Fever Dream — Reader Q&A

this book was, for me, impossible to understand...it's just like a nightmare that you try to make sense of, but can't....I would say don't bother. I would love to hear someone's take on it?

Crystal

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)[ I am awestruck by the levels of dimensionality that are present in this novella. I read it in one sitting because it was so eerie and compelling. I found myself jotting down notes while I was reading which is a rare thing for me to do. I typically place a sticky tab in the book to come back to it, but this novella compelled me to map out its structure and content while I was reading. There are so many levels of narrative structure as well as narrative content. I created a bit of a mind map while reading and by the end, I had this below:

Dying in the hospital bed
The worms feeling / poison / contamination / kids born already poisoned / aren’t many children born right in this town
there are no doctors and the green house woman does what she can / 33 infected kids / town cursed for 10 years / the barrels / the dew isn’t dew
David says time is valuable for her to relay the story, but he has heard it four times / what is he looking for?
The story Amanda retells about interacting with Carla
Carla’s story of David’s conversion
David’s ability to “push” ducks, dog, horses to their death
Memory loss / Amanda’s inability to recall the story / she has told it four times and doesn’t remember
The ending / part of David transferred to Nina

This mind map shows conceptual ideas from larger narrative to smaller narratives. This map outline that I created while reading was intriguing to look at after finishing the novella. I could see that all of these large plot points were part of an overall feeling created by Schweblin for the reader. None of these concepts are fully resolved or explained. We might know that the dew wasn’t dew, but we don’t know what it was or what was in the barrels. We can only assume that this was a part of the poisoning. Schweblin has the ability to not explain a single thing and create a foreboding, deeply unnerving experience for the reader yet not leave them angry when they finish reading. Schweblin’s novel isn’t about the content, it is about the experience for the reader and the emotions and feelings evoked from listening to this conversation between David and Amanda and its many layers of interaction.
I am baffled when I think about the layers of writing and what Schweblin’s mind must have looked like when trying to keep all of the plot and story details in check but remove enough to create mystery and an unsettling experience for the reader. There are so many layers of story and voice, and it wasn’t distracting for the reader and was actually easy to follow., but Schweblin had to keep up with the nonlinearity and linearity of the story in the novel. She had to keep track of the linear story of Amanda speaking to David in the hospital, but also be able to execute the linearity of the story Amanda is telling, but also keep up the nonlinear way the structure of the novella as a whole is laid out. I think I may have gone as crazy as the characters in this book if I had to keep all of these things in my head all at once for the writing of this novel. To top it all off, this novella is under 200 pages and is one of the most masterful scary books I’ve ever read. I admire Schweblin’s work and will definitely be picking up more of it in the future.
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Are there any book club questions available?

Eric Rampson

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Did anyone else come to think that the narrator is Nina? And "you" is David?

Rebecca Eisenberg

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vee

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Crystal

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)[ I am awestruck by the levels of dimensionality that are present in this novella. I read it in one sitting because it was so eerie and compelling. I found myself jotting down notes while I was reading which is a rare thing for me to do. I typically place a sticky tab in the book to come back to it, but this novella compelled me to map out its structure and content while I was reading. There are so many levels of narrative structure as well as narrative content. I created a bit of a mind map while reading and by the end, I had this below:

Dying in the hospital bed
The worms feeling / poison / contamination / kids born already poisoned / aren’t many children born right in this town
there are no doctors and the green house woman does what she can / 33 infected kids / town cursed for 10 years / the barrels / the dew isn’t dew
David says time is valuable for her to relay the story, but he has heard it four times / what is he looking for?
The story Amanda retells about interacting with Carla
Carla’s story of David’s conversion
David’s ability to “push” ducks, dog, horses to their death
Memory loss / Amanda’s inability to recall the story / she has told it four times and doesn’t remember
The ending / part of David transferred to Nina

This mind map shows conceptual ideas from larger narrative to smaller narratives. This map outline that I created while reading was intriguing to look at after finishing the novella. I could see that all of these large plot points were part of an overall feeling created by Schweblin for the reader. None of these concepts are fully resolved or explained. We might know that the dew wasn’t dew, but we don’t know what it was or what was in the barrels. We can only assume that this was a part of the poisoning. Schweblin has the ability to not explain a single thing and create a foreboding, deeply unnerving experience for the reader yet not leave them angry when they finish reading. Schweblin’s novel isn’t about the content, it is about the experience for the reader and the emotions and feelings evoked from listening to this conversation between David and Amanda and its many layers of interaction.
I am baffled when I think about the layers of writing and what Schweblin’s mind must have looked like when trying to keep all of the plot and story details in check but remove enough to create mystery and an unsettling experience for the reader. There are so many layers of story and voice, and it wasn’t distracting for the reader and was actually easy to follow., but Schweblin had to keep up with the nonlinearity and linearity of the story in the novel. She had to keep track of the linear story of Amanda speaking to David in the hospital, but also be able to execute the linearity of the story Amanda is telling, but also keep up the nonlinear way the structure of the novella as a whole is laid out. I think I may have gone as crazy as the characters in this book if I had to keep all of these things in my head all at once for the writing of this novel. To top it all off, this novella is under 200 pages and is one of the most masterful scary books I’ve ever read. I admire Schweblin’s work and will definitely be picking up more of it in the future.
(hide spoiler)]

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