Media Reviews
"The premise calls to mind Philip K. Dick's The Minority Report, but Lalami's version is chillingly original, echoing widespread fears about the abuse of surveillance technology, and she balances high-concept speculative elements with deep character work. This surreal story feels all too plausible." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Stellar…There are echoes of The Handmaid's Tale here—as Margaret Atwood does in that book, Lalami builds a convincing near-future dystopia out of current events…But Lalami's scenario is unique and well-imagined—interspersed report sheets, transcripts, and terms-of-service lingo have a realistic, poignant lyricism that exposes the cruel bureaucracy in which Sara is trapped…And the story exposes the particular perniciousness of big tech's capacity to exploit our every movement, indeed practically every thought…Striking…An engrossing and troubling dystopian tale." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A gripping, Kafkaesque foray into an all-too-plausible future where data collection penetrates interior life, The Dream Hotel is also an elegant meditation on identity and what we sacrifice, unthinkingly, for the sake of convenience." —Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Candy House
"The Dream Hotel offers a stark vision of the future—in which America is a surveillance state, ruled by the intertwined forces of capital and government, powered by all-too-fallible algorithm that determines criminality based on citizen's dreams. That's plainly a metaphor for extant practices of social control, but Laila Lalami's extraordinary new novel is more than just a political warning; the book is an exploration of the psyche itself, the strange ungovernable forces of fate and emotion that make us human." —Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind
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Reader Reviews
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Lisa G. (Port Washington, NY)
Eerie and Gripping The Dream Hotel is a gripping and eerie dystopian novel set in the near future, where technology and societal control have reached new extremes. Although I rarely read dystopian fiction, I couldn't put this book down.
The story centers on a single, well developed character, Sara, whose personal journey is captivating and thought-provoking, as well as scary, Her experience with the increasingly invasive systems around her highlights the emotional and psychological toll of living in a highly surveilled world.
The novel raises important questions about the future of technology, privacy, and human freedom. It's a chilling yet captivating look at what could lie ahead. I plan to recommend it to my book club as I think it would lead to very interesting discussion.
Katharine P. (Boulder, CO)
Caught by agreeing to "terms of service" I've been thinking about corporate surveillance. I've also been worried about wildfires in Los Angeles. It's not because I'm watching the news. Oh no, it's because I've been reading this book. Remember what Benjamin Franklin said about liberty and security and deserving neither? It turns out it is misquoted, by the way, but the concept is apropos of this story.
In it, Sara is detained at LAX because her "risk score" has just exceeded 500. Protecting the populace from school shooters or violence due to political derangement is taken to a new level here, and everybody, through their social media accounts and data scraped from their smart kitchen appliances, is routinely analyzed by artificial intelligence (and data doesn't lie). She is "retained" for 21 days to protect her family and becomes trapped in a nightmare of a bureaucratic algorithm that should be familiar to all of us who have to "stay on hold," "press 2 for …" or text with a chatbot.
This book does not take place in the future. It feels like now. It is a fascinating, painful, essential, well-written read.
Alana G. (Palmetto Bay, FL)
A Thought-Provoking and Timely Read This is a well-written and thought-provoking book, perfect for fans of dystopian stories and women's literature. It feels very relevant to today's world, especially with concerns about privacy and how quickly we share personal information online.
The book makes you think about how companies collect our data and use it for profit, often without us realizing it. I also appreciated how the novel highlighted how profit-driven systems can lead to the mistreatment of people. It raises important questions about personal rights, especially for women, and how easily people can fall in line with unfair treatment.
The story is engaging and leaves you reflecting on these issues long after you finish. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys books that make you think about society and the future.
Betsey V. (Austin, TX)
Surveillance and danger I'll start off declaring that novels about dreams, dreams written in novels, manifesting in novels, and dreams engulfing novels (and typically written in italics) tend to bore me and cause me to skim. I'll criticize the writer for idly using dreams as metaphors, and subjecting the reader to eye-rolling symbolism. And "Dream" in the title? I nearly passed this one by. But it's Laila Lalami, and she's incapable of writing a bad book. So here I was, am vociferating, but in a good way.
Lalami killed it! In this, dreams are not used as a plot or character device. Dreams are monitored by a corporation that supplies the buyer with a voluntary implant to regulate their sleep cycle, and used to prosecute for future behaviors and potential retention in a facility. Shades of Minority Report, but thoroughly Lalami. She's good at writing a large cast of characters.
Sara lives with her husband and twin babies. Sleep disturbance in new motherhood—she has a job, too-- has made it impossible for her to stay on top of things in her waking life. Exhaustion has taken over. She agrees to an implant from a technology firm, and as we typically do, Sara scans the terms of service agreement rather than eyeballing the details. Shit happens, and she ends up being "retained," as they say—"not imprisoned" as they say, in a facility she can't leave freely until they decide to release her. Bad food, low water, strict rules that amplify feelings of confinement, and random petty violations that the not-jailers say retainees did, all ensure extended stays.
Profits for the facilities grow. And the reader is taken behind the scenes for a short but consequential chunk of pages. Various senior staff and talking heads appear and discuss achievements, ambitions, numbers, fault lines. I like that we can fill in some of the blanks ourselves.
Cruel guards and maximum monitoring with cameras, hearing devices, and personal devices are the norm. The State keeps records of our risk scores; above 500 and you're in trouble. Our algorithms determine our autonomy. If you have sleep problems and go to one of the contracted facilities, you put yourself inadvertently under closer scrutiny, and your deans come to their full attention—or, actually, their software's attention.
The tempo is impeccable, bar none. The mixture of interior thoughts and exterior action provide a pacey and chilling suspense story that will keep you madly turning the pages. There's never a dull moment. A hot friction between inmates and guards (and it's not lame) is clocked by the reader and had me trembling at times, almost panicked.
How Lalami does it, I don't know, but she's a flawless kneader of literary characters and theme with pulsating plot drama. These are the kinds of blockbuster books that are infrequent and desirous for readers that like to think more than they are fed. Lalami intuitively knows this, and writes compelling stories, not TV action-in-a-book. The encounters are realistic and never excessive or transactional.
The author explores humanity where one side has the power and the good guys have only their wits. They endure intense surveillance, nutritional deprivation, and utter vulnerability. The friends Sara makes in the facility become allies—except the ones that aren't. But nothing in this novel is clichéd or cut-out plot boiler. But boil it does!
If you like surveillance novels--stories of how technology has intruded on our lives, you will love this book for its technical smarts and emotional truth. Psychologically driven and far-reaching, The Dream Hotel is a futuristic nail-biter, but it feels like it is already here. It renders us at the mercy of things we can't control, moment by moment. Just the tools used at the retention facility are frightening.
What if every petty law we bend or break or arbitrary rule we ignore escalated into losing the privileges we take for granted? America is already headed toward a fascist government, so Lalami's story is a horrifying showcase of what we are facing in the present. The Dream Hotel is something that nightmares are made of!
"If only she could have something to eat or a glass of water, she would feel revived. Had she run a red light…neglected to pay for a parking violation…left the grocery store without scanning all her items? Had her phone pinged near a political protest or some kid of public disturbance?" There were also childhood tragedies and secrets in her family.
Laila Lalami is a confident and brilliant writer, and her narrative unfolds with effortless charisma. Yeah, Ms. Lalami has the 'ris.
Karen B. (Crestwood, KY)
Convincing near-future dystopia Laila Lalami's novel The Dream Hotel explores the growing reach of technology and the extent it infringes on our privacy, and ultimately, our freedom. In The Dream Hotel, Lalami asks, "What if someday even dreams are monitored?" Then, takes it one step further, asking, "What if our dreams can indict us?"
In an interview (https://lailalalami.com/the-dream-hotel/q-a/), the author indicated her intention was to write a "futuristic novel tethered to a recognizable present." She certainly succeeds, as the depiction of a highly surveilled carceral society is troublingly plausible.
Would shelf this alongside Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale or George Orwell's 1984 for its thought-provoking premise. However, I did find the ending somewhat abrupt and anti-climactic.
Eileen B. (Vero Beach, FL)
A Great Book I love Sci-Fi, and the idea of the government or a third party exploring our dreams and emotions isn't far-fetched. In the story, the protagonist, Sara, finds herself in a difficult situation after having the Dreamcatcher Device implanted to help manage the stress of motherhood.
The state begins monitoring her dreams and detains her following a trip, as they suspect she may pose a threat to her husband. The author has crafted a novel that engaged me from the very first page, although there were moments when I felt confused about one of the characters and the timeline.
However, as I continued reading, I was able to piece it together. The author effectively conveys the hardships, frustrations, and despair that Sara experiences while detained in a facility. Usually, I can figure out the ending, but this one surprised me. Great Job, Ms. Lalami
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