Oh I wanted to love this. I liked the concept, and this author is a great writer...but this was so slow and plodding for me. I was waiting for something to happen. Also, it felt a little too close to home with the news in our government lately. While this didn't work for me, I know many readers who are loving this.

DNF

I really tried, but I never got into the story and it was so hard to follow that I had to waive the white flag. 😔

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My reading has been VERY off this month (honestly, this year) and it has taken me far longer to get through books than it usually does, which I think has unfortunately affected how I feel about some books that would otherwise work for me. The Dream Hotel is one. The slight dystopia, the unreliable narrator, it being a Read With Jenna pick – that all had me very excited. But I just never got fully hooked. Instead, I struggled to want to pick it up which made it drag even more than it probably would have if I'd been able to read it in a couple days. The premise sounded similar to The School for Good Mothers (another RWJ pick) that I DNF'd, so maybe that should have been a sign, I was expecting it to be more gripping and for the ending to be either satisfying or surprising. Instead it was slow and predictable.

Insomnia makes life difficult. When you can have a simple implant surgically placed to guarantee a good night's sleep, it seems like a simple decision. As a working mother, Sara thought she had made the right decision to get an implant. Her sleep improved, and she was able to function without constant caffeine. Returning from a business trip, she is pulled aside. The Risk Assessment Administration has a warning that Sara is about to commit a crime. Sara will stay in a retention center until the risk passes. The retention center tracks every movement of the residents. Any infraction of the rules adds time to retention. Rules change daily, and guards arbitrarily levy additional punishment. Sara begins to wonder what she will have to do to be released.

The Dream Hotel evokes a dystopian society determined to exert control over citizens. Under the guise of avoiding crime, people seeking a medical solution to insomnia become victims of dream monitoring by the government. Who created this AI algorithm, and how do we know that the algorithm works correctly? The characters in this story are interesting, and occasionally frustrating. Many of us fail to read the fine print before using an app or product. If you were incarcerated/detained for something similar to Sara, what would your reaction be to the situation? This story is timely and, with the recent surge in use of AI, too close to reality. The pace builds throughout the story, and the premise remains interesting. Sadly, the ending left me feeling deflated.

Thank you NetGalley, Knopf, Pantheon, and Vintage, and Laila Lalami for the advanced reader copy.

Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel is a beautifully written and thought-provoking sci-fi novel that feels eerily prescient. Set in a near-future world where even our dreams can be monitored and used as evidence against us, the book explores themes of surveillance, privacy, and the consequences of unchecked technological advancements. Lalami’s prose is stunning, and the story is both gripping and intellectually stimulating, forcing readers to consider the implications of a society where our innermost thoughts are no longer our own.

While undeniably compelling, The Dream Hotel is not a comfortable read—especially given the current state of the world. Its dystopian elements feel unsettlingly plausible, making it a book that lingers in your mind long after you turn the last page. But despite its discomfort, it remains a worthwhile and necessary read, offering a chilling glimpse into a future that feels all too possible.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC to read early. All reviews are my own opinions.

This book is a terrifying premise - a (near?) future where you can be "retained" by the government for your risk for committing a crime. Data is constantly recorded from cameras, your phone, and even your dreams (if you can afford the device to optimize your sleep so you can be more productive).

A mom of young kids gets detained at the discretion of an official and this is her story.

Definitely a terrifying thought experiment about what could happen with government surveillance and an attempt to prevent crimes. A harsh, but probably realistic look at the prison systems (at least in the US). However, the story intersperses dreams with reality and only identifies them later - which was confusing. The ending felt rushed and unsatisfying. Overall, a great premise, but the actual story didn't work that well for me - felt disjointed and like too many things mashed together.

I’m not typically a science fiction fan, but this premise was intriguing. I found the story to have a sense of parallel to what is currently going on with immigration and was thought provoking. It could get a bit wordy at times, but I enjoyed. 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars ⭐️.

this started slow and ended slow, I was hoping for more, but overall found it very interesting and would make a good book club book since there's loads to discuss

This gave me Minority Report (one of my favorite movies of all time) vibes so I decided to give it a read. That coupled with the fact that I heard it was going to be a Read with Jenna pick made me want to read it asap. The synopsis made it seem like this was a thriller and that is my abolsut favorite genre to read. So imagine my disappointment when I found it this lacked the thrills. It was such a slow book that it made it feel like a chore to pick up and read. Where is the action? It sounded so good but sadly the execution fell flat for me. I guess if you're looking for theme exploration as opposed to action/thrills, you'll like this. Sadly it was not for me.

2.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Incredible book! This is a story I will think about and talk about for years. I've been recommending it all throughout my reading journey over the last week or so… I just found it to be such a timely cautionary tale. The craziest thing happened one day as I was in the middle of reading this book about data-mining taking over and “detaining" people out of an "abundance of caution.” I woke up to the news alert that 23 and Me was filing for bankruptcy and all users data would be for sale to the highest bidder. You truly can’t get more timely and applicable than that. Everyone, read this book, then let’s talk about it. It will definitely get us thinking about our current technology, social media and data usage, and the balance between safety and privacy.

Thoroughly enjoyed this, although took me awhile to find interest. Once I began to get deeper into the story, I couldn’t stop reading.This is a dystopian that feels real, which is the scary part. Lalami does an excellent job creating a sense of fear. A timely and recommended read.

In this future, if you have trouble sleeping you can get a device implanted in your brain. But - that device also records your dreams and can somehow predict that you will commit a crime. If that happens, you will be detained in a facility where the rules change based on the whims of the guards.
While definitely different, this made me feel the same way as The Handmaid's Tale when I first read it. Kind of scary, because many people say it could never happen, but could it? Freaky to think too much about it.
The plot was great; I did feel the pacing was inconsistent - some sections were a bit boring.

"The Dream Hotel" is a book that you will be thinking about long after the last page. I really enjoyed this book, especially the interesting, yet believable, commentary on technology, surveillance, and what the future with AI might look like. When initially picking this book up, I did think that it would be more plot driven than it was. Instead of a strong plot, it was more of a peak into what life was like inside these retention facilities. A speculative "slice of life" book, would be how I would describe it. Because of this structure, the pacing felt a little slow at times and the chapters were really long, which didn't help. However, I overall really enjoyed this memorable book and it will without a doubt stick with me.

Novels that are set just a click past present day in a future that is wholly realistic yet entirely out of the realm of now are really my jam. This book hit all the points - thought-provoking, terrifying, and totally a possible future.

Having trouble sleeping? Me too. And if you have young twins, wow, I can’t even imagine. So it made total sense to me when an implant is invented to give you guaranteed quality sleep (in fewer hours!) that people would JUMP at the chance to get their hands on it. After all, we’re already tracking our steps, heart rate, calories, and so much more without even blinking. Why not get a device that will actually HELP you sleep?

And read the fine print? I’m in law and I don’t always do that! So again, not a leap to think that data would then be stored, analyzed, used for marketing, and yes, maybe even used against you in a criminal capacity.

I will say for a short book this got a little drawn out at times. I was happy that in the middle the storyline briefly flipped and that new perspective was a welcome plot twist.

This one will stick with me because I always love a good book that makes me think. It would also translate really well to a movie (hint hint Netflix!).

Thank you Pantheon for the copy.

When Sara Hussein got a neuroimplant to help her sleep, she had no idea what she’d signed up for. Hidden in the fine print was a stipulation that the implant send scans of her dreams to a federal agency that predicts whether dreamers will commit a future crime. After her risk score rises ever so slightly above the threshold, Sara’s taken to a retention facility for a 21-day monitoring period — though her incarceration has already stretched to 10 months by the time the novel picks up.

While Minority Report and its precogs might seem the more obvious comparison than Severance, The Dream Hotel inspires the same feeling of being a mouse trapped in a bureaucratic maze that defines the innies’ lives. The facility is a prison in all but name, as detainees are put to work for the profit of private firms, and are forced into choices like whether to pay for tampons or receive them in exchange for having their periods tracked. The entire system is built to incentivize self-isolating, docile serfdom, as the slightest perceived or inadvertent infraction will result in an increased risk score and extended detention. But the longer Sara is incarcerated, the more she realizes the power that comes from individual autonomy and community solidarity. And while the system uses data to make an objective declaration of who Sara is predetermined to be, she never forgets the real questions are ones an algorithm can’t answer: Who was she in the past, who is she now, and who does she want to be in the future?

Thank you Pantheon for the copy! The Dream Hotel is such an excruciating, brilliant novel — a flawless demonstration of Laila Lalami's alluring prose and compelling narration.

The Dream Hotel is set primarily within the Madison, a retention facility for people deemed dangerous by an algorithm that creates one's "risk score". We follow Sara, a working mother to twins, starting with her hapless detainment at LAX throughout her imprisonment at the Madison.

Though the novel is marked as dystopian, Lalami quickly closes the gap between fiction and truth with every scene she stitches together. The concept of the Madison, for example, scarcely needs reimagining from the reality it mirrors; through illustrating unlivable conditions and what is essentially slave labor, we are reminded of the inhumanity that incarcerated people face in prisons and what detainees experience in immigration detention centers.

Lalami also offers sharp criticisms on AI and technology's contributions to carving out a panopticon. With the idea of risk scores that allow technology to create its own perceptions of us, we must examine (not only social media but) vile weaponry in the likes of facial recognition software, which to this day continues to be used to target and harm people. Lalami's exploration is nothing less than timely given our current descent. But she doesn't fail to remind us of the dire consequences of believing that an algorithm can know you better than you know yourself.

Along with her strong voice, I really enjoyed how deliberate Lalami was in making each and every one of her points, no matter how seemingly menial. For example, there's a moment where Sara complains about the temperature in her room while imprisoned at the Madison, and one of the other women tells her to change it on the AC. To this, Sara says that it wouldn't matter what she does, because the AC in her room isn't actually connected. I thought this was a perfect display of the illusion of choice and how large of a role it plays within capitalism and of course, imprisonment.

A very perfect book to me... My eyes were bulging at times reading this, mostly in awe, other times in rage. Lalami stunned me either way. Looking forward to reading more from her!

I throughly enjoyed the concept of The Dream Hotel. A lot of the technology felt not too futuristic, which made the storyline terrifying and gave me some slight anxiety as I was reading. There were multiple times I felt like the overall conflict that Sara goes through being imprisoned at Madison was very realistic and gave Black Mirror vibes. The only let down was when Sara was released from Madison. I felt as if we had a build up that ended no where and was unsatisfying. Overall, I enjoyed The Dream Hotel and would give it 3 stars because it was well written and thought provoking.

This book is a mix of a psych thrillers and a dystopian drama. The concept was haunting and scarily realistic. It is not a fast-paced action thriller, it definitely is more psychological. The dread just continues to build throughout. At some parts it felt like it just dragged along, and I felt like there could definitely be a deeper connection between the characters. And honestly the ending felt a bit anti-climatic after all of the buildup.

3.75/5

Wow! This book would be perfect for a book club discussion.
A woman is detained at the airport and sent to a surveillance facility….but why? She didn’t commit any crime. So begins this thought provoking, eerie novel. Especially prescient right now. Highly recommend.

I enjoyed the concept of the story more than the actual experience of reading it. I think the writing just wasn’t to my tastes, I had a hard time getting into and paying attention to the story.