Dream Science

by Thomas Palmer

Why does Rocker Poole, a nondescript businessman living in Connecticut, find himself confined for months in a small windowless office he has never seen before? What is the meaning of his abrupt departures into foreign places clearly different from our world? Is he going mad? Is he being transported to parallel universes where he becomes trapped?

Such are the questions that underlie Thomas Palmer's profoundly original and provocative novel. In tantalizing, unsettling fashion, Dream Science plays with some of our most crucial polarities — reason and madness, self and surroundings, life and death. As the story builds toward its dramatic climax. we, like Rocker Poole, are forced to recognize that the world we know is a strangely ambiguous, only deceptively familiar, uncannily shifting place, ready to plunge us at any moment into the totally alien.

Dream Science confirms Thomas Palmer's remarkable powers of invention. narration, and insight, and establishes him as one of the most original novelists writing today.

A graduate of Wesleyan University, Thomas Palmer lives in Milton, Massachusetts, with his wife and daughter. His first novel, The Transfer (1983), was greeted with exceptional acclaim. Mr. Palmer is now at work on his third novel.

Genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Fiction

308 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1990

About the author

THOMAS PALMER is an amateur naturalist, photographer, conservation advocate, and the author of The Transfer (1983) and Dream Science (1990). He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and lives in Milton, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Jack Tripper · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Full review 5/13/18)



I loved how this started out: guy wakes up trapped in an alternate reality (initially just a small, windowless office floor with no way in or out, and only one indifferent man to accompany him, who is somehow able to come and go as he pleases), and he must try to find his way back to his family in Connecticut, in the "real world." He does eventually learn how to leave the office and explore other areas of this parallel world, peopled with others who've gone missing in reality, but the story soon leaves all the metaphysical weirdness behind and becomes more straight science-fiction.

I know some readers like to have everything explained, but the mystery of this strange dimension captivated me much more. I dug the surreal nature of this dreamworld -- divided into small sections only navigable by walking through "lines" that transport the person to another area -- but the story has a pretty big change of tone in the latter half (which I'd rather not go into for fear of spoilers), and it becomes much more of a standard sf thriller, one that would probably make for an entertaining movie or TV series, but didn't entirely work for me as a novel due to a lack of connection to the main character Poole. We're dropped right into his new life in this alternate world, with nothing to really make us care about his plight, which takes a bit of the tension away.

Still, the strangeness of the dream-like world was enough to carry me through, and I'd still lightly recommend this to those looking for a little bit of mystery, sf, and weird all in one.

3.5 Stars.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

A firm fave, triply, mind-warping and un-put-down able.

[Liz Harmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked so much of this. The ending didn’t quite deliver. Cool premise.

[Louarnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re a fan of the eerie and mysterious world of backrooms, this book is a must-read. It delves deep into the secrets of a shadowy company exploring liminal spaces—endless, empty worlds with the company of our main character, Poole who discovers this world with you with a sense of disquiet that never quite leaves you. The concept is intriguing, and the book keeps you guessing from start to finish.

For those who enjoy stories that don’t spoon-feed you every detail, this is perfect. It brilliantly captures the slow mental unraveling of its main character, echoing the psychological descent seen in American Psycho. Watching the protagonist’s mind and surroundings crumble was both mesmerizing and haunting, and each character felt vividly real and well-crafted.

This is a book that’s hard to put down, with twists you won’t see coming. And I have to say—Carmen, you deserved so much better. 💔

I will be making sure to yell about this book everywhere I go because I need people to read it, especially the backrooms fans!

[Hannah]

What a fun, trippy read. If you haven’t already had an existential crisis about reality this book will ensure that you do

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. It was very strange, and some of the transitions were jarring between different sections of the book. Every time I thought I knew what was going on, or was starting to develop some theory of what was going on, the book just totally departed in a way that made my previous theorizing completely pointless. The ending was, in some ways, unfulfilling. But I think that that was par for the course of the book, not in a bad way, but in the sense that the truth of the book, the objective reality of it, by design does not exist. Was anything that the character experienced actually real? Did the character, in fact, return to "the real world" at all, or merely to seemingly identical copies? Is the character dead? Has the character been dead? The point of the book is that we take reality for granted. Seeing is believing. But what if one day everything we knew changed? What if the core assumptions that we take for granted turned out to be wrong?

This is a hidden gem of a book. It's hard to find any analysis or discussion of it. That makes me somewhat sad. I'd love to discuss this book with others and see what theories or analysis they have to offer!

[book reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got so confused that I actually understood what was going on

[Ender · Rating 3 out of 5]

really enjoyed the first part, the last part of the book was really bad, plus a confusing unsatisfying ending