A book review: The Dreamers
Title of the book: The Dreamers
Author: Karen Thompson Walker
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: 15th of January 2019
Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction, Contemporary fiction
Why I picked up this book:
I think what initially drew me to this book can best be described as a form of morbid curiosity. The premise itself is not a new one. You could fill a whole library with books on novel and alien viruses that affect their human hosts in one way or another. Even a sleeping sickness isn’t exactly original, look at Sleeping Beauty for example.
However, having actually lived through, or still living through a very real pandemic, created what I can only describe as a form of kinship. A desire to read about lives that are captivated by similar concerns, similar fears, similar hopes. A desire to read about real human lives and the choices they made when faced with utterly devastating consequences.
About the author:
Karen Thompson Walker is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Age of Miracles, which has been translated into twenty-seven languages and named one of the best books of the year by People, O: The Oprah Magazine, and Financial Times, among others.
Born and raised in San Diego, Walker is a graduate of UCLA and the Columbia MFA program. She lives with her husband, the novelist Casey Walker, and their two daughters in Portland. She is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Oregon.
Synopsis:
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 cancelled, 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?
Review of the book:
This review should come with a disclaimer along the lines of: ‘ The author of this review was living through a pandemic whilst reading this book, any opinions expressed should therefore be considered in the light of this event.’
The reason I am saying this is because of the uncanny sense of familiarity this book carries within its pages. The visceral emotional reaction, the deja-vu I felt whilst making my way through the chapters are solely due to the current state of events. As opposed to the author’s skill.
I have been privileged in life. Until about 15 months ago I had never directly suffered the effects of a pandemic or even an epidemic. Sure there were a whole host of illnesses and viruses that reared their heads whilst I was growing up: Foot and mouth, swine flu, bird flu, SARS, the Zika virus and many more like it. However, they never impacted me personally. They never stripped me of my basic civil liberties, they never robbed my body of its defences, they never made me fear those around me. Until February of 2020.
Suddenly I know what it is like to live through such a time of crisis, times of strive. Suddenly The Dreamers is imbued with a dash of realism I would not have been able to appreciate if it had not been for the Coronavirus.
None of which is due to the skill of the author perse, instead it is due to a very human reaction. Our brains are hardwired to be more susceptive to familiar situations, to be more empathic to those whose experience mirrors our own. So to say that this book stands on its own merit would be an exaggeration. It stands on the shoulders of recent events. Events that raise this book beyond its previous limitations.
Limitations such as an incredibly large set of characters. We are constantly switching between individuals who have little more in common than the place they live. Two college freshmen who are shunned by their peers, a young couple who have just moved in with their infant daughter, two young girls living with their father who for all intents and purposes is preparing for the end of times, a professor who is slowly losing his partner to what appears to be Alzheimer’s, the list goes on.
Moments with each of these characters are fleeting. Written in an, admittedly beautiful, prosy-style it creates a sense of detachment that never allows us to fully connect with anyone in particular. There seems very little place for character development as most fall into repetitive behaviours that feel disjointed at best given the urgency of their circumstances.
Another limitation is the sheer amount of red herrings and loose threads scattered across the pages. How many times have we read about the levels of the lake being unnaturally low? What is the cause of it? What is the importance? Your guess is as good as mine.
How often is it pointed out that those who are dreaming experience unusually high levels of brain activity? How often is this linked to theories in psychology, biology and physics? Suggesting this may all be an illusion, past, present and future all existing on the same plane. There is even a vague hint that these dreamers may have slipped into an alternate reality. However, the truth is never revealed. The dreamers just went to sleep one day and some of them woke up again.
The virus winked into existing without clear cause or catalyst. Receding just as easily when a seemingly unrelated fire ravages a library building. Was there something in the binding of those ancient books? Was it the proximity of smoke? Was it the body’s natural self-preservation instincts that rose these bodies from their catatonic states? We may never know the answers.
In the end, this books feels a little flat. It is a quick and enjoyable read at this. However, this is overshadowed by the pages upon pages of questions the reader is left to sit with. Sure an author does not need to spoon-feed us all of the solutions, but to be offered none whatsoever is unsatisfactory at best.
What are your thoughts? Did this book transport you back to the early days of the pandemic, when were only just learning of the importance of masks and distancing? Or, did the lack of emotional connection to the characters leave you frustrated and unable to finish? Let me know in the comment section below and, until then - just more page!