After wading through a swamp of overly ambiguous literary fiction, Laila Lalami's *The Dream Surveillance* is precisely the kind of book I needed. It presents an intriguing concept and delivers on it, fleshing out the details of this world and its oppressive system with impressive precision. The themes are incredibly relevant to current discussions around AI and privacy, and I'd absolutely love to see this adapted into a TV show. My pitch? *Orange is the New Black* meets *Severance*, with the po...

⭐️⭐️ (2/5)I really wanted to love *The Dream Surveillance* by Laila Lalami. The premise had everything I look for in dystopian fiction—thought-provoking social commentary, speculative intrigue, and a concept that felt like a mix of 1984’s ThoughtCrime and Inception’s dream manipulation. The idea that dream interpretations could be used as pre-crime evidence, punishing people for thoughts they hadn’t even acted on yet? That’s the kind of eerie, big-brother surveillance nightmare that should have ...

I was ready to check in!Update: Never mind. Please do not check me in.These days it's like, oh, a near future in which people are thrown in prison based on being determined close to committing a crime by a deeply flawed and capitalist algorithm created by a creep with political ambitions? Who could imagine?In spite of feeling about a week and a half away from our current reality, this is an intense, oppressive book. I felt so surveilled and so restricted, just by virtue of the depth of both on-p...

"1984" meets "Minority Report," but it's a snooze. "The Dream Surveillance" has a ton of problems. It plods along at a snail's pace until the final twenty pages or so, all while focusing on characters who seem to have things happen *to* them instead of actually driving the story themselves. Which is a real shame, because the idea of AI being used to flag potential threats based on people's dreams is genuinely interesting. But the novel "The Dream Surveillance" as a whole just falls completely fl...

How much of our lives and ourselves must we keep private to maintain our freedom in this post-internet world?Centering around a terrifyingly plausible near-future premise, *The Dream Surveillance* just might be the most thought-provoking book that I’ve read in a while. Given the state of our world, data-mining, and technology in general, the idea that this storyline is exceedingly far-fetched makes you wonder: Is it really? For that reason alone, it’s a nightmare-triggering plot that will likely...

Took me forever to finish, about as long as Sara stayed in "The Dream Surveillance" by Laila Lalami. If you're looking for a slow burn character study, this might be your thing. Check out other book reviews if you need more convincing.

“The data doesn’t lie.”“It doesn’t tell the truth, either.” You know those dreams where you have to get somewhere, desperately need to get somewhere or pursue something, but things keep happening, keep getting in your way and holding you back? The panic that keeps increasing as time— or whatever you’re chasing —slips away from you?That's what Laila Lalami's *The Dream Surveillance* is like.It's set in a future that feels just around the corner-- one where companies mine data from all our devi...

I'll start by saying that novels about dreams—dreams written in novels, manifesting in novels, and engulfing novels (typically in italics)—tend to bore me, and then I skim. I lose interest when writers idly use dreams as metaphors, subjecting the reader to eye-rolling symbolism. And \"Dream\" in the title? I almost passed this one by. But it’s Laila Lalami, and she’s incapable of writing a bad book. Lalami killed it! In *The Dream Surveillance*, dreams aren't used as a plot or character device. ...

In *The Dream Surveillance*, Laila Lalami crafts a compelling narrative about surveillance, technology, and human resilience. The novel centers on Sara Hussein, a scientist unexpectedly detained at LAX when an algorithm flags her as a potential threat to her husband, thrusting her into a nightmarish detention system that criminalizes dreams. Lalami creates a disturbingly plausible near-future world where advanced technology transforms personal subconscious into potential evidence. Unlike specul...

I really wanted to love *The Dream Surveillance* more than I actually did. Laila Lalami explores so many fascinating ideas, like the surveillance state, the prison industrial complex, and the limitations of AI and algorithms. It's a book ripe for discussion, perfect if you're looking for thought-provoking **book reviews**. Some parts felt a little too obvious or preachy, like the explanation of how crime is socially constructed by those in power. At the same time, I struggled to buy into the id...