This book is one of those books that is very difficult to rate. This is my very first Sarah Dessen book and even though I didn't love it, I still think this book was very good, and also very intense and depressing. This book deals with some unpleasant topics like physical and emotional abuse. I know that this is nothing like Sarah Dessen's other books, which is kind of the reason why I wanted to read this book of hers first. This book started off kind of slow, which made it difficult to get through. As soon as Caitlyn meets Rogerson I could tell he was bad news, and I think she kind of could too. Caitlyn is just craving attention from someone, anyone really, since her sister ran away. I didn't see whatever Caitlyn saw in Rogerson. He is not a friendly person, he does drugs, he seems to care more about selling his drugs than making sure she is comfortable and I just didn't like his character at all.

I liked reading about Caitlyn's relationship with her sister Cass. Even though Cass ran away, it is very apparent that Cass really loved her sister and vice versa. I just loved reading about Caitlyn's family in general because they truly do love her and care for her. Their family actually reminds me a lot of my own, the way her Mom is obsessed with her schedule and kind do lives through her in that way, and he her Dad is never too involved and gets awkward when things get really deep. My family is the same way.

But this book was generally very depressing and dark. Maybe because I'm a feminist or because I don't understand how people can put up with abuse, I found it frustrating when Caitlyn wouldn't just leave Rogerson. I am not the type of person to put up with anyone who makes my life even slightly miserable and I just couldn't see why she was still with him. Or why she wouldn't tell her parents and she kept making excuses for him. I felt very bad for her and I just wanted her to get help before it was too late. Rogerson is such a fucking asshole and I haven't hated a fictional character as much as I hate him in a long time. I loved Caitlyn's friendships with Corrina and Rina. They truly cared about Caitlyn and that's always nice to see in friendships.

The ending of this book was bittersweet to me, and it was left a little bit open-ended which was nice but also agrivating. I have a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to this book. It has good characters and Caitlyn goes through some crazy character development in this book which I can appreciate. But I just didn't connect with any of the characters in a way that I really wanted to. Overall, I enjoyed it just not as much as I that I would. I've never read a book before that is specifically about an abusive relationship so I wasn't sure what to expect. But not only is this story about abuse, it's also about the importance of family, and discovering who you truly are.

Sixteen-year-old Caitlin had a terrible birthday; her older sister Cass ran away to New York that morning to be with her boyfriend, giving up her future at Yale and leaving only a note behind for her family. Since then, Caitlin has been struggling to sustain life as the girl left behind, missing Cass, but resenting the need to take her place at school and at home. Rebelling, she takes up with mysterious, dangerous Rogerson Biscoe, who helps her forget her problems...until he becomes a bigger problem.

I figured that eventually there would probably be a Dessen which didn't quite work for me, and this is it. I think it's mostly that usually I identify strongly with her protagonists; here, I found Caitlin annoyingly passive -- she doesn't really rescue herself, although she does eventually find the strength to help herself recover. Also, I didn't really believe that her family and friends wouldn't have clued in sooner to what was happening to her. I did appreciate that the book is just as much about Caitlin's relationship with her family and friends as about her abusive relationship with Rogerson, and Dessen does a fine job making the absent Cass a strong character, but the book just didn't quite hang together for me.

n  “See you in dreamland”n

Your might find it really hard to believe that I just rated a Sarah Dessen book 2 out of 5 stars. But I didn't really enjoy this book, it was something that I wasn't expecting. I thought this was a book that was fluffy and filled with happiness.

BUT


It isn't fluffy and it isn't filled with happiness. It made me feel uncomfortable and it made me feel so depressed. I mean, it was a good book, but this book wasn't meant for me. It dealt with violence and abuse and I had a difficult time reading it. I'll explain why in this review and if you aren't comfortable with violence or abuse, I recommend that you do not read this book.

n   “If there's one thing I've learned in the last few months, it's that sometimes you just have to close your eyes and jump.”n

Caitlin's sister Cass ran away from home. Ever since Cass left, Caitlin's felt lost and at the same time, she feels free. She is so confused and doesn't know what to do with herself. Cass was perfect and had the best future ahead of her, but she chose to run away. When Cass used to live with Caitlin, she felt like she had to follow everything that her sister had done. But now, Caitlin can make her own choices and follow her own path instead of being her sister's shadow. And that's when she meets Rogerson, the guy who changed her life.

n  “I had this wild thought that he was the only one in all this chaos who was just like me, and that was comforting and profound all at once.”n

One of the reasons of why I didn't enjoy this book was probably because of the characters. I wasn't a huge fan of Caitlin and I hated all the choices she made in this book. Rogerson was someone that had features that were good and features that were horrible. I didn't really like him though and I understand why he did the things he did, but I don't care. All the things he did were so wrong and it bothered me so much. I never heard him say "SORRY" and I was so upset. Rina was a character I really liked because she was the only one who knew Caitlin was acting differently. Corrina was brave and made the right choice in the end. Dave was another character that I didn't like. Matthew was interesting and I wish we got to read more about him. Boo and Stewart are awesome! I felt like Caitlin's parents are awesome but they should've paid a bit more attention to Caitlin. I wish we got to read more about Cass and Adam.

When I was reading, I kept putting the book down and doing this:


The choices that the characters made were just so unbelievable. Sometimes, the story was so slow-paced and I would continue reading, waiting for a good part. And then things would get so sad and all I would want to do was put the book away and start crying.


While other times, I wanted to do this to the people who made Caitlin feel this way.


Sometimes, I felt like I got too into the story and I felt like I was the main character. I was going through all the feelings that the character went through and it made me feel so weird. I don't know how to explain the feelings that I went through, but I hated the feels that I went through. I felt like I was apart of the book and I was Caitlin. It was like I was running in wild nightmare. :(

n  “I couldn't tell her. I couldn't tell anyone. As long as I didn't say it aloud, it wasn't real.”n

At some points of this book, I felt so angry and I just couldn't even look at the book anymore. But at the same time, I needed to know how the book ends and it was bothering me.


So I started avoiding the book and one of the things that kept me busy was school homework. Or I watched videos and continued watching Anime,(I LOVE NARUTO BY THE WAY!). But I had nothing to do today and I knew I had to finish the book eventually and I did. And I was happy with how the book ended, but I hated my reading experience.

n  “It’s so easy to get caught up in what people expect of you. Sometimes, you can just lose yourself” n

It scares me because so many people went through this. There are so many people in this world who have been abused. I recommend this book to those who have already read a Sarah Dessen book and want to read a dark novel by her. If you haven't read Sarah Dessen's books and you like dark contemporary novels, I recommend this one. But other than that, if you haven't read any of Sarah Dessen's books, I highly recommend the Lullaby, Just Listen, What Happened to Goodbye, Lock and Key or Along for the Ride.

Review to come!

it turns out I remembered VERY little of this book beyond rogerson himself, which, oof. none of this is subtle: it’s an Issue Book from 2000, there’s no denying that. but it mostly works, I think. the cass and corrina plots are suuuuper strong, the way caitlin sort of sublimates them into one unreachable composite sister. seeing cass on the tv and pointing her out to corrina; getting their letters at the same time; stealing corrina’s bracelets, UGH. all of that is excellent. also this para:

“Get up, Caitlin,” he said, and I closed my eyes as tight as I could, clenching my teeth, thinking of anything else. Corinna, standing on a cliff in California with the blue, blue water stretched out ahead of her, with even Mexico in sight. Cass in New York, sitting in her window with a million lights spread out behind her. And then, finally me, left behind again.

god that’s good!! HOWEVER. I do think it loses the thread on rogerson somewhere in the middle-end; the narration is very conscious of caitlin’s romanticizing him in the top half, but by the time we’re ready to break him down, he sort of stops being a character and just becomes this unstoppable sneering force of pain. which maybe is on purpose and maybe is realistic, but,,,,, I don’t know. I was so struck by the description of that one photograph she takes of rogerson, unsmiling, irritated, standing in the half-dead winter landscape: “it looks like you know him a little better than he’d like you to.” or the scene where she asks him what an eon is: “he was smiling at me, and for some reason it almost broke my heart.” I want more of that stuff!!! that’s complex as HELL!!! but also I guess sometimes people hurt you and you don’t get closure and that’s that, so — fair enough, Sarah.

anyway, a good book, and a HUGE tonal shift from most of the dessen faves, which I always appreciate.

It is a very sad book.

"Dreamland" is the first novel I've read from Sarah Dessen, and I had high expectations of it due to all the hype my friends go on and on about from her books. I was not dissapointed. This book is about sixteen year old Caitlin, the B-honor roll bronze medal award getter. It starts out that on her birthday her older, more perfect sister Cassandra runs away to live with her boyfriend. She quickly tries to fill the void her sister has created for her but instead falls right into it. She starts exhibiting dangerous behavior and even gets a new, destructive boyfriend - Rogerson Biscoe.

This book just tells the story that so many girls and women must face these days. It perfectly narrates why Caitlin is suffering and can't get out, so readers that are new to this subject understand the pain she is going through. The beggining where Cass ran way was beautifuly written, the middle sometimes felt forced for me, but the ending picked right back up and was told perfecly. I would give this book 4.5 stars, but because that's not a choice I think it deserves higher than 4 so I am giving it a 5/5 star.

As with all of Sarah Dessen's work, this contemporary novel is easy to digest and deals with the trials and tribulations of teenage-hood. It also explores darker themes like abuse, but is otherwise a very quick read. While I would like to say that it stunned me, I also have to admit that this book is my least favourite from Dessen's collection so far.

Dreamland is a story about Caitlin, a girl who fades into the background when her sister is nearby. She struggles with finding her own identity and place in the world, and believes that she is one step closer to understanding herself through her romance with Rogerson Biscoe. Without revealing too much of the plot, Caitlin learns the hard way that her identity consists and is influenced by more than just her romance.

The protagonist, Caitlin, was a bit flat throughout the whole book and seemed to do exactly what her character does: fade into the background because of her mediocrity. As the heroine in her own story, I found Caitlin whiny or blank at practically every situation she is faced with. She is extremely judgemental of her peers — so far as outright slut-shaming — and really came across as a cardboard cutout of what might be perceived as an interesting and dynamic protagonist. She is neither of these things.

Rogerson was also a flat character. He was underdeveloped and really came out of nowhere. I just didn't buy into his initial relationship with Caitlin, nor did I ever care enough about him throughout the rest of the book — even before it happened. Really the only emotion I felt was when he interacted with his dad. Even then, there just wasn't enough in the characters to stand out.

The plot of the book is bland, stereotypical and frankly, superficial. It only scratched the surface of what is a very complex and dark element in the story. The way it was structured, you'd think the book would aim to make a bigger mark or a longer-lasting impression on the readers. It just didn't. If anything, it was boring.

The writing, in true Dessen style, was easy to digest and appropriate for the book's audience. However, I think there was one too many metaphors and similes, all of which tried to sound prolific but fell short in the end.

Unfortunately, Dreamland was not for me. It is a quick contemporary read for teenagers, but deals with more mature themes that weren't really fleshed out as they should have been. If you're looking for a satisfying contemporary novel, I would suggest reading Dessen's other work! Two stars.

Definitely not my favorite Dessen books. I didn't connect with this one at all.

I've read a couple Sarah Dessen books that were "okay," but wow, this one really, really grabbed me!

It starts when Caitlin's sister, Cass, runs away. I knew the story was about relationship abuse and was expecting Cass to be with a bad guy, but no, Caitlin falls for a guy named Rogerson ends up being the abusive one. Caitlin's downward spiral is emotional, realistic, and heartbreaking. I kept waiting for someone to intervene or for her to wake up, but it went on and on.

I felt really bad for Caitlin. She seemed invisible to everyone who supposedly loved her. She was hiding her pain in plain sight. And people she loved kept leaving her: Cass, her new friend Corinna.

If you like the tough topics, Dreamland is great read.

Disclaimer: The following review might seem slightly melodramatic, but trust me, it's not melodramatic for me

Sarah Dessen has delivered something that is not typical of her books. She has delivered a haunting, heart-pounding story of a girl who struggles to find out who she is. The book was raw and intense, words that I seriously cannot believe I'm using to describe one of Sarah Dessen's books. But to be honest, this one seems to have a silver lining surrounding it, making it truly different and unique from her other books. The other books, of course, are wonderful--anyone who knows me knows that I am a diehard Sarah fan. But this one--just something about it was beautiful, even though the book was filled with painful, tear-worthy scenes that made me clench my fists so hard that my knuckles turned completely white.



If you've ever read a Sarah Dessen novel, then you know what you're coming into. You can expect a fast-moving, slightly addicting story with a strong and unique heroine, whether he be a tough and no-shit Remy or a quiet and transparent Caitlin, and a guy, whether he be a clumsy and lovable Dexter or, in this book's case, a penetrative, dark, and enigmatic Rogerson. Even though I knew that there would be a teenage protagonist and her boyfriend, I never would have expected this. I didn't know what I was getting into when I went into this book, and I have to say, it gave me a surprise. Even though Sarah Dessen's books are sometimes slightly mindless, this one radiated off desperation and pain. Through the pages, I could feel Caitlin's pain, her sense that things weren't real and she was in some kind of dreamland, and after I finished it, my head and heart felt sore, as if something had been repeatedly twisting them up into knots.



As a character, Rogerson was interesting. And I hate to use the word interesting as it is so ambiguous, but interesting perfectly describes his character. The reader doesn't get a great sense of him, other than the fact that he is exceptionally smart and, ultimately, abusive. The way he treated Caitlin made me so angry that sometimes I wanted to tear the pages of the book (don't worry, I didn't), or read faster, hoping that his abuse would stop. But then, Caitlin mentions several times that his father beats him, so Rogerson's pain is taken out on Caitlin. This by NO means makes it okay (it's the most not-ok thing ever...) but it made me think, Hell, what's wrong with the world? Why are people so unhappy? And why do they take it out on people that they love? Because to be honest, I think that somewhere deep down, Rogerson loved Caitlin, just like she loved him. But through his anger and emotional struggles, he didn't love her, he abused her.



Caitlin reminds me, coincidentally, of Echo from Saving Zoe, in the sense that her older sister is really, really beautiful and amazing and sets the bar for the younger sister's success extremely high, and that she is almost trying to be her sister now that she is gone. Of course, Caitlin's and Echo's sisters were gone in different ways, but still, the books seemed like practically shadows of each other. Sisterhood is a really mind-boggling concept. My sister is 10 years older than me and is beautiful, smart, and successful, you name it. Although we are ultimately fairly equal, I have often felt as if I have to be just like her, even though no one ever told me this directly.



I couldn't stop thinking of the song Haunted by Taylor Swift as I was reading this book. For those of you who don't know, the song goes: "Come on, come on don't leave me like this, I thought I had you figured out. Something's gone terribly wrong, you're all I wanted." Although Taylor Swift is clearly not singing about physical abuse, the song seems to run deeper than what she is actually singing about, and I every time Caitlin expressed her fear of Rogerson, it seemed like the song was on repeat in my head.



When I was reading this book, I felt so much pain by it that I wanted it to be over. I wanted Caitlin's pain to end and for the ending to somehow be happy. And while this book ending was not happy, it also wasn't tragic like I expected it to be. Although this is kind of a bold thing to compare it to, the feelings I got reminded me so much of how I felt during The Fault in Our Stars--like I wanted it to end so the pain of the characters could be over. For a while, during the book, I just silently cried, tears running down my face. And when I finished it, I was all set to give it 2 or 3 stars because of how terrible it made me feel.



But then I was reminded of the fact that if a book makes that strong an impact on you, then it must be a good book because the writer is doing a good job. So instead, I give it 5 stars because of the way it made me feel empty.



Dreamland was a mysterious, haunting book. Although I seem to say this about every Sarah Dessen book, this one is the one that REALLY stands out, and I think the silver lining around it will always stay there, making the experience of reading this book an incredible experience. Just writing this review, reflecting on my thoughts, has realized how much this book made me think about life in general. A beautiful book. Sarah, you've done it yet again.

***My 100th review, weeeeee***

n  I couldn't tell her. I couldn't tell anyone. As long as I didn't say it aloud, it wasn't real.n

For the love of a God, Sarah Dessen!
What was this book? How did you ever manage to write something this raw, real and heartbreaking? How did you manage to crush me like this?

I am shaking from the inside.