Customer Reviews

Wake

5 star:		(99)
4 star:		(67)
3 star:		(37)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Dreams can usually be categorized as our source of entertainment while we are sleeping. Although we sometimes may not remember them, they often take us on a journey that we may (or may not) want to happen. For Janie Hannagan, though, dreams are her worst nightmares.

Not like any other normal teenage girl, Janie witnesses the dreams that anyone within close proximity is dreaming. Of course, she doesn't really want this to happen, but it has been going on ever since she was eight. Janie is able to see the ordinary dreams, from falling to drowning to going to work without wearing any pants. Along with that, she is able to see people's secrets and what they desire the most.

There is nothing Janie can do about this but to just keep the knowledge to herself. That all changes when Cable, the guy who everyone thought was a pothead and a dealer, enters her life as she enters his dreams. Half the time, the dreams are somewhat sweet and romantic, but then other times she witnesses the nightmares that have been haunting him.

As Janie tries to sort out not only his dreams but her own feelings for Cable, she learns that the only way to survive her reactions towards other people's dreams is to control them -- and to help the people complete the tasks that they so desperately want to accomplish.

Every now and then a novel gets published and becomes a work of art that we all will long remember. WAKE is one of those novels that is not only unique but also mesmerizing and exhilarating. With her debut novel, Lisa McMann creates something that will be on our minds and change the way we think about what we read.

Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen

THREE QUICK POINTS:
* Point 1: It's rather short. With abrupt, sometimes awkward, sentence structures.

* Point 2: This is either a `love it' or `hate it' book, yet somehow I managed to be squarely in the middle, loving some aspects and hating others.

* Point 3: The characters remind me of Bella Swan and Eward Cullen (Twilight) in their inexplicable love with little justification that just somehow seems to work for the story.

SHORT SYNOPSIS:
Janie Hanagan has a special ability: she inexplicably plunges into the dreams of others. She discovered this unique ability when she was eight, but didn't understand it until much later. As she aged, her episodes increased and through her interactions, she discovered the hopes, fears, and desires of those around her. Then she tumbles into a nightmare while driving one day. Eventually she discovers it belongs to a mysterious guy named Cabel, who eventually helps Janie come to terms with her ability and Janie helps him come to terms with his own twisted history.

MY THOUGHTS:
I was torn between three and four stars, because I love the story's premise, but I'm not fond of the holes and superficial development.

Wake falls into the category of well conceived, but questionably executed. Rarely do I say this about a book, but it needs to be longer. It's convoluted in places and anemic overall; otherwise it would have rated as one of the better books I've read.

The format of the date and time for sections was a nice touch. The description of the dreams, the terseness of the sentences, and the vague descriptions all contributed to the dreamlike quality of the book.

What didn't work well for the story, however, was the lack of details, back story, and transitions. The development of the relationship between Janie and Cabel was suspect. (It's difficult to give an example without spoilers.) And the cat and mouse game they played while Cabel was withholding information from Janie, leaving her with nothing to go on except rumors and conjecture, seemed trite. And let's not even get started on the big reveal of Cabel's secret, or the secret itself--that entire section, which came at the end, changed the tone, style, and tempo of the book. Suddenly, what made the book a unique and exciting read dissipated into thin air and it felt as though I were reading a completely different book than the one I started.

Other readers might love it for its simplicity, but for me, it was too simple. So simple that the story seemed disjointed. The end was more like an afterthought added for a bit of action than a deliberate thread in the story.

The next novel in the series, Fade, is said to complete the Janie/Cabel story, but frankly, the story shouldn't have been broken into two books. All in all, though, it was a quick and easy read and I will most likely check out Fade from the library to see what happens next.

Note for parents or sensitive readers: This book is targeted to young adults (girls in general), but it does have some coarse language and underage alcohol/drug use. It's probably along the lines of what young people face today. While it's not hardcore, or even condoning its use, I thought I should go ahead and mention it.

Janie Hannagan has a gift -- or rather a curse -- for being sucked into other people's dreams whenever they're sleeping nearby. She is witness to funny things; strange things; typical, boring things; and, in one instance, something so disturbing she won't even drive on Waverly Road any more. With the help of resident hottie Cabel Strumheller, Janie must discover whose terrifying dream she beheld, and what is wrong with her that she was able to see it in the first place.

When I started this book, I didn't like it. Then it got better, at which point I was quite into it, then it got worse again, and it didn't recover. The mystery McMann introduces is enough to keep a reader up at night for more than one reason, but it peters off shortly after its establishment and is ultimately unfulfilling. In addition, it seems people fall asleep a lot more often in this story than they do in real life, presumably a tactic to keep Janie's special ability at the forefront of readers' minds.

Though possessing an intriguing premise, there is one semi-major flaw that for me made the entire foundation of the story unsound. Dreams are people's subconscious ramblings, not their conscious thoughts. Most of the dreams upon which Janie intrudes bear significant consequence to the plot, but in my experience the majority of real-life dreams mean very little.

On a more positive note, the writing style is fast-paced and unique, adding a distinguished and enticing flare to the novel.

I would say that Lisa McMann's debut into young adult fiction didn't quite reach its potential, but the idea behind it is promising enough for me to have high hopes for its sequel, Fade.

Adolescents beware: Lisa McMann knows you. She knows your insecurities. She knows how you might look so together, yet be so screwed up.

This is why Wake rang so true for me--because I remember what it was like to be 15, 16, 17. It wasn't a lovely, dreamy existence; it was somewhat akin to living in a shark tank.

So I can relate to Janie's fear that she's a freak. It makes sense; she slips into other people's dreams, after all. Nasty, nasty dreams. Makes it kind of hard to look a friend in the eyes, when you've seen him beating his father to a pulp.

As an adult, I can also relate to Janie's dismissal of adults. She has yet to learn that we're all just older teenagers. So when McMann skillfully adds a touch of mystery, now and then, to the actions of Janie's miserably inept mother, I love it. Funny stuff. Well-written stuff. Scary stuff. Surprisingly believable fantasy stuff.

Can't wait for the next book.

And I'm 60 years old.

Susan O'Neill, author: Don't Mean Nothing: Short Stories of Vietnam

This is a book that would have benefitted a lot from a good editor.. Plot was amazing, pacing great, but the dialogue gets jumbled a lot & you can't figure out who is talking, the main character seems a lot older than most teens, & there were a few parts that needed to be fleshed out more to understand what is happening.. Characters seemed to react in unusual ways & that wasn't explained very well (why did Cabel get so mad at J. on the bus when he seemed to accept the situation so calmly before that?) They seem to get mad at each other without a solid basis. Anyway, was a page-turner & great ideas, just needs some fine tuning & it would have been great.

I don't really know what I was expecting from this book, but what I found was pretty amazing. The plot flowed like a dream in that it was told in minimalistic spurts that echoed a dream state. And the story itself wasn't quiet mystery or fantasy or romance, but seemed to combine all three in an entirely new genera.

Janie Hannagan is a dream catcher. She wakes into other people's nightmares and fantasies, yet she doesn't know what they expect her to do. From her best friend begging her to help save her drowning brother to the lonely old woman in the nursing home where she works asking for a second chance with a lover she lost in the war, Janie doesn't know if she can help any of these people turn their fears into happiness.

That is until she falls into burnout Cabel Strumheller's dream and finds out there are some secrets in Cabel's past and some hope for his future that she's not sure are nightmares or fantasies--and she doesn't know if she wants to find the truth either way. But Cabel's dreams aren't the only thing she finds herself falling into. With his protective instinct and deep brown eyes, Janie might just be falling in love.

I did find the exposition a little lacking in places so Janie's emotional extremes baffled me at times. And I don't want to give away the ending to explain what I thought about Cabel, but just know this is a definite series set up.

This book was a fast read with some great parts. It was a little reminiscent of Meg Cabot's 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU series, only with more substance. It was edgy like a Holly Black book and engaging like Janet Evanovich's Stehpanie Plum series, yet it was totally unique. I'm looking forward to FADE, and can't wait to see what comes after that.

The light, spare prose in Wake takes getting used to, and while compulsively readable, doesn't always match up to the weight if its subject matter, or the potential gravity in some of its characters. But Wake does create something different: a mix between the fantastic-premise-meets-teen set-up of books like Twilight, and plot devices that will gather fans of Sixth Sense and Ghost Whisperer. However critical you want to be, there is no getting around that where Wake improves over similar books is in passing on 7/8ths of the over-extended romantic drama that bogs its better known predecessors down. You're left with a lean, enjoyable, well-plotted drama, and a main character, Janie, who maintains a firmer grip on herself and her friendships.

A pleasant surprise with this novel was its set-up for a sequel: not in the possibility, which seems nearly inevitable for YA fiction, but in the route taken to it, preparing the reader for a different sort of series. Twilight this is not, but Wake has an opportunity to send a few young readers toward the darker streets traveled by Dennis Lehane and Patricia Cornwell, which is company, I think, of higher caliber.

I have heard some really good some really good things about Wake and I had some really high hope for it. Did it live up to my expectations? Yes and no.

The Good: The characters were very diverese and that is always a good thing in my book. What I like most about Janie was that she didn't whine or complain about her "curse" and she was had many layers, sort of like an onion. And yes, I totally stole that from Shrek. Another thing that I loved about Janie was that she wasn't afraid to speak her mind.

Cabel... sigh. Sometimes I just wanted to go into the book and just give him a huge hug. I love how he's protective over Janie, but he respects her enough to give her space. Escept that one time that he stood outside her house waiting for her... But, I'll let that one slide because Cabel is awesome.

The idea is very original and it was such a nice change from my Twilight hysteria. Also, the writing was fast-paced and entertaining. It was much more funnier then I had expected. Sometimes I did laugh out loud, and that doesn't happen too often.

The Bad: I get complain a lot so... be prepared.

First of all, I hated all the swearing in this book. I mean, on almost every page there seemed to be the F bomb. Ugh, that annoyed me through out the entire book!

Secondly, it got way to dirty for me sometimes. I mean, I know that teens don't always have the purest of thoughts (if you know what I mean) but seriously, I had to close the book sometimes because it was so awkward reading it!

Third, the writing was too fast-paced. More than once, I was left confused and had to re-read some parts to make sense of it. And sometimes when I re-read, it still left me confused. And, it took me a couple of chapters the finally figure out the "big twist." Also, The writing was too choppy and the third person POV really stifled the full potential of the story. I would've loved it som much more if it was in first person.

I had some expectations since I've heard so many good things about it but, I was dissapointed. Though it had some really good parts, the plot just fell dull sometimes.

Overall: It wasn't Build a Shrine awesome, but it didn't suck either. It was definetly in the middle.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I read it in about 4 hours - yes, it's a quick read. There are things that bugged me about it, though. Some parts were really well written while other parts bored me. I don't think I enjoyed the style of writing the author used. It was almost as if she was trying too hard to sound like a teenager. Also, I don't mind that the f-word was used in this novel, but I feel like it was unnecessarily overused.

-spoiler-

Cabel and Janice's relationship was interesting, but very frustrating at times. They got mad at each other for stupid reasons and he apparently was in love with her when they hardly even knew each other. He was overly affectionate to the point of where he cried over her. He even dragged her into his boss's office so that she could prove to her he wasn't lying. It seemed like he was too emotionally attached to her and it made him seem less realistic.

As for the dreams, some of them seemed pointless and the ones that corresponded to the novel got really repetitive. The author made the dreams so that they directly related to real life events, but when Cabel dreams about having sex with Shay - It's just a hope or a fear?

Overall, I believe this novel was worth reading, but I do believe a little more work on it would have made it great. It was a good basis, but need a little more expansion and editing! It was good enough though that I will most likely buy the sequel.

What do you dream about?

Falling?

Flying?

Monsters?

Whatever you dream about, Janie knows about it.

She's been there.

She's seen you trying to run. She's seen you in your underwear in front of your classroom. At sleepovers, she sees popular Melinda dream about kissing Janie's best friend Carrie. Carrie is forever dreaming about trying to save a little boy from drowning. Driving down Waverly Street one night, Janie falls into a dream of a man with knife hands setting a boy on fire. At the Heather Nursing Home where she works, Janie sees a soldier dream of war and a woman dream of having one last night of passion with the man she loved.

Janie knows what everyone else dreams about, but she never has dreams of her own.

Her ability to enter people's dreams wasn't so bad when she was younger, but in high school a lot more people sleep in class. A lot more people have nightmares that Janie can't avoid. People like Cabel Strumheller, former bad boy, suspected drug dealer, total hottie.

And the owner of the nightmare Janie entered on Waverly Street.

With Cabel's dream, Janie finds that she's not just a watcher of people's dreams, she's a participant. And she's determined to help Cabel through his nightmare. That, however, isn't so easy to do when Carrie tells Janie that Cabel is hooking up with another girl and dealing drugs. Janie finds an unexpected ally in a resident of the Heather Home who leaves a note for Janie after her death. The note ends:

P.S. You have more power than you think.

Janie knows she can't go on forever falling into people's dreams. She'll never be able to have a college roommate, and she'll never be able to sleep with or even live with someone else. What she does know is that she must embrace her powers and help Cabel through his nightmares. If it doesn't kill her first.

Enter dreams.

Find the answers.

Help those who can't help themselves.

Lose yourself in a spooky, breathless world of secrets and deceit.

This is a book about dreams that will keep you awake all night.

--- Reviewed by Carlie Webber