Book Review: The Dreamers

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If The Dreamers, my first read of 2020, is any indication of what my reading year will look like then it will be an amazing one. Karen Thompson Walker provides action, plot, character development and true terror in her dystopian novel. We are taken on a rollercoaster ride that is spurred by contagion, hysteria, 'fake news', constraints of medicine, human emotion and ultimately asked the question: is our perceived reality just a dream? Could our dreams be reality?

Relevancy
When I read The Dreamers, one month ago from time of writing this review, I had never heard of the coronavirus. As of posting this 500+ people have died in China from coronavirus and thousands are infected. The flu-like virus is slowly starting to infiltrate countries around the world which have resulted in countries closing their border, huge population areas being under strict quarantine, cancelled flights and travel, and the WHO declaring a pandemic.
I thought The Dreamers was quite disturbing at the time that I read it. Today I think it's terrifying to think that Walker may have predicted the future to a certain degree. It may not be the sleep virus she created for her novel; but any scenario where thousands of sick people need medical care and quarantine will result in complex politics, human rights discussion, and ultimately questions around what is needed to save the human race. Walker adds the further dystopian element that those infected cannot advocate at all for themselves and require sustained hydration and feeding in order to remain alive (assuming they wake up at all).
As I call this a dystopian novel I wonder if it may be more of a near-future prediction, or even be telling a parallel story to events happening right now, for 2020 and on. This is an interesting quote when we think about morality and reality, The Dreamers is riddled with wonderfully quotable lines like this:

"..time moves in only one direction. Not everything that breaks can be repaired."

Points of View
Every POV an author adds to any story has a purpose. Often it's to give us a larger picture of what is happening, another perspective on the same events or to allow us to understand why something happened the way it did. Walker uses POV's so well in The Dreamers from: media snippets, children's thoughts, parents fears and college students stuck at the epicentre of the outbreak. Walker touches on many realistic scenarios that could, and probably would, exist when a quarantine of a town, city or area happens. This includes children whose parents fall ill, travelers with nowhere to go, risk of infection to first responders, infants being born, vulnerable isolated elderly, and every time of person you can think of in-between. The Dreamers provides a well rounded out account of the types of resource constraints, inconveniences and extreme decisions that must be made in a pandemic crisis.

Realisticness
At times I felt perhaps Walker simplified or exaggerated the risks of contagion, medical diagnosis and other scientific pieces to the story. However I remind myself that The Dreamers is a fiction novel, not based on a true story, and these literary choices are absolutely allowed. In fact given the amount of research that Walker clearly put into The Dreamers it is probably intentionally skewed to make the story easier to consume and follow; plus her disease is made-up so she gets to define the rules. It may feel easy to to nitpick at some of the events, statements or science; I would encourage any reader to consider the complexity Walker is presenting the reader and how she gets many more things correct than otherwise. Not unlike the science and concepts in The Martian; it's more than good enough to make for a (fairly) realistic and definitely enjoyable story.

Overall
When I read The Dreamers four weeks ago it was scary and felt relevant. Today, just over 30 days after reading, with coronavirus spreading (and killing) quickly, this story is even more of a horror than I first realized in al the ways you might expect and more.
I'll leave you with a quote that I think is the truest statement in The Dreamers. This quote has really stuck with me as it reminds me that a viral or contagious virus isn't the only concern during an outbreak. I believe this statement by Walker will forever influence my future actions, decisions and choices personally and above all else medically:

"Hysteria—that’s the real disease of this era."

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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