The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’ve read and loved Lalami’s other books but this one was claustrophobic, scary, traumatizing and a little too real in parts. It’s a bleak view on what the world could evolve to and of course like all good books, it’s not impossible to see this type of future unfold.
The amount of data that is collectively available on each of us is indeed eye opening and, if merged together, would be alarming in its ability to predict things. Lalami’s story takes this to an extreme and paints a world in which the government in service of protecting us is creating measures that are draconian.
Coupling all that with the concepts of presumptive-guilt and manipulation results in the kind of story that is both traumatizing and feels all together too possible and real in parts. Thankfully many other parts seem wild and too-far-fetched (at least for now) and help ground that this is still a novel and not our reality.
for now.
with gratitude to netgalley and Pantheon for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
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