The Dream Hotel: A Read with Jenna Pick: A Novel
Original price was: $29.00.$20.30Current price is: $20.30.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ● READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY ● From Laila Lalami—the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a “maestra of literary fiction” (NPR)—comes a riveting and utterly original novel about one woman’s fight for freedom, set in a near future where even dreams are under surveillance.
Sara has just landed at LAX, returning home from a conference abroad, when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside and inform her that she will soon commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, the RAA’s algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most: her husband. For his safety, she must be kept under observation for twenty-one days.
The agents transfer Sara to a retention center, where she is held with other dreamers, all of them women trying to prove their innocence from different crimes. With every deviation from the strict and ever-shifting rules of the facility, their stay is extended. Months pass and Sara seems no closer to release. Then one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and leading Sara on a collision course with the very companies that have deprived her of her freedom.
Eerie, urgent, and ceaselessly clear-eyed, The Dream Hotel artfully explores the seductive nature of technology, which puts us in shackles even as it makes our lives easier. Lalami asks how much of ourselves must remain private if we are to remain free, and whether even the most invasive forms of surveillance can ever capture who we really are.
From the Publisher
Publisher : Pantheon (March 4, 2025)
Language : English
Hardcover : 336 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593317602
ISBN-13 : 978-0593317600
Item Weight : 1.31 pounds
Dimensions : 6.42 x 1.08 x 9.5 inches
5 reviews for The Dream Hotel: A Read with Jenna Pick: A Novel
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Original price was: $29.00.$20.30Current price is: $20.30.
Ron Alden –
This Story Couldn’t Be More Timely
Laila Lalami’s “The Dream Hotel” explores the human costs of government and corporate surveillance.The premise is pretty straightforward: In the near future some US consumers choose to have a Dreamsaver device implanted in their heads for therapeutic purposes, including the treatment of insomnia.Before long an ICE-like agency begins using the dream-analysis software and its proprietary algorithms to round up citizens before they can act on their pre-criminal impulses and fantasies. The initiative proves popular with most Americans.“The Dream Hotel” focuses on Sara Hussein’s indefinite confinement in a retention center operated by bureaucrats and businessmen according to “the parasitic logic of profit.”Sara’s plight brings to mind that of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who is currently awaiting deportation at an ICE facility somewhere in Louisiana.
Anonymous –
Happy K
Book was delivered quickly and in great shape
Alix –
When even your dreams aren’t safe
3.5 starsThis book filled me with rage because of how cruelly Sara and the other women were treated. It’s frightening to imagine a future where our dreams could be used against us. The story really highlights how technology, even when created with good intentions, can have devastating consequences. These women are told they’re free, but it’s all an illusion. Sara’s time at the retention center feels disturbingly like a prison.This is a slow read and at times, it felt too long. The portions involving Eisley served a purpose in driving the plot forward, but I found her character and motivations to be weak points in the story. Her character felt underdeveloped. The ending was both ironic and entirely fitting. Overall, this was a thought-provoking read that left me reflecting on the dangers of unchecked technology.
ThisKrisReads –
Very Thought-Provoking
They say dreams are a window to the soul. But what if those dreams are used against you to determine your level of culpability in a crime – even one that hasn’t happened yet? That’s what The Dream Hotel explores in this dystopian piece by author Laila Lalami.We follow the journey of Sara Hussein, who was detained at the airport by the Risk Assessment Agency (RAA) because her risk score is too high (518, whereas 500 is considered the threshold). Using predictive AI, the RAA has determined that based on her dreams, she is an imminent threat to her husband and is sent to a retention facility with other women who have also been deemed threats to society in one way or another. The initial standard holding period is 21 days, at which time detainees are then re-evaluated and hopefully determined to be cleared and released back into the world. During their time there, detainees are given a strict set of rules and regulations they must adhere to, or their risk assessment score will increase and weaken their chances of being release. We soon see that the conditions in this facility are barely a step up from deplorable, and very few women actually get released after those first 21 days.This book’s relevance to today’s world hits almost a little too close to home as it explores themes of AI manipulation, exploitation of women and prisoners, and the issue of what is/isn’t considered a fundamental human right. Those basic human rights act as the grim proverbial carrot dangled in front of those in the detention facility in order to coerce them into complacency. Throughout Sara’s time in detention, we meet a colorful, albeit complex set of characters that represent various walks of life and get a firsthand view into the disparity experienced by each of these women.The author does a wonderful job of making each of these characters relatable in some fashion, even if they are not entirely likeable. This is often a hard balance to find, but Lalami does it very well. The pacing starts off slower than anticipated for a story line this gripping, but picks up quickly and hooks the reader in. I would have liked to see the ending play out longer, with a more satisfying resolution than the one given. However, I suppose the ending in and of itself could be considered a portrait of the continued discrimination, manipulation, and control over minority groups we are seeing in the world today. Highly recommend this poignant and thought-provoking novel.
Genevieve –
Thought provoking, uncomfortable, and a must read.
The Dream Hotel” by Laila Lalami is a book people will be talking about. It is thought provoking, uncomfortable, and a must read.Sara Hussein is stopped at the airport on her way home from a business trip from London. What first appears to be an extra security screening escalates into something far more invasive and horrifying. Now Sara is being held for forensic observation by the Risk Assessment Administration. Her “risk score” is outside the acceptable measure as defined by an algorithm predicting whether someone will commit a future crime. Sara has committed no crime. She is not a criminal. She is not jailed. She is being “retained” for observation. Sara watches her initial three-week release date come and go. No new release date is set. The staff at the retention center use a system of interpreting behavior and entering perceived infractions into the database to maintain power and control. Every entry against Sara by a staff member, no matter how meaningless or invalid, has the potential of extending her stay. Bureaucratic slipups are the norm, while personal mistakes are seen as proof of criminality.“The Dream Hotel” hits close to home. Sara’s dystopian experience parallels realities within our current society. The world of this novel, its characters and its realities, are drawn so powerfully that I felt out of balance when I put down the book and tried to reenter my own world. The dream sequences and the dreamlike horror of Sara’s waking experience within this dystopian reality are acute and penetrating. Lalami’s complex characters and clear prose give this novel a razor’s edge. Sara Hussein’s story is one conceivable outcome of the current trajectory of data mining and algorithm use. The story could be set a year from now. The technology is close and much of it is already here. Having dystopian science fiction set this close to the present, and this close to home, puts a spotlight on things that we may not be quite ready to see, but that we would be foolish to ignore.Thank you to NetGalley and Pantheon for the ARC and the opportunity to write this independent review.