I enjoyed The Measure, so I went into The Poppy Fields with high hopes. The premise is intriguing — a future where we might ease our suffering and grief with a long, restorative sleep. But by the halfway point, I found myself wanting more. The plot and characters didn’t deepen in the way I’d hoped, and the arc felt predictable.

An interesting concept, but one I couldn’t fully engage with.

What an interesting book about grief and how we all deal with it differently and how if we could help ourselves deal with the grief-would we?! Such an interesting thought.
I thought this book was really well done and thought the characters were all so likable and each so unique in their experiences. And of course I loved the dog.
Definitely a book you need to discuss after and if you’d want to do it.

This is a road trip novel to The Poppy Fields, a place where those go to sleep away their grief. I loved Erlick’s first novel, The Measure, and was expecting more from this. The friendships made throughout this book were fairly bland. I expected more from the actual poppy fields, and not just the trip there.

The Poppy Fields fell short for me. The pacing was slow, the characters felt distant, and the emotional impact never quite landed. While the themes were ambitious, the story lacked depth and connection.

I listened to the audiobook, and while narrator Caroline Hewitt delivered a clear and steady performance, even her narration couldn’t bring the characters fully to life. Overall, a disappointing listen.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow, and HarperAudio Adult for an eARC and ALC of this book.

Nikki Erlick’s newest novel, *The Poppy Fields*, is a thoughtful exploration of grief. The plot centers on a provocative question: what if you could go to sleep for four to eight weeks and wake up no longer feeling the weight of overwhelming grief? The one catch is that there is a 25 percent chance you will wake up emotionally disconnected from the person you lost.

Erlick writes stories that spark deep discussion and are perfect for book clubs. My book club read her debut, *The Measure*, and I still ask people whether they would open the box. This book asks a different question, though it touches a similar emotional core. Grief for someone who has died is deeply personal, and not everyone has experienced it. Reading *The Poppy Fields* as someone who has gone through grief versus someone who has not will likely be a very different experience.

What I found most compelling was the moral weight of the decision. Choosing to sleep through grief while you are still in it is very different from reflecting on that decision after having survived the loss. For me, the central question of the book was whether grief should be carried rather than discarded. Erlick leans into this idea without offering a universal answer. Instead, she creates a cast of characters from different walks of life, each confronting the choice for themselves.

The story opens at an airport where a group of strangers, all stranded by flight delays, decide to drive together to the Poppy Fields lab in California. Each is going for a different reason. One woman has just lost her fiancé days before a wedding she was unsure about and wants to sleep. Another man is seeking answers after his brother went through the procedure and later died from an aneurysm. As they make the journey, each character examines their grief, carrying it with them even as they consider whether they can bear it any longer.

*The Poppy Fields* is an engaging thought experiment that wrestles with the burden of sorrow, the ethics of emotional healing, and the deeply personal nature of loss.

Thanks to Williams Marrow and Netgalley and for ARC.

The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick
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The Poppy Fields is a treatment center for grief. If your application is chosen then you will spend several months at the center sleeping through your grief. We follow three people who are trying to get to the center for reasons that are gradually revealed and see how they bond over their experiences.
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What I liked:
-I liked the concept of the center and how it would cause people to have strong feelings towards it.
-Each character had an emotional tugging story but I think I liked Ava’s most.
-There was a cool like twist to the story that I didn’t anticipate.
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3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I liked it but I found myself overhyped since I LOVED The Measure so much and was not able to adequately judge this story on it’s own merits.

I really wanted to love this book because I loved her first book, The Measure. However, I found this book very boring and I wasn't really rooting for any of the characters. The whole thing fell flat for me.

I enjoyed The Measure by this same author. I think speculative fiction is my go-to genre now. I like books that make you think. And I enjoyed all the Wizard of Oz connections throughout the book. I hope Nikki Erlick has many great books like this one hidden inside her!

I really enjoyed Erlick's debut The Measure but found the number of characters to be a bit much and confusing. This one has fewer featured characters, so it was a bit easier to become invested in each one. The book deals with grief and the many ways people handle it, and I really enjoyed seeing myself in characters but also seeing others' perspectives/views. I feel as if I'm probably in the minority on this, but I did enjoy this one more than The Measure (though I do really enjoy both).

📖: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝑭𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅𝒔
✍️: @nikkierlick
format: audio & physical

💭 Another grand slam by Nikki Erlick. She truly writes some of the most thought provoking stories. As someone who has experienced such a significant loss, I appreciate the way she handles the topic of grief so much. This book made me laugh & cry. It made me really think would I want to “sleep off” my grief & what that would mean. This book is character driven with people of different backgrounds all handling their own grief. It shows that everyone’s journey with grief is truly different. This book made me feel so seen & for that I’m forever grateful.

*the audio was fantastic!

5/5⭐️

Thank you @williammorrowbooks & @harperaudio for the advanced copies!

Absolutely lovely and heartwrenching. This worked even better for me than <i>The Measure</i>. I was thoroughly moved by the examinations of grief and the interweaving of the characters' stories. Nikki Erlick does an excellent job posing big, heady questions of morality without coming across as prescriptive or preachy, and she keeps her concepts grounded in character. Her writing is, as always, impactful and stunning.

Just like Nikki Erlick;'s previous novel, The Measure, The Poppy Fields is one of those books that makes you think. It'll make you think about grief, about love, and about family. And I'll be thinking doubt it for a long time. The characters are very endearing and the road trip is such a metaphor for getting to where you want to be in life. Great for a book group.

Nikki Erlick’s The Poppy Fields is a quiet, deeply reflective novel that asks one unforgettable question: if you could sleep away your grief, would you? In the California desert lies a facility that offers a medically induced slumber meant to ease heartbreak. Most people wake up lighter, at peace—but for a quarter of patients, the memories and attachments that once mattered most are gone.

The story follows four strangers—Ava, Ray, Sasha, and Sky—along with a loyal dog named PJ, as they embark on a road trip toward this controversial treatment center. Each is carrying their own brand of loss: the weight of guilt, fractured family bonds, or heartbreak that won’t loosen its grip. Erlick gives each of them depth and vulnerability, peeling back their layers through tender conversations, quiet moments, and unflinching honesty.

What I loved most was the way this book handles grief—not as something to “get over,” but as love that has changed form. The speculative premise is intriguing, but the novel’s true power lies in its character work and emotional resonance. The writing is thoughtful and empathetic, with a gentler pace that allows space for reflection.

While I wished for more time inside the actual Poppy Fields facility, the journey to get there mattered just as much as the destination. This is a book that lingers, sparking questions about healing, memory, and whether we’d still be ourselves without the pain we’ve endured.

Poignant and thought‑provoking, The Poppy Fields is perfect for readers who enjoy character‑driven stories that wrestle with moral and emotional complexity. It’s a softer, more contemplative follow‑up to The Measure, but no less moving.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Nikki Erlick captures our desire to just go to sleep for a bit so well in her new book The Poppy Fields. Erlick throws together four individuals on a road trip to find "something" to heal the hurt that they cannot run from. The Poppy Fields is an experimental destination where people can go to sleep for a set time - days to weeks or possibly months - in order to recover from a disastrous loss. The main characters in this story are on their way to The Poppy Fields when their flight gets canceled. In an act of fate, several of them band together to take a rental car to get to their destination. This is an examination of how grief impacts lives and what we can do to recover and emerge from our pain.

I was really intrigued by this book because it was so unique. I enjoyed the characters and thought learning about each of their backgrounds was very entertaining. This isn’t my usual type of read but I thoroenjoyed it and would recommend to others. Thank you netgalley for my free review copy.

Nikki Erlick's The Measure was one of my favorite reads in 2023 so I knew I had to read her new novel. I am thankful to William Morrow Books and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy to share my review.

The premise is based on a controversial treatment center, The Poppy Fields, located in California where grieving patients can choose to sleep through their sorrow and wake up 4 to 8 weeks later feeling better. The plot follows various characters and their journey to visit The Poppy Fields, each with his or her own agenda. Erlick is a thoughtful writer and the storyline immediately pulled me in to becoming invested in all the characters. I always look for character development in the novels I read and this one certainly hit the mark. I highly recommend this book to people who enjoy reading hopeful fiction with thought-provoking issues that are character driven.

I really enjoyed this thought-provoking and character-driven look at life after loss. The inspiration and references to "The Wizard of Oz" were fun, and the premise left a lot to discuss - this book is perfect for book clubs!

Thanks to William Morrow for the copy to review.

The Poppy Fields is the kind of book that lingers. Lush, atmospheric, and emotionally layered, this story pulled me in right away and didn’t let go. The writing is absolutely gorgeous—poetic without ever feeling overdone—and the themes of grief, love, and memory are handled with such care.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the early copy of this book!

I loved Nikki Erlick’s first book The Measure, so I was really excited to read her next work. In this book, a treatment center called the Poppy Fields promises to help you with your grief—by putting you into an induced slumber so you can sleep through the worst of it. But there’s a catch: you might not care as much about the person you lost when you wake up.

I always appreciate that Erlick’s novels really question how we as a society would react to technology like this, and the idea of being able to sleep through your grief is so fascinating to unpack. Unfortunately, I ended up DNFing after 43% because I was feeling disconnected from the characters and losing interest in the overall premise. By almost halfway through the book, I wanted to care more the characters and their journeys, but I don’t remember much about them as I write this review. To be fair, I’ve been feeling pretty distracted lately due to changes in my own life, so I think a reader who is able to dedicate the time and energy that this book deserves will enjoy it more than I did.

I’m sorry to say this was another miss for me. 🥴
But I will say that it could still be a solid maybe for you!

This book is a work of speculative fiction (one of my fave genres)! It centers around a newfound treatment for grief- a month long sleep that causes patients to wake up feeling less pain following a great loss in their life. The concept is brilliant! But for some reason, I went into this expecting some kind of Severance-like intrigue and action. I was hoping we’d be inside the treatment facility and that one of the main characters would have been a sleeper. My mistake!
The book is instead much more contemplative with a ton of commentary about the ethical implications of the sleep as four strangers embark on a roadtrip to visit The Poppy Fields. That’s all well and good, but I was surprised by how flat the story felt considering how heavily it revolved around grief. Stylistically, I thought it really struggled with pace and emotional connection. There are a ton of breaks for articles and interviews, which often work well for more propulsive plots lines (like a thriller), but I didn’t really care hearing from random characters. Imo, it took away from time that could have been spent developing the main characters, who I just did not feel invested in.
All to say, I should have been more thorough in reviewing the synopsis! I know many have loved, and think it’s likely many will enjoy.