Book 15/30.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I was apprehensive going into this because my first (and previously only) Sarah Dessen book (That Summer) was a hard 1 star read 🥴 Lucky for me my apprehension was not validated as Dreamland was a decent 3 star read.
Ever since she started going out with Rogerson Biscoe, Caitlin seems to have fallen into a semiconscious dreamland where nothing is quite real. Rogerson is different from anyone Caitlin has ever known. He’s magnetic. He’s compelling. He’s dangerous. Being with him makes Caitlin forget about everything else—her missing sister, her withdrawn mother, her lackluster life. But what happens when being with Rogerson becomes a larger problem than being without him?
It is difficult to review this book without giving anything away (and I believe it is better to go into this story without knowing what it is about), but I will try. After her sister leaves, Caitlin has been struggling to sustain life as the girl left behind while missing Cass but also resenting the need to take her place at school and at home. Rebelling, she takes up with mysterious, dangerous Rogerson Biscoe, who helps her forget her problems…until he becomes a bigger problem.
Caitlin was too passive a character for my liking but even though her choices frustrated me and I hated the path she was taking and wanted to shake her at times, I understand her because I have been her. Which is why I really appreciate that the resolution of Dreamland takes up 32 pages of a 250 page novel. Rather than write a neat and tidy Hollywood ending, the author wrote an extended resolution that gives the reader a deeper understanding of Caitlin, who did not really rescue herself but eventually found the strength to help herself recover. That extended resolution also mimics real life because it takes time to resolve the real problems real people have.
View all my reviews
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing
Lwile the Leo 