The Dream Hotel: A Read with Jenna Pick

A Novel

By: Laila Lalami

Narrated by: Frankie Corzo, Barton Caplan

NATIONAL BESTSELLER ● READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY ● From Laila Lalami—the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a “maestra of literary fiction” (NPR)—comes a riveting and utterly original novel about one woman’s fight for freedom, set in a near future where even dreams are under surveillance.

Sara has just landed at LAX, returning home from a conference abroad, when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside and inform her that she will soon commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, the RAA’s algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most: her husband. For his safety, she must be kept under observation for twenty-one days.

The agents transfer Sara to a retention center, where she is held with other dreamers, all of them women trying to prove their innocence from different crimes. With every deviation from the strict and ever-shifting rules of the facility, their stay is extended. Months pass and Sara seems no closer to release. Then one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and leading Sara on a collision course with the very companies that have deprived her of her freedom.

Eerie, urgent, and ceaselessly clear-eyed, The Dream Hotel artfully explores the seductive nature of technology, which puts us in shackles even as it makes our lives easier. Lalami asks how much of ourselves must remain private if we are to remain free, and whether even the most invasive forms of surveillance can ever capture who we really are.

Characters that are fragile or brave you decide

This book was so amazing and heartbreaking it makes you think just how fragile life is and the moments that define us and cause us to endure are the moments that define us the most. I couldn’t believe that the characters had to be locked away for as long as they were and no one did anything or questioned that the corporation that caused the people to have to serve time to they say protect others. It was never questioned for fear of retaliation it makes me wonder how we as a society just accept things as they are to not have to fight for what maybe not be a good thing. Good thing these characters knew how to be brave.

Narration was great

I enjoyed this storyline and liked the overall writing style of the author. I would recommend.

I wish it was more defined ending

enjoyed the book so much! it reminded me of "school for good mothers". though I wish it had a more defined ending, I feel I had too many open endings recently in all books I read

Excellent Dystopian Novel - highly relevant given current events

The book was well structured. We share so much data with the companies and the government, it is not too much of a stretch to envision people being imprisoned for their thoughts and dreams. How much of our privacy are we willing to give up? And what happens to vulnerable people when the wrong folks get their hands on that data? The book is also a commentary on the immigrant experience and life in prison. There is a lot to dig in to!

Although this book has a sci fi, it does not get into any of the science - a little bit more about the tech would have been interesting.

I highly recommend this book - for a book with so many layers, it flowed very well and was a quick read.

Intriguing Read

Exceeding well read, this book considered a society that retained people who hadn’t, but might, commit a crime. The main character was intelligent and insightful and the other characters colorful yet believable. A read that truly makes one ponder when, in the name of safety and profits, a society goes too far.