I didn’t even re-read the synopsis: I vaguely remembered the book was about a mysterious illness that causes–seemingly–permanent sleep. Then the other day, I randomly wanted to read a physical book and chose The Dreamers by chance. The book has been on my TBR shelf since last summer, yet I kept putting it off, prioritizing my kindle TBR list. The Dreamers was such a weird book to read while living during the coronavirus pandemic. See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.Psychological effects of an airborne virus being loose in your town.They are dreaming heightened dreams-but of what? Those infected are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, more than has ever been recorded. A psychiatrist, summoned from Los Angeles, attempts to make sense of the illness as it spreads through the town. And at the hospital, a new life grows within a college girl, unbeknownst to her-even as she sleeps.

A father succumbs to the illness, leaving his daughters to fend for themselves. Two visiting professors try to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. Mei, an outsider in the cliquish hierarchy of dorm life, finds herself thrust together with an eccentric, idealistic classmate. As the number of cases multiplies, classes are canceled, and stores begin to run out of supplies. Then a second girl falls asleep, and then another, and panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town.

Neither can the paramedics who carry her away, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. In an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a freshman girl stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep-and doesn’t wake up.

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker