Wake (Wake #1) (2008)

by Lisa McMann

Janie has the unfortunate knack of getting pulled into other people’s dreams.

Involuntarily.

Over and over.

She suffers.

But.

She finds love.

"In Sleep" (Thai)

Despite being a pretty short novel with many choppy sentences and paragraphs like the ones above, “Wake” comes off feeling very padded.

"Sounds" (Spanish)

 For me, it fails on every level.

 

"Dream" (Polish)

Its worst sin is just being dull.

 

"Awakening" (Turkish)

Lisa McMann seems to have decided where her story needs to go and just plodded there without much flair.

 

Lisa McMann

If you’re going to write about people’s dreams, you better be ready and able to call upon a vivid imagination to present some very surreal shit, but McMann doesn't accomplish this.

 

"Awakening" (Chinese)

Her sex fantasies read like something written by an adolescent boy rather than an adult woman.

 

"Awakening" (Slovak)

I don’t recall one genuine surprise that didn’t feel like something I couldn’t have thought up without too much trouble.

 

"Vigil" (Bulgarian)

And her method of structuring a trilogy is apparently to whack off the narrative once you’ve hit your page count and call it a day.

 

I expect some questions and mysteries to remain for the next volume, but something resembling rising and falling action with a certain amount of closure would be appreciated.