Dreamers - tildebooks

No cover — Karen Thompson Walker: Dreamers (2019, Simon & Schuster, Limited)

English language

Published Nov. 13, 2019 by Simon & Schuster, Limited.

ISBN:: 978-1-4711-7356-1

(1 review)

In an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a freshman girl stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep—and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics who carry her away, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. Then a second girl falls asleep, and then another, and panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. As the number of cases multiplies, classes are canceled, and stores begin to run out of supplies. A quarantine is established. The National Guard is summoned.

Mei, an outsider in the cliquish hierarchy of dorm life, finds herself thrust together with an eccentric, idealistic classmate. Two visiting professors try to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. A father succumbs to the illness, leaving his daughters to fend for themselves. And at …

In an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a freshman girl stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep—and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics who carry her away, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. Then a second girl falls asleep, and then another, and panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. As the number of cases multiplies, classes are canceled, and stores begin to run out of supplies. A quarantine is established. The National Guard is summoned.

Mei, an outsider in the cliquish hierarchy of dorm life, finds herself thrust together with an eccentric, idealistic classmate. Two visiting professors try to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. A father succumbs to the illness, leaving his daughters to fend for themselves. And at the hospital, a new life grows within a college girl, unbeknownst to her—even as she sleeps. A psychiatrist, summoned from Los Angeles, attempts to make sense of the illness as it spreads through the town. Those infected are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, more than has ever been recorded. They are dreaming heightened dreams—but of what?

6 editions

dozens reviewed The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

Review of 'The Dreamers' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Why I Picked It Up ##

I was going for a run on a beautiful trail on the Mystic River outside of Boston and needed a book. This was available, was on some 'best of' fantasy lists, and the summary looked good. Also I definitely do judge a book by its cover. All the time.

## What I Liked About It ##

It was kind of dreamy? It was slow and meandering and just really steady: there was no real tension or build-up. Which I'm going to complain about in the next session. But it also made the experience of reading it very consistent and reliable. It was a good running companion for that reason. Not to distracting or engrossing.

## What I Didn't Like About It ##

Well, there was no tension or rising action. No character development to speak of. I probably wouldn't be able to read a …

Why I Picked It Up ##

I was going for a run on a beautiful trail on the Mystic River outside of Boston and needed a book. This was available, was on some 'best of' fantasy lists, and the summary looked good. Also I definitely do judge a book by its cover. All the time.

## What I Liked About It ##

It was kind of dreamy? It was slow and meandering and just really steady: there was no real tension or build-up. Which I'm going to complain about in the next session. But it also made the experience of reading it very consistent and reliable. It was a good running companion for that reason. Not to distracting or engrossing.

## What I Didn't Like About It ##

Well, there was no tension or rising action. No character development to speak of. I probably wouldn't be able to read a print version of this and enjoy it.

It was also extraordinarily poorly timed. It came out January 2019? Which is the last possible time you could release a book about the spread of a super contagious virus and have it be about pretty much nothing other than the spread of a super contagious virus. In 2022, the premise is not novel or interesting, because we have all been living it for the last two years.

Also the 'magical' bits of it, while probably the most interesting, came too little and too late in the story. They were delightful. And I wish there was a way for us to have enjoyed them throughout.

All that being said, I wouldn't be shocked if this gets made into a "Walking Dead" kind of survival horror show or movie. The sleepwalkers were most definitely zombies. And it had the exact same kind of fear of infection as a zombie flick. If there will be coronavirus survival horror movies, they will look like this.

## What I Want To Remember ##

Strange Matthew and Mei? Their relationship was interesting. Maybe I'm wrong though, and I only think they are interesting because they are kind of the main characters.

## Who I Would Recommend It To ##

Tough one! This won't sit well with most readers because its slow and not much happens. And also the whole premise is too mundane and ordinary now. And the fantasy bits come too late.

I could only recommend this to the kind of person who, for example, actually enjoyed the pages of scenic description in the lord of the rings books.

Subjects

Fiction, dystopian
Fiction, family life, general
California, fiction