A review by megansmith
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This honestly captured my interest more than I thought it would? Its been on my TBR for years, idk how I found it but it worried me that I’ve never heard of anyone reading this but I read it anyways, and I’m glad I did! 

Thompson Walker’s estimates of what the modern day might look like in a pandemic, before the pandemic even happened, are almost eerily accurate to real life. The plot is so fascinating and I loved the split perspective - normally I dont always love a split perspective but these were easy to follow and I think brought around so many perspectives and problems that arise during a crisis. I read this really quickly, very intrigued by the mystery.

I do wish there was

more crumbs of solving the mystery or explanation why it may have happened? The story has great setup, but you feel dragged along at times without any rewards or anything to explain the why behind it while you read through these sad stories of people going under. The ending also felt so loose to me, I was just waiting for more to happen and it felt so unresolved. I dont know if I can blame the author, the covid pandemic is quite similar in a way, but it did bring down my interest in the book by the end.

I wouldn’t recommend if you aren’t open to a pandemic story but, if the premise interests you, I recommend giving it a try!