The synopsis promised this to be "a nightmare come to life, a ghost story for the real world, a love story and a cautionary tale." It did not lie.

This is the narrative between two individuals. One is recounting all that has led to her current prostrate predicament, as she lies in a hospital bed. The other is the child who sits besides. The child is not her child, and yet he fits into her story and seamlessly as if he was so...

This book was, in a word... trippy. Despite the short size, and the quickness with which I read it, there was much to gather from this novel. And none of it made sense! I spent much of the first half of the novel at a total loss as to what was actually going on, and yet still, somehow, enjoying myself immensely. This book has an indescribable quality to it that was utterly mesmerising. It induced in me a drug-like stupor that accepted every inconceivable fact this put forward and denied it any contemplation over its inconsistencies or confusion it caused.

I think if you try to force this book into some semblance of order then it would be a trudging, difficult, and slow-paced read. If you allow yourself to be borne along on the current of the plot, accepting of all that passes you, then it becomes an experience. And that is what I gathered from this. There might have been no definitive story or morale that I took away, but I enjoyed it exactly because of its refusal at giving the reader what they expect from a book. The indefinable qualities made this a unique reading experience and a worthy Man Booker International Prize candidate.

This is a very unusual novella, structured as questions and answers between a dying woman, Amanda, and a child, David, who is not hers. Amanda has been on holiday with her daughter, Nina, and has befriended Carla, David’s mother. Carla is frightened of David, calls him a monster, and tells Amanda that her son has been ‘transmigrated’ into another body after being poisoned.
This ‘new’ David is certainly strange, but is Carla telling the truth? Is she deluded? How has Amanda ended up dying in a hospital bed? And where is Nina?
The writing here (translated by Megan McDowell) is just excellent. There is a sense of foreboding, of menace, a real strangeness to the tale that is executed beautifully. It's unlike anything I’ve read before, and it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, I’m sure, but I found it completely absorbing. In an age of disappointing, box-ticking, formulaic books, it was a genuine pleasure to read. There are no answers here, no satisfying resolution. It’s creepy, uncanny and weird, really, if I'm honest. But it’s brilliant.

A totally unique, sad but fascinating book. Sometimes confusing as a lot goes unexplained but in all a good read if unsettling in places. A strange but good book!

This novel appealed to me a lot at the start. A woman is dying in a hospital, talking to a mysterious visitor who has an urgent mission. The setting is original and intriguing - a place where the water poisons the children so they're all strange and deformed. I very much liked the way the book began, with a mystery, and a woman who does a bizarre and desperate thing to try to save her son. But then the story seemed to become muddled and repetitive, as if the author lost the strong clarity of the start and I felt the book was much longer than it deserved. The end seemed too insubstantial - as if the author had a lot of significance in mind but couldn't make us feel it.
Of course, not every story has to be presented clearly or neatly. Also, this narrative might be a progression of mental dissolution. It might be following dream logic, as the title suggests. But usually the confusion, muddle and repetition will feel worthwhile in a grand scheme, as if we've seen something that tapped into deeper ideas and truths. With this book, I felt the dream dissolved too early and the story just meandered to the end, keeping the same note with no further development. I didn't feel there was any profounder point, except that fever can be like a nightmare - which is not really enough.
So, all in all - I loved the beginning. I thought there were haunting ideas with the continued, mysterious appearance of water, and the woman with the gilt bikini and shoes. But David's utterances and Amanda's wanderings became too one-note.

Two people are in a hospital. Amanda is feverish and believes she is near death. David is a boy who is not her son. David is pushing her to recount the events that led up to her illness.

She tells a story of her family and his. It begins as an innocent holiday friendship but has a sinister undertone. David’s mother tells Amanda that her son fell ill before they met, apparently due to exposure to something in the environment. She is convinced that she lost his soul when his body recovered, that this was a bargain she made with a healer.

The tension builds as the story unfolds in a long, breathless narrative (it’s a short novel, but conversely one very long chapter). As she tells the story, David pushes her to remember certain incidents, while dismissing others which she wants to pursue.

I read on, intrigued at first, then a little impatient, but anticipating that there would be clues and allusions to the meaning of the narrative. Is the story chronological? What is hallucinated and what real? Where is David’s mother and Amanda’s daughter?

Then I got to the end and it just sort of – well, ended. And I’m deflated. Am I being dense? Did I miss something? I didn’t expect a neat resolution tied with a bow, but I thought that there would be insights and inferences, ideas which would resonate and send me back through the key scenes to interpret them anew. Now I’m not sure what the themes of the book are, apart from ‘pesticides are bad’ and ‘parenting is scary’.

Perhaps my expectations were too high. Fever Dream is innovative in its form and beautifully written (and translated) but I feel like I wanted something more.

This is a small book that packs a punch.

It's a unique premise that keeps you guessing throughout. The lines between reality and dream, truth and lies, consciousness and confusion are constantly blurred, giving a distorting effect that means you're never quite sure of what's going on.

Schweblin's prose has been beautifully translated to retain the depth and nuances of the original. The ephemeral fleetingness of the 150 pages is balanced with episodes of such tension and suspense that you're sure to read this one sitting.

I can't say I was fully certain of the outcome of events but I enjoyed the process of exploring them massively.

This is a very strange little book and I can’t say I was all that convinced by it. It’s in the form of a dialogue between Amanda, a young woman lying in a hospital bed and apparently dying, and David, the young son of her friend Carla, who is asking her questions about what has led them to this point. Bit by bit the back story is revealed to us although little of it is actually explained. There’s a clear political agenda to the story regarding the use of pesticides in Argentina and their toxicity, and there’s also a supernatural and quite creepy element to the narrative. I found it intriguing but with so few answers and no resolution I also found it quite frustrating. Just not my sort of book really. Well written and expertly translated but it left me feeling dissatisfied.

This is a totally compelling read. It starts in a deliberately mysterious way and develops a sense of increasing suspense and unease to the very end. Although it is a slim book, it certainly enthrals the reader with its dual perspective of a mother and a small boy, who have an extended conversation that becomes more and more disturbing as the situation unfolds, exploring the relationships between the woman and her daughter and the boy and his mother. It had me gripped and desperate to find out what would happen, although the signs throughout are not promising. It was certainly a book to make you hold your breath...and never take another one!.

Wow, what a read! Samanta Schweblin's Fever Dream, translated from the Spanish is an intriguing read. It charts a conversation between Amanda, dying in a hospital bed, and David, a mysterious boy who perhaps is not who he appears to be. Where is Amanda's daughter Nina? Has she been saved from Amanda's fate? Is David really David, and why is his mother Carla so disturbed by him? Why is Amanda dying? Are her musings real or just feverish imaginations?

This is a book which can't be compared with any other I've read - it's unique and compelling. It's not very long and you'll find you've sped your way through it in just a few days just to find out what happens.

I'm afraid this book wasn't for me, but it was decently short. I found the lack of mise-en-scène not disturbing but irritating. I got very few mental images reading this book. I just couldn't picture anything. When are we, where are we? Is it simply a flashback or can we alter the path of events? If not, what is the point? I raced through this novel hoping for redeeming answers at the end but got nothing.

I very much wish I could say I enjoyed this, fairly short story, but unfortunately I cannot. I would say that it was a tense, well crafted read, I felt compelled to finish it in the hopes of understanding what was going on, and I really wanted to understand what was going on...but alas I remain clueless.

This gripping novel made me immediately flip back to the beginning to search for details I might have missed. I also felt compelled to search for other people’s opinions online to try to figure out what happened. “Fever Dream” is an incredibly creepy and mesmerising story about a woman named Amanda confined in a rural hospital having a tense conversation with her neighbour’s son David. She discusses with him her arrival at a holiday home with her daughter Nina (her husband is due to arrive later) and events involving David’s mother Carla. At first I found this to be quite a disorientating story because it’s largely composed of dialogue taking place in two distinct time periods, but once I had a good handle on the characters I felt completely wrapped in the mystery. I didn’t entirely understand what was happening, but I knew a lot was at stake as David continuously prompts Amanda to skip over parts of the story that are “not important.” Time is limited because he tells Amanda that her life is drawing to a close.

Reading “Fever Dream” felt like the experience of watching a Guillermo del Toro film where reality is slightly distorted as something very sinister is happening just beneath the surface of all the events taking place. We’re in that blurry territory that borders the fantastical and the psychologically disturbed. In this way, the novel accurately recreates the experience of being in a feverish state of mind. There are horses that go missing, a boy that turns into a monster, dead ducks, a disease that’s “like worms” and a poison that permeates the environment. Because of Amanda’s hazy sense of consciousness and uncertain memory, this story has an infectious hallucinatory effect that left me highly unsettled and grasping for understanding.

One of the prevailing themes of the novel is the degree to which we’re connected to the people we love the most. Amanda frequently expresses concern throughout the story that she wants to keep her daughter Nina within “rescue distance,” which is another way of saying within the bounds of her protective reach. She envisions it like an invisible rope connecting them and if Nina roams too far away this virtual rope will snap. This accurately reflects the way the people we love inhabit our consciousness – something which causes us happiness but also anxiety because we fear for their safety. In her debilitated state in the hospital, Amanda repeatedly expresses concern for the whereabouts of Nina. David assures her that this isn’t important, but of course for Amanda her daughter’s safety is the most important thing. The way in which children are individuals we alternately fear and fear for reminded me of the similarly gothic novel “The Children’s Home” by Charles Lambert. It could be that David is reminding Amanda that in the end we are quintessentially alone or he could be a sinister force compelling Amanda to break her connection with the person she cares for the most.

The tension over whether Amanda should trust David or his mother Carla is so interesting. Carla is mistrustful of her son, yet she seems to be the one preventing Amanda from leaving this uneasy environment when she becomes alarmed. Schweblin drops in tantalizing imagery such as the way Carla wears a gold bikini or the ominous dampness which covers Nina’s clothes which Amanda mistakenly assumes is dew from the grass. These are details which feel intensely vivid, yet their meaning is uncertain. The story needles the reader’s sub-conscious playing upon our unexpressed fears and anxieties in a way that simulates how we are helpless participants within a nightmare. For such a short novel “Fever Dream” makes an incredibly compelling and satisfying puzzle.

Amanda is dying in hospital while a boy called David sits next to her. Hes not her son but starts to ask her questions about how she's ended up in hospital. We learn it's all started when Amanda goes to the countryside to holiday with her daughter, waiting for her husband to join her. There she meets Carla, David's mother, who tells Amanda that David was her son but now he isn't. She goes on to explain how David drank some poisoned river water and in act of desperation, Amanda takes David to see a local woman. She says she can save David but only by sending part of his soul into another body and inviting a different soul to inhabit his body. The book continues with Amanda trying to recount the events that lead up to her being in hospital,

I devoured this book in one sitting at night, I just couldn't put it down! The book has this eerie feeling that creeps up on you and unsettles you. Right off the bat you're left wondering what's happened and my mind twisted all over the place trying to work out what went wrong and who to trust. I was confused for most of the time reading this, which I liked as it felt it fit in well with the title of the book and the how disorientated Amanda is recounting the story. I do wish the ending had been a little bit clearer, I was still a bit confused at the end and had to read other reviews to figure out what had happened.

Strange

'A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a rural hospital clinic. A boy named David sits beside her. She’s not his mother. He’s not her child.'

Slowly, with David's urging, Amanda recounts the turn of events that brought her there.

This is a strange book, fascinating, and very much unlike anything I've read before. I wasn't sure how to react to the gradual revelations. I could understand Amanda's confusion and doubts. Can you trust a mother who tells you she believes her child is a monster? Or do you label her as delusional?

What I did find interesting was Carla's character, her feelings and her certainty that her son David was, indeed, a monster. Her strength, in the face of such feelings, was admirable. Her small boy's behaviour was terrifying, how she survived it was incredible. A potentially psychopathic child was enough to make this a gripping read, especially when another child could be in danger.

What begins as a short holiday for Amanda and her daughter, quickly becomes eerie, for all involved. Except, David, it seems.

The ending is a sad one so be prepared. I'd say this book is good for a one-time read. After that, I think it'll lose its magic.

I received this book through NetGalley.

There has been a huge amount of hype surrounding Fever Dream and it has been shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize.
So, is it worthy of the hype and inclusion on the list?
It is the story of Amanda, who lies unconscious in a hospital bed with a young boy, David, sat next to her. David whispers in her ear urging to recount the events leading up to her present state. We hear of her holiday with daughter NIna and her befriending of local resident Carla. Carla's son David was poisoned and after a visit to a psychic is an unknown entity, not the child Carla gave birth to..
Events slowly build and culminate in a visit to Carla's workplace where both Amanda and Nina are poisoned.
Schweblin is not just telling us the story of Amanda, Nina, Carla and David but of the neglect practised by industry in her home country, of the pursuit of money over the welfare of the environment and those that live there.
It is a mesmirsing story, told in a totally unique and clever way that I absolutely loved.

Possibly the most appropriate title for a book ever! Reading this feels like you are in a fever dream. It's relentless and ominous and there is no escape from the horror you know is to come, you just don't know when. The narrative has no chapters and no real structure. It consists of a conversation(?) between Amanda and David. We don't really know who either of these people are, only that they are connected in some way. The conversation proceeds with no let up through to its conclusion, as does the reader. The book is short and the way it is written makes it very easy to read in one sitting. I think it's probably best read like that. I still don't know 100% what was going on in this small country town, but I do know that this is a great read and I would recommend it to anyone who has a liking for David Lynch films - it definitely has a similar sensibility.

Subtle, yet haunting, this beautifully written and powerful tale will stay with you for a long time.

That was weirdly fascinating. Absolutely worth a read. But confusing, very much so. But in a good way.

My thoughts are all over the place for this one. While I really enjoyed reading this book, it still left me feeling fairly confused during and afterwards. Usually I try to write my reviews as quickly as possible after finishing a book but this time I couldn't have done that because I seriously needed some time to gather my thoughts.

This is one of those books that isn't really "about" anything. I mean, yes, on the surface it is about a woman in a hospital talking to a boy that isn't hers about what has happened to her and her daughter. But that isn't really it, this is just the first layer of meaning you can unpack from this short but impactful book. It is about a mother's fear, about voodoo, about trust, about losing everything, about fever dreams, and other dreams, about nothing at all. The book is structured as a dialogue between Amanda and the boy and as such it is wonderfully circular and weird and just like a conversation one might have (minus the worms).

This is a book that practically begs a reread, there is so much to unpack, so much to understand and this understanding didn't happen for me the first time around. I mean this in the best way possible. I love how highly metaphorical this weird little book is and I think there just is something really special about the whole experience. I definitely understand why it is longlisted for the Man Booker International and I am excited to see more people reading this as a result. It is absolutely worth it - if you're okay with weirdness and thing being just beyond the grasp of reason.

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I received an arc of this book curtesy of NetGalley and Oneworld Publications in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for that!

This was a very short novel, translated from Spanish. The author is an award winning Argentinian born writer. The narrative is the apparent ramblings of a woman on her death-bed, talking to a young boy who is probably not there. His minimal responses are shown in italics to indicate who is talking. I found this story difficult but compelling and had to do a lot of gap-filling to decide what exactly had happened in the story. The narrator, Amanda, has been in a holiday home with her young daughter Nina and finds herself in hospital suffering perhaps from sunstroke, perhaps from poisoning; Nina may or may not have died or may or may not have been switched with David so that they may both continue to live, or perhaps Carla has stolen Nina to replace David - confused? Yes, so was this reader. I may return and re-read this novel to make more sense of it; I may try to read in the original Spanish - until I do one of these things I will not be recommending this book as I could not say in all honesty what I liked about it. However I could see this as a very effective art-house film.

This is a very hard story to review. It's unlike anything I have ever read before.

This won't be for everyone, it's very unusual. I read the whole thing in one sitting. I had to find out what was happening and the structure of the book worked for me. I enjoyed the dialogue between Amanda and David, it creates such a tense atmosphere.

It's quite heartbreaking and a little disturbing. It's a short read so if you can I would recommend taking the time to just sit and let the story soak in without a break.
One point knocked off for the ending, I just kinda felt like "wtf", though I imagine that's what the author wanted.