Cannonball Read 13

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search This Site

| Log in
  1. Follow us on Facebook
  2. Follow us on Twitter
  3. Follow us on Instagram
  4. Follow us on Goodreads
  5. RSS Feeds

  • Home
  • About
    • About CBR
    • Getting Started
    • Cannon Book Club
    • Diversions
    • Event Calendar
    • Fan Mail
    • Holiday Book Exchange
    • Book Bingo Reading Challenge
    • Participation Badges
    • AlabamaPink
  • Our Team
    • Leaderboard
    • The CBR Team
    • Recent Comments
    • CBR Interviews
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Categories
    • Review Genres
    • Tags
  • Fight Cancer
    • How We Fight Cancer
    • How You Can Donate
    • Book Sale
    • CBR Merchandise
    • Supporters and Friends of CBR
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Follow Us
> FAQ Home
> Genre: Fiction > A very put-down-able novella

A very put-down-able novella

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

February 2, 2021 by Rooooomie 5 Comments

Amanda, a young woman, lies in a hospital. We don’t know how she got there, or what’s wrong with her. Sitting on her bed is a young boy, David, who is not her son, but who nonetheless seems to know a lot about her. David is urging Amanda to tell her story, to be observant, but to be quick, as she doesn’t have much time left. What follows is a somewhat suspenseful story that touches on a few interesting themes, including parenthood, but ultimately doesn’t fully explore any of them.

Fever Dream by Samanta SchweblinThis book definitely benefits from the reader taking their time to read it in one sitting, which I admittedly didn’t do. I read it over the span of a week or so and had to start it three times before I got the hang of the structure (curse you bedtime sleepiness!), and sadly it never gripped me as much as I had hoped it would. That said, this novella excels in the way it uses its form and structure to accentuate the story; there are no chapters, no breaks, and there is no narrator to guide us. All we have is a conversation between the woman and the boy that floats in and out of timelines without any warning, only giving us a few moments of clarity here and there.

Someone else much more knowledgeable than me reviewed this book, and explained that there is context and history around one of the key plot points (which I won’t spoil). Unfortunately I didn’t pick up on this at all, not being very familiar with South American history, and I wonder if I would have appreciated the story more if I had known about it. As it stands, it just leaves me feeling like this story had a lot of potential that it didn’t live up to.

Filed Under: Fiction, Suspense Tagged With: CBR13, novella, samanta schweblin

Rooooomie's CBR13 Review No:1 · Genres: Fiction, Suspense · Tags: CBR13, novella, samanta schweblin ·
Rating:
· 5 Comments

About Rooooomie

CBR13 participant

Trying to rid myself of the terrible habit of reading more about books than reading actual books. View Rooooomie's reviews»

Comments

  1. andtheIToldYouSos says

    February 2, 2021 at 11:46 am

    Happy First Review!

    Reply
    • Rooooomie says

      February 2, 2021 at 3:25 pm

      Thank you! So happy to be here after watching from the sidelines for years.

      Reply
      • andtheIToldYouSos says

        February 2, 2021 at 4:19 pm

        happy to have you here!

        Reply
  2. wicherwill says

    February 2, 2021 at 12:57 pm

    “curse you bedtime sleepiness!” << this, me, every night as I try and force my eyelids to stay open

    Reply
    • Rooooomie says

      February 2, 2021 at 3:26 pm

      Glad I’m not alone in this! It’s gotten to the point where I am proud of myself if I read more than 4 pages before falling asleep.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



Recent Comments

  • MsWas on Holy MolyCongratulations on your first review! Love the review and the Waterhouse painting you included, just perfect. Well done!
  • postcardsandbooks on Do your favourites hold up on re-reads?I also have that problem (or maybe it's a solution?)... I remembered the plot of the first movie, but the second and third I completely...
  • postcardsandbooks on Do your favourites hold up on re-reads?Oh! I can't remember how it ends at all. I'm in for a fun re-read of book 3 :)
  • postcardsandbooks on Do your favourites hold up on re-reads?Oh I just finished my re-read of book 2 and I think it gets 4 stars too. Technically 3.5, but I will probably round it...
  • postcardsandbooks on I need to read more queer YA contemporariesOh, have you read any yet? I have a couple more of her novels in my TBR for this year. :)
See More Recent Comments »

Want to Help Out?

CBR has a great crew of volunteers, and we're always looking for more people to help out. If you have a specialty or are willing to learn, drop MsWas a line.

  • How You Can Donate
  • FAQ
  • Shop
  • Volunteers
  • Leaderboard
  • AlabamaPink
  • Contact

Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo
  3. Google Pay
© 2021 Cannonball Read | Log in