'A gripping, Kafkaesque foray into an all-too-plausible future ... An elegant meditation on identity, motherhood, and what we sacrifice, unthinkingly, for the sake of convenience' JENNIFER EGAN
'Extraordinary ... More than just a political warning; the book is an exploration of the psyche itself, the strange ungovernable forces of fate and emotion that make us human' RUMAAN ALAM
In a world without privacy, what is the cost of freedom?
Sara is returning home from a conference abroad when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside at the airport and inform her that she will commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, their algorithm has determined that she presents an imminent risk to the person she loves most, and must now be transferred to a retention centre for twenty-one days to lower her 'risk score'.
But when Sara arrives at Madison to be observed alongside other dangerous dreamers, it soon becomes clear that getting home to her family is going to cost more than just three weeks of good behaviour. And as every minor misdemeanour, every slight deviation from the rules, adds time to her stay, she begins to wonder if there might be more here than first meets the eye.
Then, one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and setting off a chain of events that lead Sara on a collision course with the companies that have deprived her of her freedom.
The Dream Hotel is a gripping speculative mystery about the seductive dangers of the technologies that are supposed to make our lives easier. As terrifying as it is inventive, it explores how much we can ever truly know those around us - even with the most invasive surveillance systems in place.
About the Author
Laila Lalami is the author of five books, including The Moor's Account, which won the American Book Award, the Arab-American Book Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her most recent novel, The Other Americans, was a US national bestseller, won the Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her books have been translated into twenty languages. Lalami's writing appears regularly in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Nation, Harper's, Guardian and New York Times. She has been awarded fellowships from the British Council, the Fulbright Program, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. She lives in Los Angeles.
Industry Reviews
Reading The Dream Hotel is a physical experience: it's rare for a novel to induce so strong a sense of powerlessness and frustration ... In this sharp, sophisticated novel of forecasts and insightful takes, what I found most powerful was the great bewilderment that the characters share ... Perhaps you wouldn't ordinarily pick up a novel in search of an experience of confusion. But The Dream Hotel has a burning quality, both in its swift, consuming escalation - you can't look away - and in the clarity and purpose of what it shows * Guardian *
Laila Lalami's brilliant and anxiety-provoking novel The Dream Hotel ... makes you question why we aren't doing more to protect our privacy right now -- Ann Patchett, author of TOM LAKE and THE DUTCH HOUSE * TheSkimm *
Well-written, meticulously conceived, richly characterised and terrifying as hell. It's just close enough to be imaginable ... She's a master storyteller, Lalami, and I can't work out why she isn't better known. The Dream Hotel just made the long-list for The Women's Prize, so hopefully she will be soon -- Pandora Sykes * Books and Bits *
A gripping new novel ... Intriguing * Economist *
The Dream Hotel is so cleverly conceived, so relevant, that everyone should read it and sweat ... It gave me a lot to chew on. Next time I download an app, I'll be scrutinising the terms of service. Because any of us can fall foul of the algorithm * The Times *
In the current political and technological climate and the seemingly endless colonisation of data, Lalami has managed to tap into the human psyche on a level that everybody can relate to. The Dream Hotel can deservedly and comfortably sit somewhere between Phillip K Dick's Minority Report and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. A powerhouse of a book that will live long in the memory * Buzz *
