The Dreamers eschews typical disaster plotting; there’s no Purge-level anarchy or menace. Instead this is an exquisite work of intimacy. Walker’s sentences are smooth, emotionally arresting—of a true, ethereal beauty ... we’re invited into the dreamers’ worlds, and there, in the slumbery depths, this book achieves its dazzling, aching humanity.
Most captivating is a paranoid doomsday-prepper who lives with his two young daughters—and has been waiting for a day like this ... Walker uses evocative language to describe the almost bewitching nature of contagion ... The novel reads like a thriller, with every chapter—sometimes every scene—ending on a cliffhanger.
... inventive, well-crafted ... Seamlessly, the author circulates through the town and a specific constellation of characters ... [Walker's] choice in perspective — combined with the use of the present tense — produces an immediate and urgent portrait of the mounting public health crisis and how the characters’ lives are shaped by the epidemic. Here and there, the narrative gallops at an accelerated pace, almost tilting toward the melodramatic, but, for the most part, Walker bypasses this pitfall. At the same time, despite the dire circumstances, the omniscient narrator’s voice, buoyant yet sympathetic, propels things along. There are a few minor missteps — convenient plot turns and character developments... but these are easy to overlook ... Taken altogether, [Walker] produces precarious, tender portraits of parents and children — newborns, teenagers and adults — and suggests that these relationships are what save us in the end.
Walker has a gift for spooling out [the novel's] details, as if we are kittens and she is trailing string ... Walker needs to keep the plots of her novels spinning, like plates on sticks. When the action slows, you realize what a limited and sentimental novelist she too often is ... None of these characters says or does an interesting thing. Anarchic instincts and impure thoughts are kept to the barest minimum. Minds race in neutral. Reading this book’s bland dialogue is like watching players on center court use dead tennis balls ... Walker knows what to do when she’s sinking her initial hooks into her readers. But she’s such a mild writer here that a true sense of menace is never allowed to bloom.
The Dreamers is a lovely and weird book ... Walker proves particularly adept, unpacking complex ideas about relationship dynamics ... Walker’s stylistic choices allow us multiple viewpoints into the burgeoning chaos brought forth by the descent into extended slumber; short chapters careen from perspective to perspective, allowing us our own frenetic glimpses of fear, determination and despair ... There’s a haunting quality to The Dreamers. The gentility of its prose grants the element of surprise to narrative twists and emotional power; Walker eases you into moments that elevate your level of engagement slowly, subtly. Nothing is telegraphed, yet everything flows seamlessly. Even with the constantly-shifting POV, everything unfolds with a deft smoothness. Compelling characters, genuine emotional stakes, thoughtful themes and a central premise rich with potential—The Dreamers checks all the boxes. Walker has written a hell of a book, one whose propulsive narrative sense marries nicely with the relative understatement of its themes.
[Walker] presents even the most heartbreaking details... as if they’re simply the facts of life in stressful times ... But, while Walker is ruthless in insisting that the disease strikes at random (meaning: no, being adorable will not save a newborn), she seems reluctant to make us invest too heavily in any of the novel’s dozens of characters ... Walker writes beautifully about the things that define how a society either endures or collapses in crisis, a theme that may never have been more timely than it is now.
... a dream-like, sleepy, and somewhat surreal tale, but one that is also often beautiful and disturbing ... Weaving together the stories of several of the residents, The Dreamers initially appears straightforward and chronological ... However, when a sleeper wakes with horrible visions of another catastrophe, one that has not yet happened, the straightforward nature of the book and of time itself comes into question.
Readers will be drawn in by the telling as Walker manages to create spare prose that nonetheless conveys great detail, an approach that works well to add a bit of tension to this simultaneously languid and lush tale.
The Dreamers does more than satisfy both the horror geek and the literary nerd. With clinical precision and psychological depth, Walker delivers a vivid embodiment of our ongoing national anxiety.
[Walker] excels at wielding the storytelling power of cataclysm without ever losing sight of its effects on individuals ... Walker brings the frightened residents of Santa Lora into focus with simple yet potent sketches, investing us in their lives ... But don’t expect concrete explanations. Walker is deliberately vague on what the intense dreaming means.
Walker’s prose is hauntingly beautiful, jumping into the future to put Santa Lora’s experiences into a larger perspective ... the easily recognized characters are not a deficit, even if that predictability feels at odds with the unique plot. Walker keeps the focus on the virus itself and the anxiety it engenders among residents of Santa Lora. She taps into a primal fear of the unknown, as doctors and experts struggle to understand what is happening to their patients. That Walker leaves unanswered questions about the virus doesn’t feel like a cop-out. Instead, it feels like an extension of the dilemma facing those who wake up, struggling to determine where their dreams end and life begins ... a powerful examination of people doing their best to hold things together under extreme circumstances.
Ms. Walker’s simple, direct language allows readers to focus on the questions she raises ... The ethical dilemma at the heart of the plot is far less subtle ... When readers wake up from Ms. Walker’s speculations, they’re once more left alone in their search for meaning in a broken world. Some will find this disappointing, but those who prefer the journey to the destination will consider it time well spent. A thought-provoking read for our troubled times.
Not all of Walker’s characters are quite so well-rounded, however ... Overall, the novel lacks the dramatic tension the story demands: we know that some of the characters will inevitably succumb to the virus, but we don’t care enough about which of them will survive. There is, nonetheless, a hypnotic quality to Walker’s writing ... Observations come in affecting, economical prose ... Lyrical and beguiling, The Dreamers is a deeply immersive novel ...
[A] science-fiction fairy tale ... What is the nature of an epidemic? What is the nature of consciousness? What mix of loyalty and love binds individuals together? These are a few of the questions Walker raises in her provocative, hypnotic tale.
Richly imaginative and quietly devastating ... Walker jolts the narrative with surprising twists, ensuring it keeps its energy until the end. This is a skillful, complex, and thoroughly satisfying novel about a community in peril.
