Review: The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

Title: The Dreamers

Author: Karen Thompson Walker

Publisher: Random House

Publishing Date: January 15th, 2019

Pages: 303
Audio Length: 10 Hours 29 Minutes

Genre: Adult Fiction
TW: N/A

Series: Standalone

Source: Audio

 

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?

What made me pick this book up: 

The cover definitely caught my eye. More so the title I suppose. Between it being called The Dreamers and the tag "The age of miracles"

What did I like about the cover: 

I really don't care for this cover if I'm being honest. The starry background is really pretty, but I don't think the font matches with it. I think something simpler would be better.

What made me read this book: 

It sounded really interesting to me. I needed to know why these people were falling asleep, and what happened to them.

What did I like the most: 

The whole falling asleep for no reason at all thing was really interesting. 

The mystery of it, the why is what kept me reading. I had to know what happened all the way to the end.

That's really the only reason I rated it a 3 star, because I just HAD to finish it. Though it was slow going. 

Literally the only thing I really liked.

What didn't I like: 

Okay so... It was so slow. SO SO SO slow. Like it felt like someone was telling me a story, instead of when it happened. And it (Ironically) felt like a bedtime story.

The narrator read it in a slow hushed soothing tone. I listened to this book at 3.5 speed and it STILL felt like it was reading so slow. 

Nothing REALLY happened in the book. Not a thing. They fell asleep. *spoiler* highlight to read spoiler. They woke up. We never find out why they fell asleep. It's talked about that it might be like a virus. But we never find out, not really. So they literally fall asleep and they wake up. *End spoiler*

The other thing I really didn't like is it's from so many people's point of views and had so many characters that it got really confusing. 

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
I always give an author more than one chance.

I swear this book almost put me to sleep. 

“Who are we to say that they are not right now dreaming a better world?” ― Karen Thompson Walker, The Dreamers

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.