The Dreamers was everywhere when it first came out, and I understand why. I was capitivated from the first word. There are a lot of characters, but I found I was able to keep track of them pretty easily. This is one of those novels that is so frightening because it seems possible. Walker’s writing is very strong, and she is a magnificent storyteller. I will definitely be picking up her other book, The Age of Miracles, in the future.

A beautifully written, haunting story. I couldn’t put it down! Thompson Walker’s books are not for everyone but I LOVE her way of storytelling. I loved The Dreamers just as much as The Age of Miracles and highly recommend both.

Enter la-la land.....
This was a fascinating-eerie story. Mysterious right from the beginning.
Head-scratching puzzle of a novel....

We keep hearing how important sleep is- that lack of sleep is the cause for many health issues.
Perhaps this college town with hundreds sleeping are revitalizing their minds and body. Too many college exams and late night parties are a health hazard.
Haha...
I had a little fun with this novel - my own cuckoo mind was captured by the dreamy-atmosphere. As the characters fell into dreamland... so did I.

I thought about walk-out strikes from jobs-
Then chuckled at the thought of a town going on strike from being awake. Why not?
Maybe in the way natural forest fires are nature’s way of cleaning out the earth...
a sleeping town rests to replenish the health humanity.
This book gave me the *Willy-Chillies* - at times - yet there was so much beauty in the writing. It was dystopia without horror.
The stories - characters - prose - were all compelling!!!

Great exploration of the unconscious - awake or asleep.....what’s the difference?

Mystery land of dreamland ..
We wonder.....
Do we dream of our past? Our future?
Is ‘awake’ life really any more real than dream life?
Again... hell if I know!
But......
Kudos to the author -
Very creative novel of the unknown world.

Guess I need to read “The Age of Miracles”.

I really liked this book. It’s well written and kept me wanting to turn the pages. The author does terrific things with words and paints beautiful pictures of the town that is gripped by a mysterious sickness.

This book will not appeal to everyone, I wanted to know more about the virus but I had to recognize that it wasn’t vital to know.

I will think about this one for a long time and I imagine that I will pick it up again and again to revisit. This is definitely the kind of book that reveals new secrets each time you read it.

Imagine this, you live in a quiet little college town. Nothing big happens, sometimes the college students get a little loud but other than that everyone keeps to themselves. But, one day, something happens. You’re not sure as to what is happening but you’ve heard that a few of the students at the college have fallen asleep, they’ve fallen asleep and they won’t wake up? That seems odd. Perhaps, they just partied too hard and just need to sleep it off. No? Well, what could it be?

Before long, there are others on the same floor of the dormitory who have fallen asleep and then, slowly, others within the town that fall asleep as well. It’s bewildering. How could someone just fall asleep and not wake up? The specialists brought in to observe those who have fallen asleep determine that the patients appear completely fine; in fact, they are displaying brain activity levels that would suggest they are experiencing dreams at a heightened level.

This is exactly what happens in Karen Thompson Walkers, The Dreamers. What transpires is a novel that is dreamlike in itself and tells the story of those who live within the town and experience what this mysterious illness has done to their community. Encompassing multiple character viewpoints, this novel details what happens in the days and weeks that follow. There is Mei who is the roommate of the first student to not wake up; two visiting professors and their newborn baby; a father and his two children who have been preparing for an event like this; and a college girl who was one of the first to succumb to the sleep. All of which have a completely different involvement with what is transpiring in their town.

I was instantly pulled into this story and loved the simplicity of this novel. There wasn’t a cataclysmic event that led to the deaths of millions of unexpected bystanders, or a toxic gas released into the air causing widespread panic. The characters simply became fatigued and fell asleep. At times what was described to me, frankly sounded dreamlike. And in all honesty, I’m still not certain as to whether the story being told was not actually the dream itself. I found myself wondering what I would do in this situation and which character my actions would most mirror.

The Dreamers was an alluring, thought provoking, uncomplicated read that left me wondering what really happened to all of those who were affected. I was mesmerized from beginning to end.
Thank you to Karen Thompson Walker, Random House and NetGalley for the ARC of this work. I highly recommend this novel.

Set in the small college town of Santa Lora, California both students and residents begin falling victim to a mysterious sleeping disease. A disease in which no origin or cure can be found and no victim can be predicted. The story follows several different main characters, some whom fall victim to the disease and some whom don't. Walker does a superb job of developing each characters persona quickly and effectively so that the reader has a true sense of empathy for them as they navigate their role in the outbreak of this disease. The author also does a great job of weaving her characters stories together and seamlessly making their paths cross one another, leaving the reader to constantly ponder how this small southern California town will comeback from this devastating ordeal.
For me, this book lived up to all the hype and great reviews I had read prior to reading. Another plus for this book was that it was a quick read (2.5 days), which for a mom with three kids trying to stick to a reading goal of one book a week is a huge plus and means I have room to try and sneak in one more book this week.

A sleeping sickness has broken out at a small California college. Some victims die without ever waking up, some remain asleep and dreaming and a few wake up. This was an interesting concept but it needed Stephen King or Michael C richton to explore it. I was expecting a thriller, or some sci fi or at least some suspense, but this book has none of that. There is no urgent quest for a cure or post apocalyptic societal breakdown. The dreams turn out to be nothing special. Honestly, this book had nothing to offer. It substitutes pretension for tension. “This is how the sickness travels best: through all the same channels as do fondness and friendship and love.” The book was amazingly pointless. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Any time a publishing insider writes a book, I am on high alert because there is a strong likelihood that is going to be a good read. Like Toni Morrison who worked at an editor at Random House in the 1970s, Karen Thompson Walker, the author of The Age of Miracles and now the Dreamers, worked as an editor at Simon & Schuster.

Her latest novel, the Dreamers, imagines a dystopian town where a sleeping sickness spreads and takes hold of young and old, rich and poor, infecting everyone indiscriminately until almost no one is left to care for the slumbering sick.

What really struck me about the tale was the secondary narrative about what it means and what it feels like to be a parent, a new parent caring for an infant or a parent of a grown child. It was realistic and very poignant, a portrayal of universal humanity. As a recent mother myself, this was a pleasant surprise within a science fiction genre that tends to be male-led.

Another concept explored was the awareness between trippy dream state consciousness where there are no boundaries between time and place, and the world of the living. At a time, when being “woke” is often spoken about, it lends another subtext to the story line.

Any time a publishing insider writes a book, I am on high alert because there is a strong likelihood that is going to be a good read. Like Toni Morrison who worked at an editor at Random House in the 1970s, Karen Thompson Walker, the author of The Age of Miracles and now the Dreamers, worked as an editor at Simon & Schuster.

Her latest novel, the Dreamers, imagines a dystopian town where a sleeping sickness spreads and takes hold of young and old, rich and poor, infecting everyone indiscriminately until almost no one is left to care for the slumbering sick.

What really struck me about the tale was the secondary narrative about what it means and what it feels like to be a parent, a new parent caring for an infant or a parent of a grown child. It was realistic and very poignant, a portrayal of universal humanity. As a recent mother myself, this was a pleasant surprise within a science fiction genre that tends to be male-led.

Another concept explored was the awareness between trippy dream state consciousness where there are no boundaries between time and place, and the world of the living. At a time, when being “woke” is often spoken about, it lends another subtext to the story line.

“When one's life seems broken beyond repair, there remains one last move: a person can at least shut her eyes.” ― Karen Thompson Walker, The Dreamers

Full disclosure: I was granted early access to a review copy in exchange for my review.

The Age of Miracles has long been a staple on my summer reading list for International Bacccalaureate students. Now The Dreamers has taken my breath away. I read it nonstop Sunday and am sad that I couldn't make it last longer. A beautiful, beautiful book.

Enjoyed the plot and characters. Look forward to reading other books by this author. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Wow, just wow. This book still has me thinking about it. It is a type of fantasy mystery book. You are never sure what is real you aren't even sure if the town itself is. I loved this book.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

The first three quarters of and the ending of The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker go in different directions. The story is about a disease, its spread, efforts to contain it, and the stories of those impacted. The ending goes in a philosophical directions implied by the title word "dreamers." Both are interesting and have potential. That potential and the pace keeps me reading to the last page. The book does not ever really reach it, but it proves entertaining nevertheless.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2019/03/the-dreamers.html

Review for NetGalley.

Karen Thompson Walker is a master at showing us what everyday people deal with during an apocalyptic event. She did it brilliantly in The Age of Miracles and I’m so glad she’s back with another character-driven tale in The Dreamers.

It begins in the dorms of a small college town and it doesn’t take long for this mysterious virus that puts people in a long, deep sleep to start spreading beyond the college’s walls. To watch the virus’ effect, we follow some college students, a young professor and his wife and newborn, a survivalist dad and his young daughters, an older biology professor, and a specialist from nearby Los Angeles. No one knows exactly how it spreads, what it is, and what the outcome will be, and it all gets much more complicated when the military and news crews move in.

Reading this book is quite terrifying, because I have always imagined what a spreading virus like this would look, sound, and feel like, and here it’s all vibrantly laid out. We follow the denial and panic these characters go through, along with all the things they have to do to try to survive. Their emotions are all over the board and so were mine as I watched them scavenge for food, hunker down in their houses, question everything, and feel completely helpless.

I loved this character-driven story, but I am still trying to figure out what I feel about the ending, because I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. For some things it felt a little abrupt and a little too easy, but getting there was fabulous. I would still highly recommend this book if you’re looking for a tense, suspenseful, apocalyptic tale following people like you and me. And then go back and read The Age of Miracles and anything else Karen Thompson Walker writes in the future, because she’s got this genre down.

The Dreamers was definitely different and unique for me. I loved the narrative style. Karen Thompson wrote every character really well. Some of the stories made me really emotional. I wish i learned what happened to some characters too. This book was out of my comfort zone but i am really glad that i read it. Thank you for this early copy.

In The Dreamers, a terrifying epidemic hits an isolated California college town. It is a strange disease that leaves doctors mystified. The infected fall into a deep sleep and cannot be woken up. Eventually, the sickness begins to spread rapidly and the town is put under quarantine as the situation becomes increasingly tense and chaotic. We follow the rippling impact of the illness through the lives of a number of characters who have been affected.

There is something hypnotic about Walker’s writing. The tone of her work truly deserves to be called haunting. She could teach a masterclass on creating atmosphere. This aspect of The Dreamers satisfied me every bit as much as in her first book. If you are after a story that truly pulls you away from reality for a time, this is it. A wonderful quiet tension builds throughout the book. I read it in two days. It wasn’t a 5 star read for me because not all of the plot threads held my interest equally, and I found myself wanting more from the ones that did. One downfall to this kind of structure is that it’s often difficult to connect with all of the characters and storylines. However, it’s a beautiful read about the fragility of existence, loneliness, and human connection. You’ll think about the things that draw us close to each other in our lives, and the things that distance us. I’ll be eagerly waiting to see what this author dreams up next. Thank you to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for the e-galley.

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker follows the town of Santa Lora California when a virus breaks out on a college campus. The virus places those it infects in a deep sleep. Some people die - others are quarantined and brought to the hospital where they are hooked up to IVs and feeding tubes for survival. No one has any answers about the virus. It is unknown where it originated, how it’s spread or why it is affecting people differently. The other mystifying part of the disease is the dreams it induces - are they flashbacks? Premonitions? Alternate realities? Are any of us really aware of what’s reality and what’s a dream?

I really loved this one. It’s written in a way that it almost reads like a dream itself. I listened to a lot of it on audio and the narrator is perfection if you are a fan of audiobooks. The story has such a light air to it as you follow the town and the virus that kept me completely hooked. It’s delicate and beautiful and quiet and delivered on everything I wanted. // ☕️☕️☕️☕️

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free download of this book! I was drawn into the dark, mysterious premise of it from the start and compelled to keep reading until about the middle of it. I started to feel cheated by the superficial nature of the character development. There were too many characters, and I didn't feel like any were explored in enough depth. I did keep reading, as I was curious about the resolution of the sleeping disease/epidemic in this small college town. Unfortunately, that was disappointing, too.

I loved this book. It was super suspenseful and interesting, kept me on the edge of my chair the whole way.

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

4 stars

"At first, they blame the air."

One day a college student comes back to her dorm after partying and falls into a deep sleep. She doesn't wake up. Then the sleep overtakes another student in the dorm and then another. The town of Santa Lora finds itself under the mysterious and elusive spell of deep sleep and no one knows where this disease has come from or what it wants from those that it claims. The Dreamers is an odd novel. It's very magical-realism but has tongue-in-cheek jabs at conspiracy theorists who don't believe that bad and mysterious things happen. It's a fun novel. I was so excited for this novel because it's odd enough to be right up my alley and the premise just sounds haunting. I am attracted to stories that have undertones of disbelief and dark themes. I want to preface that while this book tackles dark themes and topics, it doesn't not really feel like a dark novel. The tone feels very dreary and almost like you yourself wading through a dream. It's weighty while feeling weightless. Light while drowning in darkness and kind while showing the cruelness of the world. It's a novel of walking contradictions. A novel of humanity wrapped up into a small town and an odd virus that causes people to succumb to sleep. Karen Thompson Walker is a great writer. Her prose is strong and consistent throughout. One of my favorite things about her style is that her sentences are concise and to the point while retaining an air of infinity almost as if the period was more of a comma that wants to say more, but has that to say too much would be detrimental to the story. It's beautiful and captivating. However, it doesn't work in terms of characters. It works for the story and the elusiveness of consciousness and dreams, but I was never sold on any of the characters we follow because I didn't find myself becoming immersed in their minds, but only wading through their happenings like a random bystander.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 4.25

"There is kindness in not telling. There is love in covering up.

This novel follows multiple narratives. Mei is the one we follow the most and she is a young college student who is the roommate of the first victim to succumb to the sleep. I liked her narrative and her story took me by surprise, but I don't know if I would say if I was connected or even rooting for her. Sara is a teen whose father works at a janitor at the college and has been preparing for the end of the world. I really liked her narrative. It was filled with innocence and ease, but I felt disconnected from her and wanted to see more into her thoughts and terror. Ben is a new father who lives next door to Sara's family. I found his story to be the most interesting. Out of all the stories his made me the saddest, but even then, I didn't really feel like I was connecting to his emotions. We also follow Rebecca, but not out-right. She is taken by the disease early on, but her story is interesting because a baby is forming inside of her as she sleeps. I loved her ending and the way Walker wrapped up her ending.


Character Scale: 4

"The only way to tell some stories is with the oldest, most familiar words: this here, this is the breaking of a heart."

I do recommend this novel to people who enjoy novels that are very different. This is a quiet and slow-moving novel that will not be for everybody. I think that this novel will be a favorite for a lot of people and I recommend picking it up if it sounds interesting to you.


Plotastic Scale: 4.25

Cover Thoughts: I love the cover and the blocked lettering. It fits really well and it just looks nice.

Goodreads review posted. Twitter recommendation sent, Facebook recommendation to follow.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2717811244

Review Happy to receive a copy of this book from NetGalley, as I read and enjoyed Ms. Walker's previous novel, The Age of Miracles. This is a novel that I recommend more for the writing style than the actual plot. As previous reviewers mentioned, it has a dreamy aspect in which some characters don't get a lot of attention, and not everything is resolved/explained carefully. That being said, I really enjoy her writing style - crisp, straightforward descriptions with occasional lovely metaphors or turns of phrase that make me stop and read again. In style and mild 'sci-fi-ness,' my closest comparison is to Station Eleven. For me, I'd come back to this author a third time with few reservations.