Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
By the New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Miracles comes a mesmerizing novel about a town transformed by a mysterious contagion that locks victims in perpetual sleep and triggers extraordinary, life-altering dreams. One night in an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a first-year student stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep--and doesn't wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics who carry the girl away, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital.
Then a second girl falls asleep, and then a third, and panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. As the number of cases multiplies, classes are canceled. A quarantine is established. Mei, an outsider in the hierarchy of dorm life, finds herself thrown together with an eccentric, idealistic classmate.
A psychiatrist summoned from Los Angeles attempts to make sense of the phenomenon as it spreads. Those infected, she discovers, are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, higher than has ever been recorded before. They are dreaming heightened dreams--but of what?
Gorgeously written, The Dreamers is a breathtaking novel, startling and provocative, about the possibilities contained within a human life--in our waking days and, perhaps even more, in our dreams.
Advance praise for The Dreamers
"Frighteningly powerful, beautiful, and uncanny, The Dreamers is a love story and also a horror story--a symphonic achievement, alternating intimate moments with a panoramic capture of a crisis in progress."--Karen Russell, author of Vampires in the Lemon Grove and Swamplandia
"A modern Midsummer Night's Dream . . . In this wonderful novel, Walker paints a haunting canvas exploring time, memory, consciousness, and youth."--Marisha Pessl, author of Night Film
Synopsis
A mesmerizing novel about a college town transformed by a strange illness that locks victims in a perpetual sleep and triggers life-altering dreams--by the bestselling author of The Age of Miracles, for fans of Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. In an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a freshman girl stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep--and doesn't wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics who carry her away, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. Then a second girl falls asleep, and then another, and panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. As the number of cases multiplies, classes are canceled, and stores begin to run out of supplies. A quarantine is established. The National Guard is summoned. Mei, an outsider in the cliquish hierarchy of dorm life, finds herself thrust together with an eccentric, idealistic classmate. Two visiting professors try to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. A father succumbs to the illness, leaving his daughters to fend for themselves. And at the hospital, a new life grows within a college girl, unbeknownst to her--even as she sleeps. A psychiatrist, summoned from Los Angeles, attempts to make sense of the illness as it spreads through the town. Those infected are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, more than has ever been recorded. They are dreaming heightened dreams--but of what? Written in gorgeous prose, The Dreamers is a breathtaking novel that startles and provokes, about the possibilities contained within a human life--in our waking days and, perhaps even more, in our dreams.
Synopsis
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE - An ordinary town is transformed by a mysterious illness that triggers perpetual sleep in this mesmerizing novel from the bestselling author of
The Age of Miracles.
"Stunning."--Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven - "A startling, beautiful portrait of a community in peril."--Entertainment Weekly One night in an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a first-year student stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep--and doesn't wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. When a second girl falls asleep, and then a third, Mei finds herself thrust together with an eccentric classmate as panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. A young couple tries to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. Two sisters turn to each other for comfort as their survivalist father prepares for disaster.
Those affected by the illness, doctors discover, are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, higher than has ever been recorded before. They are dreaming heightened dreams--but of what?
Written in luminous prose, The Dreamers is a breathtaking and beautiful novel, startling and provocative, about the possibilities contained within a human life--if only we are awakened to them.
Praise for The Dreamers
"Walker's roving fictive eye by turns probes characters' innermost feelings and zooms out to coolly parse topics like reality versus delusion. . . . It has] the perfect ambiguous frame for a tense and layered plot."--O: The Oprah Magazine
" Walker's] gripping, provocative novel should come with a warning: may cause insomnia."--People (Book of the Week)
"Powerful and moving . . . written with symphonic sweep."--The New York Times Book Review
"2019's first must-read novel . . . Alternately terrifying and moving . . . The Dreamers is overflowing with humanity."--Jezebel
"This is an exquisite work of intimacy. Walker's sentences are smooth, emotionally arresting--of a true, ethereal beauty. . . . This book achieves a] dazzling, aching humanity."--Entertainment Weekly
Karen Thompson Walker on PowellsBooks.Blog
I had always wanted to do these two things: to write books and to have children...
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