Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Wake by Lisa McMann


Janie falls into other people's dreams as an unwilling witness. Then she becomes a participant in the gruesome, chilling sequences.

The cadence of dialogue faltered when Cabel and Janie spoke about sharing his dream. Most of the details are not from happy dreams. Wake poses an interesting premise told well from older teen perspective. The scene of her heading home after homecoming is sweet. I also like that she recognized Cabel all the way through. Talking to the "new kid" cracked me up and captured the agony and adrenaline rush of puberty. Readers fascinated with dreams and/or psychology will enjoy parts of this journey. I'd like to see how this weighs in with other titles. MAYBE

2 comments:

Librarykat said...

I give it a thumbs down. I don't think the book was able to decide what it wanted to be, it was kind of, at times, One Tree Hill meets Silent Hill.

I thought that the writing was very awkward and stilted. We didn't explore the mother's changing behavior near the end, and I find it odd that Miss S. could not communicate with Janie about the dreams while she was alive and has only chosen to do only after she died.

If maybe we Cabe, who seems way to familiar with Janie too quickly, and Janie both cry A LOT.

Librarykat said...

Sorry I wasn't clear on my last thought which is that Cabe and Janie cry a lot, and they seem way too familiar with each other too quickly for my taste.