Words of a Bibliophile

Dreams fascinate me, and sometimes they scare me. I've had dreams that feel so real that when I wake up, it takes a split second for me to realize that the real world is this one instead of the one in my dream. Or is it? Some dreams are so bizarre and frightening that I wake up feeling thankful that they are only in my imagination. Or are they?

This novel puts out these questions and more as it tells the story of a small town in California infected by a sleeping sickness. The victims show extraordinary brain activity even as they lay asleep, revealing that they are in fact dreaming. The gorgeously written novel follows different sets of characters as they try to survive the spreading contagion, while people all around them including their loved ones fall into slumber one by one.

I loved Walker's debut novel, The Age of Miracles, and like that book this one is also about ordinary people thrown into extraordinary circumstances. A sense of quiet dread persists throughout the novel but I wouldn't consider it a thriller, and despite the subject matter this isn't science fiction either. If you liked Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, this has a similar premise and dreamy, atmospheric vibe. It didn't move me quite as much as The Age of Miracles, which was 5-star material for me, and I was left unsatisfied with one of the story lines. But I still really liked the evocative writing and how it challenges readers to come to their own conclusions.

Each character in the book grapples with their own problems, their personal gains and losses, and their dreams reflect that. I noticed a particular focus on parenting and the relationship between parents and children, as well as how we humans make sense of the past, present and future. The novel asks deep, probing questions (perhaps more than it answers) about life, love, hope and dreams.

"Some dreamed of their youth. Some dreamed of old age. Some dreamed of days that might have been—all the lives they did not live. Or the lives that, in some other world, they did."