dejaelizabeth 's review for:

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

5.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Wow. I am just absolutely blown away by this book. It was so tense and engaging. As a mother, I absolutely connected with the ideas of motherhood and protecting you child. I was drawn in by the structure of the story, which was very original and mysterious without being overly confusing. Throughout most of the story, I thought it had figured out what was going on and was enjoying the supernatural aspects of the tale. Then, with the climax, everything is flipped on its head and now I'm split between two different readings.

Were David and Nina's souls actually split by the witch doctor? Or is this a more straightforward story of enviornmental pollution viewed as something more by locals who do not understand?

I am amazed that the author could so effectively do so many things at once- weave two equally interesting and compelling tales, let them both live in the same narrative as a commentary on how they coexist in reality, make the story so tense and keep me gathering clues and asking questioning what I knew, use the structure to navigate timelines and reader focus. This was extremely well written, chilling, and the message is loud. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.