I loved this book! This was probably my favorite novel to read in this course, and I really enjoyed the way it was told to the fantastical elements of dream that kept my interest in the development of the story as a reader.

I found that the various perspectives emphasized in the passage where Moira (I think it was Moira) talked of democracy was reflected in the fragments of all of the characters’ stories. I really also liked the shift in the protagonist from having diverged from the true Angolan perspective to fighting for his daughter and bad-mouthing the president on live TV. Though I think I would need a bit more context to really grasp the symbolism of the dreams, I thought that it was a very interesting way to represent unity, or the collective dream/struggle of fighting for democracy and against the corruption of the government.

I also did notice the use of doubles, whether that be reality vs dream, or Hoppi and his twin or the two twin contortionists in Daniel’s dream. I’m not exactly sure what that represents, maybe how there isn’t really one ‘official’ truth but rather various viewpoints.

I also found the idea of literature creating the future very interesting. In the novel, the dreams are prophetic, especially in the case of the collective dream of Hoppi destroying the president which was then followed by Daniel and Hoppi’s confrontation of the president. Maybe collective hope/dreams do infact play a power in if not predicting the future, then shaping it, even if they are rough outlines and not exact.

Overall, I really liked this book! My question to you is: what do you think the dream machine signified? What was the point of that whole narrative to capture and record dreams?