Dreamland (Nicole Martins)

Title: DreamlandAuthor:Sarah Dessen Publisher: Penguin Group Pages:250

I decided to read this book because I had read one of her other books, “The Truth About Forever”. I thought that had been a really good book so I saw this one at the book store and choose it to read.

This book is about this girl named Catlin, it starts on her birthday when she wakes up. That day her family discovers that her older sister Cassandra has run away to be with this boy she met. Her entire family is crushed and it puts her mom into a distracted state. Catlin is confused about how her sister can just get up and leave without telling anyone, when her future is so bright. Catlin has always been jealous of her older sister because she was perfect. As Catlin goes searching for herself she meets this boy, Rogerson. She becomes smitten with him and falls in love. But then she finds out secrets about Rogerson that are dangerous.

The audience for this book would be young adults because the author shows how young people experiment with different things that can destroy a person.

The authors writing style is very descriptive because you can picture everything that is going on. For example, “Silence. I pictured her standing in a phone booth by a highway, cars whizzing by.” (23).

On page 15, “But on my mirror, I had one picture of my best friend, Rina, my third-place ribbon from horseback ridding, and my certificate from the B honor roll. Most people would have been happy with that. But for me, with Cass always blazing the trial ahead, there was nothing to do but pale in comparison.” This quote relates to me because I think this might be how my younger brother feels about me. I’ve always done way better than him in school and my parents say they’ve proud of me, but my brother never gets that.

Another quote I relate to is on page 134, “Now, I knew I was barely going to make it to meet Rogerson on time as it was. Rina hadn’t seen me… I watched her punch in the car cigarette lighter with a jab of her hand, then wipe her eyes, I just couldn’t go home.” If I saw my friend crying I would have done the same thing. I would be worried about making my boyfriend mad but if my best friend needed me I would be there.

This passage on page 148 about Rogerson really struck me. “I closed my eyes, seeing Rogerson again in my mind, his eyes black as his hand lashed out, the pain spreading so suddenly from my cheek to my temple.” When he first hit Catlin I was shocked. I have no clue how I would react if my boyfriend hit me, but I definitely wouldn’t be okay with it.

The theme of this book is strength. Catlin goes through some really hard things that eventually breaks her completely. When her sister ran away, she didn’t know what to think because she couldn’t imagine why someone would want to run away from their perfect life. Then Catlin wanted to break out on her own and do something that her sister would have never done. That leads her to Rogerson. Next Rogerson beats her and she is constantly living in fear. The book is showing a person how hard it is to get through certain situations in life and how it really tests a persons strength, and not everybody can easily heal.

If I had to grade this book I would have to give it a B. It deserves a B because it is a good book, but I think most people would have a hard time relating to it. I also think that the book I had read by her previously was better. Also there is a lot of situations that are outdated in the book. For example, everyone smokes cigarettes and they do it in front of their parents. I think that doesn’t happen very often now-a-days because they aren’t that popular anymore. Overall I would recommend this book to someone who is looking for an outside reading book because it isn’t extremely long and it is interesting.