Fever Dream

by Samanta Schweblin

Amanda lies sick in a hospital clinic. Next to her is David, a boy with no family connection to her. Back and forth they tell each other stories of environmental toxins, threatening tragedies, and what happened to Nina, Amanda’s daughter, and others. We are sucked into this strange nightmare like reality.

Fearful and disgusting things start creeping in through the stories Amanda and David tell each other. Slowly, they trickle past the readers’ defenses until it piles up into a horrifying picture. 

Fever Dream is told in the dialogue between Amanda and David. Everything the reader is told is through these characters. What complicates this is that neither are completely grounded in reality. This leaves the reader with an unsteady, fluctuating narrative. So much is left to interpretation. 

My sister viewed the main theme to be about grieving parents and what they’ll do to protect their children, whereas I took away more on the commentary of ‘companies’ and their ecological drain on the land. 

Much of what makes this book work is the unknown, so I don’t want to give too much away. If you want a suspenseful, dreamlike story where you never know what’s going on but still packs an emotional punch, this is a great option.