The Anatomy of Dreams

A Novel

By: Chloe Benjamin

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley

Discover the award-winning debut novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists, a “majestic collision of sci-fi thriller and love story” (Bustle) about a young woman struggling with questions of love, trust, and ethics as the line between dreams and reality dangerously blurs.

When Sylvie Patterson, a bookish student at a Northern California boarding school, falls in love with a spirited, elusive classmate named Gabe, they embark on an experiment that changes their lives. Their headmaster, Dr. Adrian Keller, is a charismatic medical researcher who has staked his career on the therapeutic potential of lucid dreaming: by teaching his patients to become conscious during sleep, he believes he can relieve stress and trauma. Over the next six years, Sylvie and Gabe become consumed by Keller’s work, following him across the country.

But when an opportunity brings the trio to the Midwest, Sylvie and Gabe stumble into a tangled relationship with their mysterious neighbors—and Sylvie begins to doubt the ethics of Keller’s research. As she navigates the hazy, permeable boundaries between what is real and what isn’t, who can be trusted and who cannot, Sylvie also faces surprising developments in herself—an unexpected infatuation, growing paranoia, and a new sense of rebellion.

With stirring, elegant prose, “Chloe Benjamin has crafted an eerie, compelling first novel which, like the lingering effects of a vivid dream, resonates long past its finish” (Karen Brown, The Longings of Wayward Girls).

Amazing writer

I found the writing itself exquisite. The narrator could not have been better. Thoroughly entertaining!

Slow, self obsessed story

I really enjoyed her first book, the Immortalists.
This story, appeared to begin every chapter and never quite progress, for me. The writing is wonderful, but I waited till the end to find some thing particularly interesting, as a plot line. It did not emerge, at least for me.

Nothing like The Immortalists

It took a long time to get to the point of the story. The last few chapters were terrific.

Read The Immortalists, and skip this awful novel

I hate read this one. First, the audio performance was intolerable (possibly the only time I haven't loved Brittany Pressley) though I suppose she was just mirroring the text. Everything in this wretched novel is of the utmost importance. Every thought, every action, everything anyone sees, feels, does. It's all just so huge and meaningful. Even if it's just a glass of lemonade. If everything has equal weight--the lemonade is as important as abuse--it's just insufferable. And boring. The teenage love story was so trite and then it's told like it's Romeo and Juliet or something equally tragic. And the stuff about dreams (which doesn't come up for ages) was...dumb. And boring.

If I had read this before the Immortalists (which was really good), I would have sworn off this author forever. Still might.

disappointing

disappointing after reading The Immorttalists. Performance was5bad, but unengaging. Not sure if the story made the performance bad or the performance made the story bad, or I should say worse.