Dreamin' Sun, Vol. 9
Book
Taiga finds out that he is going to be transferred. He agreed to that to keep the house. His time...
State Of Decay 2
Video Game Watch
The end is here. Life as you knew it has gone to hell after the mother of all zombie outbreaks. Now...
Lady Snowblood (1973)
Movie
Yuki Kashima, a girl born in a women's prison who grows up to become an assassin by the name of...
Shurayukihime Revenge Kazuo Koike Kazuo Kamimura Masaaki Hirao
Chocolate (2008)
Movie Watch
Martial arts thriller. The autistic teenage daughter of a former Thai gangster has an uncanny...
martial arts
Witch's Betrayal
Book
Seth, the arrogant demon hunter, is dangerously close to knowing too much. If that prick gets...
All She Wants
Book
There are some things in life you can always rely in. Living in the shadow of your “perfect”...
Frat Pack (2018)
Movie
A shy British graduate gets dragged on a wild road trip across America to a fraternity party by his...
Still/Born (2017)
Movie
Mary, a new mother, gives birth to twins, but only one of them is alive. While taking care of her...
“Dreams come true. So do nightmares.” Dea Donahue has spent her entire life travelling from one state to another, starting school after school… and walking other people’s dreams in order to survive. Dea, like her mother, is a dream walker, but she must keep this a secret from everyone else. She must follow the rules: don’t walk a person’s dream more than once, don’t let the dreamer see you; otherwise the monsters will find you. Or so Dea’s eccentric mother says.
Dea’s mother is a very paranoid person, afraid of many things particularly mirrors, and has a strange obsession for clocks. At any moment she may decide they need to pack up and leave, but Dea has had enough. Especially now that she has met Connor, the first boy to ever treat her nicely, the first boy she could call a friend. But when Dea’s mother goes missing, Dea needs to take a closer look at her mother’s obscure fears in order to track her down. At the same time there are rumours going around suggesting that Connor may not be the nice guy Dea thinks he is.
<i>Dreamland</i> is both a fantasy novel and murder mystery. It is as though Robert L. Anderson has written two different stories and then seamlessly merged them together. The main narrative focuses on Dea’s predicament but Connor’s life is constantly present underneath it. The real life quality to the story line makes the incidents Dea experiences all the more creepy.
Part three of the book becomes more fantasy-like which is a little confusing and difficult to see the setting in the way the author perceives it, however the narrative soon returns to the real world and progresses on with Connor’s story. It is not until this point that the reader realizes that <i>Dreamland</i> is part murder mystery.
As a whole, <i>Dreamland</i> is a gripping read that is difficult to put down. Readers are plagued with questions and anticipations as they wait to find out why Dea can dream walk, what the significance of the mirrors and clocks are, and what happened to Dea’s mother. Once these are resolved a whole bunch of new questions crop up.
The ending is mostly satisfying although it is not completely clear what happens next. Although the reader knows where Dea and Connor both end up, it is largely up to our own interpretation as to what their lives are like once the story ends.
<i>Dreamland</i> is definitely a worthy young adult book to read. It is different to other novels in the genre and brings a whole new concept to the table. I expect this book to rise in popularity rather quickly – and if it does not? Well, lots of people are missing out!
Andy K (10823 KP) rated Carrie (1976) in Movies
Oct 28, 2019
After a horribly embarrassing episode in the high school shower involving the onset of mensuration in the teen, Carrie is reduced to a sobby mess as her schoolmates laugh, point and ridicule her to no end. She finds no solace from her mother who now thinks of her as "dirty". The gym teacher comes to Carrie's defense and outlines to the rest of the class they will be in detention for one week as their penance and any further unruly behavior will result in their suspension and remove from attending their senior prom.
This does not sit well with Chris a popular girl with a cool boyfriend and an attitude toward authority. Another classmate, Sue, feels guilt upon her participation in the shower scene event so much so she forces her boyfriend to ask Carrie to the prom despite his reservation. Once at the prom, Carrie is delighted by the event, fighting through her embarrassment and demure feelings to try and enjoy her newfound appearance as a beautiful young woman.
All hell is about to break loose!
The original film Carrie, is a lot of premature exposition and character introductions for the inevitable culmination of Carrie's triumph, ridicule and retribution during the prom, but it is worth the wait.
Almost every character Carrie interacts with does not like her including most of her classmates, her teachers who can't remember her name and then there's her mother. Not only does she shame her daughter whenever possible and tell her she is a go good sinner, she even says at one point she wishes Carrie had not been born since she thinks of any sex act as a sin.
Both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie who played Carrie's mother were nominated for Academy Awards in 1977 for their work and it was very well deserved. Carrie is so timid at times and then so filled with desire for vengeance and the willingness to murder her character arc was one you don't often see in film. Her mother annoyed everyone she met including the neighbors she tried to convert and her daughter who I don't think she loved at all. You instantly hated her for what she did to her fragile young daughter and Laurie brought her to life well.
Any movie which is over 40 years old will look somewhat dated with the music, costumes and hair styles (and lots of nudity, wow, forgot about that!), but that does not diminish the fine acting performances and the very fulfilling payoff the movie delivers.
A horror classic!

