Dreamland

Dreamland has quickly become one of my favorite books and put Sarah Dessen high on my list of authors I need to read more extensively. Dessen handles a difficult subject well. With well-chosen words, she puts you as a reader into Caitlin's world immediately. And keeps you there. I feel that Caitlin is one of the most well-developed characters I have encountered in modern YA, and I consider myself as having high standards for such things. I was also impressed by her use of metaphor and description. I was in that car the first time Rogerson hit Caitlin. In a nutshell: she's good. I usually speed read through a book if it has no substance. Dreamland was definitely a slow read for me. And an enjoyable one.

Of all the book's of Sarah's this is the one that made me cry more, there were parts were I was just crying so hard that I could barely read. The story goes like this: On the moring of Caitlin's sixteen birthday Cass, her "perfect" older sister, runs out with her boyfriend Adam, chosing New York over Yale and leaving Caitlin's family chrushed. Caitlin's father feels betrayed by his daugther, her mom barely realizes of anything anymore, and Caitlin is left alone to start her junior year with out her sister, with the sole support of Rina, her best friend, and Boo and Stuart, neighboors and best family friends. Rina convinces Caitlin to try out for cheerleading, because that was one of the few things that Cass never did. Surprisingly and not really wanting to, she ends up being picked out for squad. After one of her games, Caitlin, Rina and another cheerleader stop in a carwash and there she meets Rogerson Briscoe, and things heat up with him. Suddenly he is everywere, and Caitlin suddenly finds herself with a brilliant cool boyfriend. Rogerson, however, has lots of long stories... and lots of dark secrets. Caitlin doesn't care, he is taking her places where Cass has never been. One day, Rogerson's dark secret comes out, when he hits Caitlin for the fisrt time. Not ready to leave him yet, she stays. And the story goes on, Caitlin has fallen into a box, sealed with love and need, feeling trapt but lacking the will to scape, she hides the bruises and resumes to Dreamland... were things don't seem so bad. All the characters are wonderful, Caitlin and Rogerson relationship well descrived, Boo and Stuart, Rina, Cass, Corina... I highly recomend this book. It's goes beyond the hiting problem, i think you can identify yourself there because more than about domestic violence, is about finding yourself when there are no pointers showing the way. One of my favorite parts is when Caitlin wonders what would she think if saw this photograph of this girl that sits in her boyfriends lap so easily and how happy both looked (the ones in the photo are her and Rogerson), she says that she would have think that her life was perfect, just like once she had believed Cass's life to be perfect, she says that she had learned it was too easy to just asume things

I am not a teenager. I am a mother of teenagers and I teach teenagers. This book really should be given to every teenage girl and ideally, if you could get them to read it, every teenage boy. And for good measure, give it to every parent of a teenager. If you read the plot synopsis, you might not be interested: it sounds pedestrian with great potential for emotional manipulation. I went into this book really knowing nothing about the book or the author except that I had read some impressive quotes from her books on Goodreads.The book is emotionally brutal but never manipulative: I was sobbing for the last third of the book, because the simple emotional truths were so raw and real. I remember reading "teen isssue of the month" young adult books as a teenager but they were popcorn dressed with a superficial lesson compared to this. I wish there had been such books when I was a teenager. At one point near the end, the main character reads a letter from her sister who ran away at the beginning of the book. Her sister writes about how she draws on the quiet strength of the main character to pull her through the hard times. Caitlin, the main character, who has always felt herself in the shadow of her "perfect" older sister, remarks "funny how someone's perception of you can be formed without you even taking notice of it." and that she wishes her sister had physically turned her head and forced her to see this strength in herself as it might have made all the difference. But I could so identify with characters in this book although my life has had none of the problems anyone in this book has. I would guess that most people would find someone in the book that they identify with or can picture someone in their own lives who is eerily similar to to a character in the book. Either you are the perfect sister or the second fiddle, the overly controlling and involved mom, the slightly crazy best friend who is there for you but whose decisions you question, the abusive boyfriend, the heart of gold friend with whom you have nothing in common with on the surface, the quiet but understanding in his own way dad. The theme of finding yourself/ getting out from under the shadow of a mythical friend or family member can resonate with just about everyone. The narrative of the abusive boyfriend rings so true as does the paralleling of such abuse as an addiction. The circumstances of how Caitlin gets in the abusive relationship is just like many people's first experience with a drug: it's a fascinating "bad" thing you just want to taste once. The bruises left behind and how Caitlin uses long clothes to cover it up are just the same effects and cover up that many addicts experience. And just as with a drug addiction, you never think you could find yourself in such a situation but then it happens. Dessen's writing is what keeps this from becoming a Lifetime Channel movie of the week. She is psychologically astute and doesn't shy away from the realities of life no matter how ugly they may be. Parents, yes this means that a lot of what teens are doing behind your back is realistically depicted: there is drug abuse, smoking, language, sex, violence, but I think the book could be very useful in pointing out these dangers to teens in a way that is not preachy and is entirely relatable.

I am twenty years old and I thought this was an excellent book!I've always wondered when I here women talking about abuse from there spouse, why don't you just leave!! This book sort of opened up my eyes to that question. At the beginning of the book the writer has you feeling sypathy for Rogerson and kind of liking him, so when the abuse starts I didn't know how to feel about him. Even I wanted to see him change I sure like Caitlin did, but that was never gonna happen. This book would be great for daughters starting to date maybe just to sort of open there eyes to what kind of boys and relatioships are out there. All in All excellent book!

My daughter bought this book for me, and as I read it, I couldn't remember what the book was about. Then the first slap happened and I remembered. This book had me captivated, left me wondering how many woman live this life in silence and my heart broke for each of them. This female character, Caitlin, who was so weak, but so strong. It hurt me to read the abuse she received. By the end of the book as I wiped away my tears I felt her strength, her determination to survive. I recommend this book to any young woman, coming of age, or a grown woman. Its such insite, so powerful. So important.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS Dreamland by Sarah Dessen is a story that follows Caitlin after her sister Cass ran away on Caitlin's sixteenth birthday. Caitlin's world seems to spiral away until she meets Rogerson, a strange guy with awesome hair and whom Caitlin feels at ease with, someone she can be anyone with. She's happy and in love and everything seems perfect, until Rogerson starts to beat her. I'll be honest, I haven't read anything from Sarah Dessen and didn't think I would like any of her books. All I hear is "Sarah Dessen" this, "Sarah Dessen" that, and because she's that "well known", I didn't think I would like her books. But, Amazon had this sale and this book was pretty cheap, and I ended up getting this book pretty much free. For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I thought it was beautifully written and it's easy to see how Sarah is a good writer and has a lot of followers. But there were issues I didn't like about this book. For the first half, it's all about how Cass leaves and Caitlin doesn't know what to do, that she joins cheerleading but still feels out of it, that she loves Rogerson, that she doesn't know exactly what he does, and that she smokes. Then, at the halfway point, we get the actual story where Caitlin is beaten by Rogerson. It's not a long story at all, so it could have been a lot longer and more detailed. But it's not until the halfway point that a major event happens, one which is described in the summary? The first half almost seems like... a waste because there isn't much that happens. At least enough to affect the plot. Caitlin starts smoking cigarettes and pot and there's also abuse as well mentioned in this story. I do see a lot of comments saying that it's "darker" and not "appropriate" for younger children. But the reality is, it's not that bad and there are worse things out there. You let your kids watch the news? Watch movies? Watch tv? Go on the internet? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that what's in here isn't as bad as elsewhere. However, the issue I have with all of that is that it doesn't seem like Caitlin really is doing any of it. What I mean is that it doesn't seem like there's any side affects. Smoking pot doesn't do anything? No one notices the smoke smell of cigarettes and pot around her? No one notices any side affects from them? No one? And when Caitlin goes into rehab, there are no withdrawal symptoms that she faces or endures? Really? It just seems so... fake and unrealistic. When Rogerson starts beating Caitlin, you feel it, almost. You can see why she doesn't want to leave him. I liked how Sarah explored the abusive relationship. That it was more detailed, more explained, how a person becomes attached to the abuser. It also strikes me odd that no one notices or even suspects anything about Caitlin. I mean, I can see it to a degree, but to the severity that Sarah has it seems a bit implausible. As long as it was and as distant Caitlin was, there had to be someone that suspected something. But I guess everyone is wrapped up so much in their own problems, they don't notice anyone else's. For the most part, I did enjoy this story. I thought it was a beautiful story that wasn't about something normal and everyday. It was different. I didn't like how things became resolved so quickly, how there was no side affects and it didn't even seem like she had been on drugs, how no one really noticed, or how it was too short and sometimes very dull. Overall, though, not bad. I'm not sure if I would recommend this book but it is a quick enough read. Not entertaining enough to keep me reading straight through, but short enough for a quick read. For my first Sarah book, it's not bad, but I don't think it's enough to really be all Sarah Dessen crazy.

I connected with this book on such an emotional level. I felt as though I were reading a story about myself. From start to finish I felt like I was living in the story. I have read this book 7 times and I will continue to re-read it year after year. It is a story that needs to be told. So many young women, myself included, experience dating abuse at an early age and try to hide it. The author sugar coats nothing and you feel everything Caitlin feels. Love this book!!

This book is probably one of my favorites of all time from Sarah Dessen and was my "gateway" book that lead me to loving all of her other books. An overview of the book is that the main character Caitlin has been struggling with living in the shadow of her older sister and has always felt the pressure of never being good enough. When her older sister runs away, shattering the perfect image she struggled to keep up to please her parents, Caitlin has to deal with all the drama that entails. While all of this is happening Caitlin meets Rogerson whom she falls in love with and starts dating. Everything from there is downhill. The story deals with abandonment, abuse, fear, and many other things. It has definitely made me cry. I would definitely recommend reading this book though if you love YA.