Welcome to Litsy!

Finally got around to this futuristic story where you can have a chip implanted in your brain to help you sleep. Who wouldn‘t want to sleep better? On the down side, however, the chip company can see your dreams and then determine if you are a threat to society. Narrator Sara is thus detained at LAX and sent to a retention center, a prison of sorts, where she will be under observation for three weeks to determine if she actually is a threat. ⬇️

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Imagine your dreams were government surveilled. Pretty horrifying! I loved this premise, but this dragged on for ages. Something about the execution just didn‘t work for me.

I'll rate it a pick for the scare value (the consequences of trading privacy and freedom for convenience under surveillance capitalism) and for daring to have a not especially sympathetic MC. But, oh, did it drag... right up until it got wind of the finish line, towards which it fairly galloped!

Maybe I've got the peri-menopausal rage-tinted spectacles on again, but isn't it also about how this economic culture depends on unpaid female labour?

I‘m not going to lie and say I understood everything this book was trying to say, but it‘s interesting how relevant this book still is. I could see how 1984 and other dystopian novels pulled from it.

May reads: 7 tense reads this month. Usually this month is my highest of the year, but due to my focus on my physical and mental health and a very busy time at work, it‘s a little low. Don‘t think I will make my yearly reading goals.
My favorite read has to be The Dream Hotel.

#TLT @dabbe
21! So many I have never heard of!

3 favorites:
We (tagged)
The Forsyth Saga (book and show both sooo good)
Of Human Bandage

3 on TBR
Edith Wharton
Ford Maddox Ford
Chrome Yellow by Huxley (I had not heard of this!)

Lalami's writing is sometimes a little obvious in its intentions, but this one plays with nuance a little better than The Other Americans, which I appreciate. It's definitely paranoia-inducing, so if you're reading fiction to avoid doomscrolling or if you don't want to look at your smart devices with suspicion, this might not be your best option. But aside from those caveats, I quite enjoyed this one.

I had a lovely time at the orchid exhibition at the botanic garden yesterday. It was a nice break from national news, unlike the tagged, which I started on audio. It seems pretty good, but I don't know if I'm in the right headspace to cope with the paranoia. (I also played at a piano recital and was so nervous that I pretty much blacked out during my performance, so I might need something lighter to read to help me even out.)