This book is such an amazing piece of writing!! The themes of women being trapped and isolated and controlled is strong here., The premise of the book overall is so interesting, there is a way that they can tell a crime will be committed before it even happens, it is so futuristic (seemingly) and it was so interesting to read about, I love this book!!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

Lalami cleverly comments on the terrors of progressive technology in The Dream Hotel. The story takes place in the future where you can be “detained” for the content of your dreams. Even worse, you can be detained under this pretext while actually being subjected to a research study to which you have not consented.

Artificial intelligence is not equivalent to human intelligence until humans acquiesce their unique drive for self preservation. In this novel both the controllers and the controlled are essentially robots with the exception of the creative individual outliers who value their humanity above all else. Self awareness is is a gift not easily acquired and it is beyond the abilities of robotic intelligence.

The opening of this book is an absolute serve, one of the most grabbing pages I've read this year, easily. The premise of this story feels very conceivable in 2024 and I really enjoyed the world-building around all of the technology. It reminded me a little of the Black Mirror episode where your credit is how other's review you – the idea that if you're not an active surveillance participant, you're not able to do simple things like make purchases at a grocery store. The way that they describe the risk score and utilizing the algorithm without any discretion for who an individual was also felt a little too real for comfort.

I do wish there had been more exposition around Sara's relationship with her husband, and with what happened after she was released. I was really interested to learn more about how she reintegrated to society after being released and how her relationship with her family changed.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and I'll definitely recommend it, as it was super thought provoking and I didn't want to put it down!

4.25 stars.

As someone loved Kafka’s “The Trial”, I was incredibly excited to hear about this title which promises, and delivers, a thought-provoking journey through the byzantine nature of “justice systems” and probes (pun intended) how deeply society might rely on invasive technology. This was incredibly engaging from the start and had me tensing with rage and frustration throughout.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Dream Hotel comes out March 4, 2025.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free preview of this book.

Sara is coming home from a work trip when she gets detained by the Risk Assessment Administration (RAA), a government entity whose job is to prevent crime by profiling people based on their internet activity and evaluating their dreams (which they do through a chip inserted into their skull, whose intention is to help with insomnia). Sara is sent to a detainment camp for 21 days, but struggles to get released due to various infractions the guards create to keep her in. This for-profit detainment center makes money off of work the detainees perform while there.

The book is a look into how technology can track us, how algorithms can be wrong, how we should always read the terms and conditions, how government and companies can come together to the detriment of the public, and how delicate freedom can be.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the though provoking questions it brings up. On the face of it, identifying potential criminals for surveillance and retaining sounds like a good idea but the practical application is pretty unrealistic. I think the book had good pacing and kept me locked in, but it was sometimes I wish it was a little more subtle in his messaging and trust the readers to understand.

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

This book is such an eerie and thought-provoking read! The concept of a world where even dreams are monitored is terrifyingly plausible. Sara’s journey, being held under suspicion for a crime predicted by an algorithm, feels like a chilling reflection of our data-driven society. Lalami does a brilliant job weaving tension with big questions about privacy, freedom, and humanity. The slow unraveling of Sara’s time in the detention center and her fight against the system was gripping, though at times the pace dragged a little. Fans of speculative fiction with a political edge will really enjoy this one!

My first Laila Lalami book and I can see why she's so revered.

The Dream Hotel is clear, engaging and propulsive but most of all, separate from all the trash that's being piled up in the world. Almost Kafkaesque, save for the ending which is deeply unnerving and satisfying in its simplicity at once.

Sara is a strong character to the point that I found myself thinking of her even while I was not reading the book.

I'll definitely be recommending this book.

This book was such a well written and terrifying take on our society’s obsession with technology. I was rooting for the characters and also anxious for them. Not many books have that ability in my opinion. Such a masterpiece.

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of The Dream Hotel, by Laila Lalami, from Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Pantheon/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

One of my running schticks, if you will, on Facebook is to post about my dreams.

Some examples of such:

”I dreamed I went to work for a highly functionally integrated, heavily matrixed, cross-platform, full-service advertising agency focused on delivering its clients custom solutions -- in small disposable aluminum pans wrapped in clear cellophane and wide red satin ribbon.”

“I dreamed my preacher tried to take my flannel shirts away from me. 🙁”

“I dreamed last night about drinking cherry Kool-Aid, and man what wouldn't I give for a glass right about now . . . Also, Kiefer Sutherland took my giant metal bowl of lettuce.”

“I dreamed last night that I was covering a Fob James press conference, when suddenly he started throwing Mardi Gras beads at everyone, and then came out from behind the podium and tried to grab me and kiss me. I do not think I will eat my homemade peach/blueberry/red onion chutney that close to bedtime ever again.”

“I dreamed that I survived a vicious vampire attack at a dive biker bar in Milwaukee. After it was over, I was going around asking everyone if they had seen my large purse, which contained my red planner, which I really needed in order to continue with my projects.”

“I dreamed I had to lead a restructuring at work, and Vladimir Putin was one of the people I had to tell their position was being eliminated. I did not know what to wear.”

So, just imagine how worried somebody like me should be if the premise of The Dream Hotel ever becomes fully realized….that The Government can assign you a risk factor score in part based on what your dreams predict that you might be capable of doing.

Good God.

This book made me want to gnaw on my cuticles extra because of how plausible this particular dystopian future seems, complete with the various aspects of commercialization at play. At the same time, I felt no connection with any of the characters, even though I completely expected to with the main protagonist, especially. Everything just seemed emotionally flat.

So, 5 stars for the premise, 2 for the blah, equals 3 by my method of factoring.

PS
At this point there’s no real hope for me when it comes to living off the grid. I’m a junkie. But I do see the wisdom in following that path to the extent possible.

DESCRIPTION
From Laila Lalami—the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a “maestra of literary fiction” (NPR)—comes a riveting and utterly original novel about one woman’s fight for freedom, set in a near future where even dreams are under surveillance.

Sara has just landed at LAX, returning home from a conference abroad, when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside and inform her that she will soon commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, the RAA’s algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most: her husband. For his safety, she must be kept under observation for twenty-one days.

The agents transfer Sara to a retention center, where she is held with other dreamers, all of them women trying to prove their innocence from different crimes. With every deviation from the strict and ever-shifting rules of the facility, their stay is extended. Months pass and Sara seems no closer to release. Then one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and leading Sara on a collision course with the very companies that have deprived her of her freedom.

Eerie, urgent, and ceaselessly clear-eyed, The Dream Hotel artfully explores the seductive nature of technology, which puts us in shackles even as it makes our lives easier. Lalami asks how much of ourselves must remain private if we are to remain free, and whether even the most invasive forms of surveillance can ever capture who we really are.

The Dream Hotel is more about a future nightmare than those sometimes pleasant or sometimes confusing dreams that come in our sleep. These dreams in the future are not private. Nothing and nowhere is private when surveillance cameras, apps and implants monitor every aspect of ordinary life. Generations have lived like this and most not only accept it but welcome it in the name of safety. When Sara Hussein finds herself caught in a web where everything she says or thinks or dreams is looked upon with suspicion, she learns that it's not good enough to be good.

This story could be seen as science fiction, but unfortunately our modern society is coming very close to this as a reality. We display and celebrate the events of our lives via online social media. Our streets monitor our movements with security cameras planted on street poles, in stores and on our neighbors' homes. Financial transactions are electronically recorded in almost real time. Even our DNA has been submitted willingly for storage in databases that can be hacked.

I enjoyed reading this book immensely and it was as entertaining as it is thoughtful. Thank you Laila Lalami, Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami is a bleak, thought-provoking dive into a near-future dystopia that feels unsettlingly possible. It’s one of those books that sits with you long after you finish, leaving you questioning how much of your privacy you’ve already handed over to technology.

The premise is classic sci-fi: neural implants designed to help people sleep also record their dreams, and an algorithm flags potential criminals based on this data. Enter Sara Hussein, a mother and archivist, who finds herself detained at a private “retention facility” for allegedly planning to murder her husband—a crime she hasn’t committed. What follows is a Kafka-esque nightmare of bureaucratic delays, opaque rules, and the grim realization that the system designed to protect society is broken at its core.

What really makes this book shine is Lalami’s ability to weave big-picture issues like technology, justice, and surveillance with deeply personal storytelling. Sara’s character feels so real, and her struggles as an immigrant and mother add layers to the story. I do wish Lalami had delved into some of Sara's relationships—for example, the one with her husband—more fully. The story also dragged a bit at times, but that monotony kind of worked to mirror Sara’s own experience of being trapped.

This isn’t your typical action-packed dystopia. It’s more about the quiet, creeping horror of compliance—how easily we trade freedoms for convenience, and what happens when those trade-offs spiral out of control. It definitely reminded me of a bit of that Tom Cruise movie, Minority Report, as well as The Testaments by Margaret Atwood.

If you’re in the mood for a challenging, unsettling read that blends sci-fi with social commentary, The Dream Hotel is a must. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance review copy!

I wasn't sure I was in the mood for bleak dystopian sci-fi that could plausibly happen in the near future, but for Laila Lalami's writing I'll hold out. This was bleak all the way through and I had a pit of dread in my stomach the whole time I was reading this, but this author's writing style takes intimate touches to illuminate bigger ideas about the legal system, climate change, technology and privacy in a way that I found beautiful and gripping.

I almost gave it five stars but I wanted a little more consistency and depth in the relationships. I felt like I knew Sara Hussein's motivations well and her character development was strong, but I wasn't sure how I felt about her relationship with her husband, for example. I wanted more background on their struggles and history. I also wanted more about her complicated feelings about motherhood. And a lot of the pacing was monotonous.

The premise was a tried and true sci fi device, AI surveillance run amok, and very similar to Minority Report, but less action thriller oriented and more in the vein of women's fiction. The story and writing style also reminded me quite strongly of Hum by Helen Phillips. Add a dash of Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmares, the struggles of immigrants to assimilate to be safe, and the inherent bias in technology and the users of algorithms, and you get the Dream Hotel.

In the near future a company has implanted devices in our brains to help us sleep, but it also records our dreams. Data is collected from a variety of sources to help predict crimes. Interspersed with legal questions like due process for retainees vs detainees, philosophy and morality, the story follows Sara Hussein, who is stopped on a routine flight home from a London work conference and retained in a privately owned facility. An archivist by trade with two small children, she is suspected of intending to murder her husband. Bureaucratic delays and randomly applied rules extend her stay far beyond three weeks - because, since this wasn't techinically a prison, it fell into a legal gray area.

The changes were implemented after a large mass shooting at a Super Bowl game.

I usually like sci-fi when it teaches me something new, expands my view of the future with a reality I can't expect. I could predict the reality depicted in this story so it was more of literary exploration of human nature and the dangers of compliance than edgy sci-fi to me.

However, I thought it was fascinating how it illustrated the psychological motivations behind how easily we give up our privacy and freedoms in favor of the protection and convenience of technology, the blind ceding of the terms of service that can easily slide into corporate totalitarianism, and a bleak lesson for our times. Especially when the only solutions to stop it are revolting, thus adding to your criminal culpability, or living completely off grid and sacrificing community by protesting the ubiquity of the TOS.

A beautiful, thought-provoking, difficult, and very intense read. I'd describe it as the dangers of complying in advance to nightmare TOS's. I'm going to be better at reading those TOS after reading this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pantheon for an ARC of The Dream Hotel.

I seem to be in a very small minority here based on the other rave reviews, but I just did not care for this book. I had a hard time connecting with the main character because if I was separated from my children in a detention center for a year I would have a mental, physical and emotional breakdown...even the thought is unbearable to me, while the main character complained more about her lack of personal luxuries than she did about missing her infants. I also felt as though the pacing of the story was off as the middle 40-80% really seemed to drag without a lot happening and then the ending was very abrupt and anticlimactic.

Overall, a unique concept for a book that raises interesting questions about right and wrong in the ever-evolving world of technology, but one that ultimately fell flat for me.

2.5 stars

Dystopian novels always have my heart, and this book is no exception. This is an eerily plausible future where technology monitors every facet of your existence - from your social media interactions down to the minute details of your dreams. Personal "Risk Scores" are calculated by the government in hopes to detain criminals before they *may or may not* cause harm. However, that often doesn't go quite to plan, as you could imagine.

There were so many moments throughout reading this that I thought "yep, this sounds about right". Truly, the alternate reality that Lalami created in The Dream Hotel was so scary plausible that it often had my mind reeling. The reason why I love dystopian literature is because it's disturbingly similar to real life. So many important, real-world issues were layered into this story that it makes you sit back and wonder what could be. Beautiful and equally scary!

The book doesn't come without its flaws though. The pacing was too slow for my taste for a good portion of the book. We often bounce from present day back to past memories. While I usually enjoy flashes back to the past, this was done a little too choppily in my opinion and made it feel like the book was crawling at times.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable and resonant read for me! I highly recommend, especially for those that enjoy dystopian fiction.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an advance copy of this book.

Eerily plausible dystopian world ruled by technology and capitalism. It was depicted in a way where you can feel how far a “good idea” can go in way of harmful outcome.

As the book went on, I was hoping for more big scenes, but felt the book kept a fairly even pace throughout. I do feel that there were some unfinished answers in regard to some of the characters, but perhaps the author wants us to create our own storylines.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pantheon for this eARC in exchange for this honest review.

Sara’s plight begins when she lands at LAX, a relatable and mundane setting that quickly spirals into a Kafkaesque nightmare. The Risk Assessment Administration’s cold efficiency and the eerie precision of their dream-based algorithm set the stage for a story that is as much a critique of unchecked technological advancement as it is an intimate character study. Sara’s bewilderment, frustration, and eventual resistance make her a compelling and deeply human protagonist in the face of an oppressive system.

The retention center, where Sara and other women are held, becomes a microcosm of control, manipulation, and resilience. The ever-changing rules, arbitrary punishments, and the psychological toll of indefinite detention create an atmosphere of palpable tension. The novel raises profound questions about guilt, freedom, and the ethics of predictive policing—questions that feel both urgent and uncomfortably close to reality.

When a new resident arrives and disrupts the fragile order, the story shifts into an even more gripping gear. Sara’s journey toward uncovering the truth behind the RAA’s methods is suspenseful and thought-provoking, culminating in a collision of personal rebellion and systemic critique.

With its eerie setting, compelling characters, and unflinching look at the costs of surveillance, The Dream Hotel is a masterfully crafted dystopian tale that lingers long after the final page.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was FANTASTIC. Such an amazing book! Laila Lalami is soooo talened. Loved the themes, writing style and characters,

In the not so distant future, a few large companies monitor everything through the multitude of devices used — including one that promises to make sleep more productive by managing dreams. After a series of mishaps on her way home from a business trip to London, Sara Hussein gets detained and her dreams are used as evidence that she may try to hurt her husband in the future. So begins Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel, and her real and metaphorical nightmares have just started. I enjoyed this dystopian look into the future, and Lalami’s usually excellent writing made up for the slightly slow start and seemingly hurried finish. Readers who enjoy books about a surveillance-heavy future and don’t mind reading a lot of weird dreams will enjoy The Dream Hotel.

I feel incredibly conflicted by my feelings on this book. However, after weighing the masterful writing and how important the message is that it delivers on, I settled on four stars!

The terrifying future that we’re hurtling towards because of the casual use of AI is brought to life in this book. We follow Sara and her journey at Madison, which is what I would guess is a version of prison/retainment. The world tracks you based on your potential to commit a crime, and it’s all made possible because of algorithms and what the officials say are ‘other related factors.’ Your dreams, your friends, your actions. Every moment that is documented goes against your case. Similar to the world we live in, not much is explained to us and we’re forced to just hope that someday along the journey of reading this book, we’ll get let in on how to prevent these things from happening or why they happened in the first place.

The only quote I highlighted was from Chapter Four,

“To be a woman was to watch yourself, not just through your own eyes, but through the eyes of others.”

It was disheartening, stressful, and an eye opening experience that made me turn my attention to how absolutely terrifying artificial intelligence is and I don’t have any desire to live in a world where it exists <3

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book!