The Dream


Fiction - Mystery - Historical
78 Pages
Reviewed on 04/22/2015
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    Book Review

Reviewed by Ioana Marza for Readers' Favorite

The Dream by H.E. Kline is a short book following a young girl’s struggle to cope with her unusual nightmares that eventually prove to be more than just ordinary dreams. Lacy’s nightmares started when she was five years old and they were so disturbing that she’s tried to devise ways of not falling asleep ever since. Between occupying herself creatively every night and taking as many amphetamines as her sister can provide, Lacy’s nights are a nightmare in more ways than one. This regime takes its toll and after years of suffering she ends up looking like a zombie, is bullied by her schoolmates, and turns into a physical wreck which is a horrible picture for a child. (Surprisingly, her parents seem blissfully unaware of the extent of their daughter’s troubles.) She’s none the wiser though, on what triggers the nightmares or what they mean, until she finds the one person to whom the deaths, the cold, and the hellish trains that recur in Lacy’s dreams mean something.

The Dream definitely achieves the aim that H.E. Kline stated as the reason for writing it - it reminds people of the horrors of a piece of history that should never be forgotten. However, I personally felt that this could have been done at a slower pace that would have allowed the dreams to develop further, to get Lacy (and the reader) more involved, and be even more touching. The Dream depicts in a new, original way a subject that has been extensively covered in literature, and it adds an additional dimension - what are these dreams and how/why has Lacy become their recipient? I will leave it to readers to decide whether they believe there is a supernatural reason or not. All in all, a worthy subject and a little bit of mystery.