Wow, I can’t believe it’s the last week of classes–I will definitely miss this class! It has been a great sense of routine and normalcy for me each week, so thanks to everyone for being so insightful all throughout this term for each book we explored:)

This week I had the pleasure of reading “Fever Dream” by Samanta Schweblin. It is a book that made me think of three words in particular: eerie, thought-provoking, and suspenseful. Schweblin’s writing style has a way in which she is able to show the effects of environmental harm, familial love and protection, and psychological unease all in one book–three topics, that in my opinion, are usually not seen all together at once. The book centralizes on the characters of Amanda and Daniel, two polarizing figures that perfectly depict the three words I listed above. Amanda becomes suddenly very ill from suspected poisonous insecticides that were sprayed throughout the area in which she was staying in. David, a boy who continually questions her, helps provoke her memories and recollections to come back to her as the toxins from the insecticide presumably affected her memory and prompted her illness. She is oftentimes discombobulated and her memories are disjointed, but David acts as a constant to help her memories come back. Although it is not exactly implied, it could be suggested that human contact or action/intervention on the environment can have profound impacts on both humans and the earth–typically negative. I keep coming back to this theme of environmental degradation that runs simultaneously with psychological aspects or memory loss–it’s very interesting–I really haven’t seen it done before. I found it refreshing and an interesting way to portray the impacts we as humans have on our surroundings. There is a sense of urgency throughout the novel in which we aim to find the truth, for example, what REALLY happened to Amanda–was it actually the insecticide? David’s questioning throughout makes not only Amanda more curious or uncertain, but perhaps has the same effect on the reader as well. It made me want to keep reading more and more until I reached the end of the book. When faced with memory loss, it is certain that one likely grapples with what is real and what is not, as we see Amanda struggle with that throughout. Overall, I found this novel to be an interesting read. It was unique, and I am thankful for the chance to have read it in this class.

My question for you: I mention that it seems a central theme to this novel is that of environmental harm or the impact that humans have on it–what are some concrete examples of how this plays out in the book? Do you think Schweblin is trying to convey a certain message about the environment through her writing?