The Dreamers is a science-fiction novel by the American writer Karen Thompson Walker, published on January 15, 2019, by Random House. Walker's second novel details an ominous sleeping virus that sweeps over the fictional town, Santa Lora, in Southern California. The story follows a group of college students and families, and explores their experiences with everlasting sleep and heightened dreams.
The Dreamers has received mixed reviews from critics. The novel has been critiqued for its lack of characterisation and dramatic tension. However, it has also been praised for its lyrical prose and unique storyline. Walker has also been commended for the sentimental value that is embedded in her story.
Contents
Background
Walker uses writing as a way to combat anxiety and fear for possible future disasters, which influenced her decision to write her first novel, The Dreamers as a psychological realism story. Walker spent five years thinking about the plot of her novel and conducting research into the logistics of sleep. Walker noted that one of her inspirations for the storyline came as a result of this intense process, as it made her realize how humans "haven't figured out why we sleep and dream." Walker claims that what interests her as a writer is how individuals react in situations of extreme disaster, a fascination that allowed her to consider what would happen if sleep became a contagious virus. Moreover, Walker claims that Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go, was a major inspiration that had an immense impact on the way she combined aspects of psychological and emotional realism with speculation. Ann Patchett’s novel Bel Canto, was another creative influence that helped her manage a plentiful cast of characters. Walker also noted that what she loves most in literary fiction are, "the characters, beautiful sentences, and the language," which comprises the structural focus of her novel.
Additionally, Walker claims that the premise for The Dreamers grew out of her debut novel, The Age of Miracles. Her first novel explores the various ways humans would suffer from the sudden halt of Earth during orbit. Out of this idea came the question of how an individual's sleeping schedule might radically change.
Plot
The story begins with a college student, Kara Sanders, who after a night out, returns to her college dorm room with symptoms of drowsiness. The following morning, her roommate, Mei, a first year college student, dismisses her sleeping figure for tiredness. However, when Mei returns to the dorm room in the afternoon, she finds Kara in the same position she was in when she left. Mei calls the paramedics, who rush Kara to hospital, where her heart rate slows down to a complete stop and she is declared dead. Soon after, Rebecca, another girl from the same dorm floor, falls victim to the sleeping virus. Rebecca's heart rapidly slows and she is deemed unconscious; however, her pulse remains completely stable; her only symptom is deep sleep. Unknowingly, at the time of her comatose state, Rebecca is also a few days pregnant.
A janitor from the college, Thomas Peterson, who worked on the same dorm floor as the sleeping virus victims, returns home to his two daughters, Sara and Libby. He proceeds to prepare his daughters for isolation from the virus. Meanwhile, panic ensues on the dorm floor when it is believed that the sleeping virus could be highly contagious. As a result, the dorm floor is quarantined. It is announced that a third girl from the same dorm floor has lost consciousness. With each of the cases, it is confirmed through the mapping of brain activity that the sleepers are dreaming. It is also concluded that there is more brain activity in these sleepers than there ever has been in any human brain.
On the fourteenth day of the outbreak of the sleeping virus, a researcher concludes that the virus is airborne, traveling in a similar manner to the measles and the flu. The patients, nurses, and visitors from Santa Lora Hospital at the time of the announcement are all quarantined and their ventilation is cut off.
During a wildfire that breaks out in Southern California, Thomas becomes a victim of the sleeping virus and will not wake up, leaving his two daughters, Sara and Libby, alone in their house. During the fire, the college kids escape quarantine. Mei decides to take cover with Matthew in a vacant house.
Nathaniel, a biology professor at Santa Lora college, goes to visit Henry, his lover, at a nursing home. The doctors say that Henry has a counterintuitive symptom related to the sleeping virus that is not present in the other victims, as he suddenly starts talking, after being comatose for years. He is one of the only victims of the sleeping virus where the sickness works in the opposite way; it enhances life and consciousness rather than diminishing it.
Main characters
Walker uses third-person narration in order to manage a large cast of characters, including a number of college students, couples, and families. The benefit of working with a multitude of characters is Walker's ability to "telescope in and out among these characters' experiences and the college town, animating both intimate and panoramic moments of the plague."
Kara Sanders – A student from Santa Lora College, and the first victim of the sleeping illness.
Rebecca – The second victim of the virus from the same college dorm floor. During her dream-like state, she is pregnant with a baby girl. She is one of the final victims to wake up. She was asleep for “almost a year.”
Mei – The character at the "heart" of the novel. Kara's roommate. She hides out with a boy from the college dorm floor, Matthew, in a vacant house during the quarantine of the town.
Matthew – Another student from Santa Lora College. He joins forces with Mei during the quarantine. They work together to help the victims of the virus.
Catherine – A neuropsychiatrist working at Santa Lora hospital.
Sara – A twelve-year-old girl who lives with her little sister, Libby, and their father, Thomas. Her mother died when she was young.
Nathaniel – A senior professor of biology at Santa Lora College. He is in a relationship with Henry, another senior professor. For the duration of the novel, Henry is in a nursing home in a comatose state.
Ben and Annie – The married couple who live next door to Sara, Libby, and Thomas. Ben is a professor of literature, and Annie is a professor of science. They have a newborn child.
Adaptation
In September 2020, it was reported that ABC was developing a television series adaptation of novel. The series will be produced by Touchstone Television with Marta Kauffman, Hannah Canter, and Warren Littlefield as writer and executive producer.
Reception
Hannah Beckerman of The Guardian claims that “not all of Walker’s characters are quite so well-rounded," as she states that Catherine's separation from her daughter, whilst quarantined in Santa Lora Hospital, “lacks the urgency and angst that one might expect to accompany an enforced separation." Beckermann continues, declaring that the story does not have enough “dramatic tension," as it is obvious to the reader that many of the characters in the extensive cast will fall victim to the sleeping virus, however, through lack of characterization, the reader does not “care enough about which of them will survive.” Despite these criticisms, Beckermann states that there is a “hypnotic quality to Walker’s writing," through her lyrical prose. Writing for The New York Times, Dwight Garner claims that none of Walker's characters “says or does an interesting thing.” He expresses the blandness of the characters’ internal monologue and dialogue. However, Garner also praises Walker for the sentimentality in her writing. He mentions how Walker weaves the fear of the climate crisis into her novel, particularly through the Santa Lora drought and Thomas’ dream about the collapse of one of Antarctica's largest ice caps, leaving Los Angeles underwater. Writing for The Washington Post, Sheila McClear, describes Walker's writing as “evocative” and calls the plot “bewitching.” David Canfield, writing for Entertainment Weekly, states that Walker's novel is an “exquisite work of intimacy” due to the author's avoidance of “typical disaster plotting.” He claims that Walker imbues “dazzling, aching humanity” in her exploration of the major themes in her novel, including the “conscious experience of loss, fear, and heartbreak.” Furthermore, writing for Readings, Amanda Rayner praises Walker's “choice of virus” for the “great dramatic implications” that it brings. She also commends the novel for its “compelling” capabilities as a “disaster novel” and as a “deeper meditation on dreams, consciousness and time.” While Kirkus Reviews describes The Dreamers as a "provocative, hypnotic tale" that asks compelling questions about the "nature of consciousness" and "loyalty and love that binds people together".