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A review by 10000bees
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley/Pantheon for the e-ARC!
Reading this at the start of 2025... yikes, man. I got to the chapters with the fire on the same day the LA fire started spreading and it felt a little too real. It's one of the bleakest books I've read recently because it isn't a far future dystopian. This feels real, like it could happen within my lifetime. And that really freaked me out. Part of me dreaded having to pick it up each time I went to read, which is just a huge compliment to the author for really nailing that atmosphere.
It's a story about Sara's unjust detainment after the algorithm considers her a risk for a future crime after analyzing her dreams. But, like most dystopian novels, it's more than that. Lalami is showing us a future where privacy doesn't exist and society accepts that as fact. It is a future where the government relies on tech companies to the point of using algorithm as rule of law. We do not know the details of the algorithm, but we do not question it.
Sara questions it. She's a good protagonist to follow because she is complex and fallible, and she struggles to choose between her desire for freedom and her individuality within the system. She's not the most likable person, but she's very sympathetic.
For as depressing but thoughtful this book was, it was a little slow to get going. There was also a section in the middle that felt almost out of place, though that might be because the rest of the story takes place almost exclusively in one building. The idea posed in that section fits into the theme of the novel, but I'm not sure it was a seamless addition to the narrative, if that makes sense. And there wasn't much of a conclusion with that arc. Other than what the reader should extrapolate, I guess.
Overall, I think this would be a really good book club read because there are a ton of themes to pull out of it that would make for great discussions. It's certainly given me a lot to think about.
Reading this at the start of 2025... yikes, man. I got to the chapters with the fire on the same day the LA fire started spreading and it felt a little too real. It's one of the bleakest books I've read recently because it isn't a far future dystopian. This feels real, like it could happen within my lifetime. And that really freaked me out. Part of me dreaded having to pick it up each time I went to read, which is just a huge compliment to the author for really nailing that atmosphere.
It's a story about Sara's unjust detainment after the algorithm considers her a risk for a future crime after analyzing her dreams. But, like most dystopian novels, it's more than that. Lalami is showing us a future where privacy doesn't exist and society accepts that as fact. It is a future where the government relies on tech companies to the point of using algorithm as rule of law. We do not know the details of the algorithm, but we do not question it.
Sara questions it. She's a good protagonist to follow because she is complex and fallible, and she struggles to choose between her desire for freedom and her individuality within the system. She's not the most likable person, but she's very sympathetic.
For as depressing but thoughtful this book was, it was a little slow to get going. There was also a section in the middle that felt almost out of place, though that might be because the rest of the story takes place almost exclusively in one building. The idea posed in that section fits into the theme of the novel, but I'm not sure it was a seamless addition to the narrative, if that makes sense. And there wasn't much of a conclusion with that arc. Other than what the reader should extrapolate, I guess.
Overall, I think this would be a really good book club read because there are a ton of themes to pull out of it that would make for great discussions. It's certainly given me a lot to think about.