Goodreads Synopsis: For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.
She can't tell anybody about what she does--they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.
Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant.
My Confession: This is such a fascinating idea. It's one of those books that causes insane, irrational jealousy to bubble in my stomach as I question Why didn't I write this first ? And the way Lisa McMann writes this story makes it all the more unique. The chapters are short and serve as more a stream-of-consciousness rather than traditional narration. Very quickly, we get inside Janie's head, right from the moment the book opens. There's no set-up, no "here's how I came to get sucked into people's dreams" explanation. We just jump right into a dream with Janie and don't question the how or the why. It's believable from the beginning. The fragmented sentences and minuscule background mirror the choppy, lonely life that Janie leads. There's no flowery language or upbeat optimism. Janie's not a particularly happy person. At all.
Until Cabel comes along, that is: Of course there's a boy. There has to be a boy. But Cabel? He's just as damaged--if not more so--than Janie. Now, two pessimists together don't exactly bring out the best in each other. Cabel brings out the insecurity in Janie, and Janie brings out fear in Cabel. They both keep secrets close to the chest, and their brutal pasts combine to make for some pretty dark moments. But the ending offers them an opportunity to put their anger and energy into a cause and gives Janie an outlet for her "curse." The story moves along at a fairly quick pace, seeing as how the language is as to-the-point as possible. I think that's why I liked this book so much. It treats the reader like an adult who can follow a slippery premise without loads of build-up and/or flashbacks. This way of writing cut out a lot of unnecessary drama or story diversion that many supernatural-ish books fall prey to.
Recommendation: This is the first book in a trilogy, and the way the story ends here will make you want to go pick up the next two. The covers are quite stunning and seem to mirror the theme of simplicity showcased in the writing. Wake is a really good example of how minimalist, powerful writing really can work in a book universe drowned in verbosity and unnecessary words. Considering this novel is YA, the quickness and brevity to the story really do cater to the assumed audience, but you don't have to be 14 to enjoy this book. It's not super-happy or extremely uplifting. But it's fascinating, and it will leave you thinking about it long after you're finished.
Rating: 4.2/5
210 pages, published by Simon Pulse (March 4, 2008)
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