The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami was another middle of the road read for me. I like the premise, scary as it is for this time that we are living in today. However, it just never did enough to keep me interested in the life of the female main character. I think that thiis could have been great if it was developed more. I think even a three is being generous here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pantheon for the advance readers copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts are my own.

This was published at exactly the right time (any later and would have just been pure reality). It was at times extra painful to read because of that, but also gave me so much hope. Thanks to the publisher for the e-arc, will be thinking of Sara for a long time.

3.5 stars. Thank you to Net Galley and Knopf, Pantheon for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. The idea for this book was interesting. We follow Sara who has just been flagged as someone who will commit a crime in the near future (like Minority Report). She supposedly going to harm her husband and she's to be kept in confinement for 21 days. When she gets to the facility, it's mainly filled with women and in time she leaves that the rules keep changing and people are detained indefinitely as there's always that something that comes up. She then meets a new detainee who changes Sara perspective an together they start to fight the system. The book brings to light many of the social issues related to detention, technology, how immigrants are treated and how corrupt and badly our systems work. It also questions how we use technology and the assumptions that are made as well as we judge people and can we ever truly be know. The ending of the book felt abrupt and a letdown but I enjoyed the ideas incorporated into the story.

4.5 Stars. This story had a deep, intentional slowness, meaning it kept the reader close to the protagonist but also moved with good pace. The small details stand out, and keep the reader engaged. The story itself is a great concept, and has a really interesting dystopian vibe, and I could see it being picked up for a tv series. Thank you Penguin Random House for the Advanced Reader Copy.

Just returning from a work trip overseas, Sara is surprised to be taken aside at the airport by agents of the Risk Assessment Administration. Her risk score is a little elevated, and the algorithm indicates she will likely soon commit a crime. That means that she’s taken to a retention center, where she and other women also deemed to be high risks are monitored and assessed. Theoretically, they only will be held there for 21 days, but in practice, most are held for months as their dreams are watched for dangerous tendencies and they invariably get time added for breaking one or more of the constantly changing rules.

Sara longs to be released from the “not-a-prison” that sure feels like one and reunited with her husband and young children. She’s told if she just keeps her head down and follow the rules, her chances to leave will be better, but after months and more months, she begins to think there must be another way.

The Dream Hotel has a similar premise as “Minority Report,” that people in the future will be essentially arrested for the possibility of their committing a crime. Here, there are no sedated psychics who see future crimes; a well-fed algorithm makes the predictions. There are some new technologies that we don’t have now, such as neuro implants that are intended to help people get better sleep but which also provide data to authorities on people’s dreams. There are even more data points from other technologies, too, than what is available now, but it’s not a lot different. That’s what makes it so disturbing: we know that government and private businesses know a lot about us because of the devices we use and the data collected from them. A scenario like that in The Dream Hotel is just a logical next step.

Most of the book is hard to read because it’s so depressing; many innocent women are held in a prison, their rights taken away, almost but not technically forced to work to enrich the prison business. I wasn’t entirely sure how Lalami would conclude the book, but I admit I wasn’t quite expecting what did happen. It just didn’t feel like it tracked with the rest of the story. I also thought that some plot threads, which turned out to be pretty important to the story, weren’t balanced with the rest of the book as well as they should have been. I thought the book could have used another solid edit before being published.

Even so, The Dream Hotel is a thought-provoking book.

The Dream Hotel is a dystopian story centered around a woman named Sarah Hussein who is traveling back from London to Los Angeles from a business trip. As she is contemplating the strain of her husband circling the airport with the twin babies in the vehicle, she gets flagged by security for further questioning. She is annoyed by the delay but isn't immediately alarmed. Unfortunately the system now included expanded surveillance, including dreams. A point system is in place that labels the risk someone is to society. Sarah falls slightly above the "safe range" into the risky range. This leads to detention due to a possibility of her harming her husband. Anyone retained is told that their detention is only for three weeks but this requires perfect behavior according to the handbook, a situation that is subjective and nearly impossible to achieve.
The story is compelling and certainly thought provoking in today's environment. Given the targeting of brown and Black people, this is even more of a warning. However, while I think the enhanced surveillance today is on this path, the invasive type of surveillance is futuristic. It is a slippery slope. It is too easy to imagine this sort of system becoming reality as our devices become more AI driven and invasive. Definitely makes you think.
I didn't love the ending. It seemed too abrupt given the previous story line. It also is reminiscent of many previous books in the dystopian genre.
It is still a good read and recommended!

#TheDreamHotel #NetGalley #KnopfPantheonVintageand Anchor #Pantheon

Largely a very enjoyable read! The second half was a bit weaker because I was hoping to see more about Sara's case but the focus was on the strike which was a bit repetitive

This was a captivating and interesting story from the beginning. It felt almost too close to our current future. I highly recommend!

Laila Lalami’s Dream Hotel was just what I was looking for, a sci-fi mystery in a technologically advanced future. With a world careening towards increasing surveillance, this book projects us into a version of that future, detailing the effects this world has on us socially. With echoes of Black Mirror and Minority Report, this book has created a space of its own within the genre, compelling us to ask are we ready for a future that looks like this?

When I enter a room and everyone is on their phone, I usually think of WALL-E. Now, I think of The Dream Hotel. This book effortlessly infuses science fiction with artifacts of our current technology-laced lives that make it feel like it's already happening. I could not get this book off my mind. I thought about it each time I picked up my phone, went to work, or saw someone talk about tracking sleep with their smart ring. To me, this is required reading.

Overall Rating: 2.5/5

I really hated DNFing this book, but when it starts to feel like a chore to finish…. I have to let it go. I also picked up the audiobook thinking it would be better as an immersive read… it didn’t help.

I got to 67% of this read and still didn’t feel connected to the characters. Everything and everyone felt very flat. The most interesting thing about this book is its concept. Which we never see explored in a way that’s gripping or exciting. So it ultimately felt like a waste of potential. While there some interesting takes on algorithmic biases and dream policing, it’s nothing that feels truly sharp, captivating, or original.

In my opinion this boon shouldn’t really be marketed as a Sci-fi read. It lacks the pacing and tension of that genre completely. Many readers will be disappointed by that, but I think Literary Fiction readers will enjoy it more

Thanks to Pantheon and Netgalley for this egalley.

The idea of spying on people’s dreams to predict future crimes is super intriguing and feels like something that could happen someday. However, the pacing was slow and I just couldn’t really connect with any of the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley, Pantheon, and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for a honest review.

2.5-3 stars

The beginning was really intriguing but the plot fell off at the end. There were so many storylines that fell flat or were not touched on at all. It felt unfinished

In my opinion, The Dream Hotel is a thought-provoking story that brings up essential questions about the balance between security and freedom. Dream hotels exploration of (frankly) relevant issues makes it a perfect thought experiment about limits and technology. When are we crossing a line.

"The algorithm knows what you're thinking of doing, before even you know it."

Unputdownable book about a dystopian future where technology is unwittingly used to rob people of their rights. Sara, like others you will meet, is taken in for “retainment” after miscommunication and a high score for a prevalence for violence, which was detected by a neurotransmitter she had implanted to help her sleep. And so the nightmare begins. Her dreams continue to haunt her at night, while preventing her from being released.

Her situation is terrifying, not only due to Sara’s loss of personal rights, the inhumane treatment, and the technological worship combined with pseudoscience that distorts people’s perceptions, but because our current world does not seem too far behind. Perhaps we are already there.

While I was completely engaged by this story, I would have appreciated if the side characters had been embellished more, particularly the background of the other inmates. Also, I wished there had been some closure with Julie’s character and mission.

4.5 ⭐️, rounded up.

In a world where you can predict crime before it happens, are you guilty even if you are not allowed to commit it? This was a thought-provoking novel. When Sara is detained, when they have reason to believe she is going to harm her husband, she is sent away to the Dream Hotel. While reading, I found myself thinking Do I want to live in a society that accuses one before they are even guilty? A futuristic novel with a great plot that may not be so far away. With a strong main character who is a fighter. The ending was well orchestrated, even though I was well invested and not ready for the end. Laila Lalami created a unique world in this wonderful science fiction novel.

Laila Lalami is a bit of a hit and miss author for me, and I'll admit that I haven't always liked what others do in her writing. I absolutely loved The Moor's Account but was not so impressed with The Other Americans. For me, this one falls somewhere in the middle. I thought the premise was interesting, and the dystopian themes certainly showed the range that Lalami has in her writing. The book certainly raised my concerns about privacy and surveillance and I thought the hotel setting was eerie in all the best ways. That said, I think the balance of story and commentary was a bit off and I was as invested in the book as I would have liked to have been.

I SWEAR I reviewed this title at the time I read it, but I don't know where the review went! And now, the details of what I would've said escape me. Here's what I do remember:

I didn't love this one, but I didn't hate it either. For a character driven book to work well, the vaguely dystopian world that is its backdrop doesn't necessarily need to be airtight, because it isn't the focus. However, I still would've liked to have a better understanding of how and why this pre-crime detainment became the preferred solution for all violent crime. The terrible delays, dismissals, and lies regarding her communication with the outside, her hearings, and her care felt very realistic to me. The premise overall didn't so much, and I think it could have if there'd been just a bit more finessing. I think that the focus on her dreams is part of the problem - it seemed more of a literary device than a plot device, to allow us to explore her memories and her inner world. I know that she was supposedly detained because of a violent dream, so perhaps it could have been a plot device, but it never really goes that route. Plus, there's so much doubt around what she "did" or didn't do to be detained, that the dreams really are beside the point. I think she might be recording her dreams as some kind of evidence for her case (again, I'm writing this months later, can't totally distinguish facts vs my impressions at this point), but nothing really comes of it. Turns out it's just about as boring to read a character's dream journal in a book as it is to hear a coworker tell you about their dreams. The concept of dreams and their content really didn't seem worth naming the book after - why is this book called "the dream hotel" anyway? Not everyone is there because of a dream they had - in fact, I don't remember anyone else being there specifically for dreams or recording their dreams in any way.

Overall, I think I would've liked this concept better if it had been written by Helen Phillips, but I'll still take a look at whatever Lalami writes next.

I had such high hopes for this one being a Jenna pick. The premise was very interesting following dreams giving light into a “prison system” along with how important algorithms can affect your life. However, it took me a long time to read and get into a grove. This should have been a DFN for me but something keep pulling me in.

Thank you NetGalley and Pantheon for this copy.

I read Dream Hotel in just a couple of sittings, it completely pulled me in. The idea of a company tracking and analyzing dreams was so creepy but fascinating, and it really made me think. It felt like something that could actually happen someday, which made it even more unsettling.

What really stuck with me, though, was the emotional side, especially the sadness of the main character not being able to be with her babies while they were still so young. That hit hard. Even with all the tech stuff, it felt really human and honest. A heavy, interesting read that stayed with me. Loved it.

Thank you NetGalley and Pantheon for this ARC!