyline, and it drops me to a 3. It was pointless and stupid, and I cringed every time she came into the story again.
Spoiler
The play-by-play of the embryo to baby was incredibly unnecessary and bordered on political, but didn't quite go there. If the author were really intent on an unknown pregnancy being part of the storyline, Annie would have been better choice. What was the point of ruining an 18-year-old's life with an uncharacteristic one night stand (I know, I know, probably brought on by the virus)? The "son" aspect almost saved the story — and would have been interesting with Annie.My favorite storylines were Mei and Sarah. With Sarah, the author really captured the experience of a motherless child and what it's like to be 12, both child and adult. I remember sneaking around, rummaging through my father's belongings, trying to find the smallest hint of my mother.
With Mei, you could really feel the character growth from shy introvert to reluctant hero, and her connection to Sarah was very sweet and realistic. HOWEVER,
Spoiler
I was really pissed off at Matthew and her story end. Mei's story is particularly horrifying — and you learn that those with the virus aren't really unaware of what is going on around them. In the end, I guess Matthew wasn't all talk when it came to his morality games, but it really made me angry.Spoiler
I also couldn't shake the idea that Ben is kind of an ass.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A highly contagious illness sweeps a college town causing people to fall asleep and not wake up. Some are taken to hospitals and kept alive with fluids, some die of dehydration, some sleep for weeks and have vivid alternate lives, some awake and are changed. Lyrically written, but ...? That was it, that was the story. I thought it was a great set up that I kept expecting to go somewhere or at least make profound points about illness or the "reality" we create in our minds. She leaves that to us, briefly skimming those ideas. I'm usually all about the writing and characters, but this felt like a highly effective set up and I was waiting for the main event.
This was a creepy semi-apocalyptic book where people in a small college town fall asleep...and don't wake up. No one knows what causes it, why some people get, why some don't. The few that do wake up describe intense dreams. There's not a lot of action in this book, which makes sense, as it IS a book about a sleeping disease. It's slow moving, and yet it was so intriguing I read the whole thing in one day. Very interesting book.