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A review by dracoaestas
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this book. Spoilers to follow.
Schweblin accomplishes a lot that I admire in her writing. The characters are interesting and nuanced. The progression of the story hinges on the unfolding of the "fever dream" that Amanda is having. You find out by the end that everything she witnesses in the story is memories playing out in her head as she tries to determine (with the help of the hallucinated David) what was important in her experience. Thus, the key to the events is perception.
Carla's son David was poisoned by toxic water. Instead of taking him to a hospital, she took him to someone who used "magic" to cure him. After he recovered from the physical effects (still displaying severe neurological effects), she believed he was not really David. His soul had been replaced. This colors her entire relationship with her own son, and throughout the novel she (through the lens of Amanda and her memories) views him with coldness and fear. This was horrible to read (and I absolutely despised Carla as a person, despite her being an interesting character).
Amanda appears to, at first, not really understand Carla's attitude toward her son. However, the ending implies that she finally buys into Carla's fear and superstition. She decides that she is okay with her daughter Nina undergoing the same magical treatment as David to save her from toxins. There is a scene at the end where her husband briefly visits David's family to ask some questions. Amanda notes that David climbs into the back of her husband's car and hugs Nina's stuffed mole, implying she believes David's body now has Nina's soul. At first, this could imply to the readers that the superstition was correct--however, one must keep in mind that this is all still being viewed through Amanda's dying visions. She has come to accept Carla's superstition as an explanation for the toxins and their effects rather than science and medicine.
This is all to say that I admire the power of perception in this novel. However, I hate the two main characters. To be frank, they fail as mothers. It was painful to read many passages (such as the one in which Nina begins feeling the effects of the toxic water on her body and Amanda ignores her, despite her earlier assertions that she always keeps a "rescue distance" between herself and her daughter).
So, in the end, three stars. This was a chilling and powerful story, but it also made me very angry. I don't like finishing a story and still feeling angry at the main characters.
Schweblin accomplishes a lot that I admire in her writing. The characters are interesting and nuanced. The progression of the story hinges on the unfolding of the "fever dream" that Amanda is having. You find out by the end that everything she witnesses in the story is memories playing out in her head as she tries to determine (with the help of the hallucinated David) what was important in her experience. Thus, the key to the events is perception.
Carla's son David was poisoned by toxic water. Instead of taking him to a hospital, she took him to someone who used "magic" to cure him. After he recovered from the physical effects (still displaying severe neurological effects), she believed he was not really David. His soul had been replaced. This colors her entire relationship with her own son, and throughout the novel she (through the lens of Amanda and her memories) views him with coldness and fear. This was horrible to read (and I absolutely despised Carla as a person, despite her being an interesting character).
Amanda appears to, at first, not really understand Carla's attitude toward her son. However, the ending implies that she finally buys into Carla's fear and superstition. She decides that she is okay with her daughter Nina undergoing the same magical treatment as David to save her from toxins. There is a scene at the end where her husband briefly visits David's family to ask some questions. Amanda notes that David climbs into the back of her husband's car and hugs Nina's stuffed mole, implying she believes David's body now has Nina's soul. At first, this could imply to the readers that the superstition was correct--however, one must keep in mind that this is all still being viewed through Amanda's dying visions. She has come to accept Carla's superstition as an explanation for the toxins and their effects rather than science and medicine.
This is all to say that I admire the power of perception in this novel. However, I hate the two main characters. To be frank, they fail as mothers. It was painful to read many passages (such as the one in which Nina begins feeling the effects of the toxic water on her body and Amanda ignores her, despite her earlier assertions that she always keeps a "rescue distance" between herself and her daughter).
So, in the end, three stars. This was a chilling and powerful story, but it also made me very angry. I don't like finishing a story and still feeling angry at the main characters.