Gone by Lisa McMann

Gone by Lisa McMann is the third and final installment of the creepy, minimalist Wake trilogy. If you haven't read the first two, start there, as this review has spoilers. Main character Janie has the ability, or really, is compelled to enter other people's dreams. In the previous two books, Janie discovers she is not alone in this power and that being able to enter people's dreams has its rewards--she can help people find peace by guiding them in the dream and she can uncover crimes and abuse by observing dreams. Unfortunately, she has also discovered using her "gift" will eventually debilitate her hands into useless claws and cause her to go blind.

In Gone, Janie must make an impossible choice a "Morton's Fork"--either stay in her relationship with her love Cabel and keep using her gift as it cripples her or completely isolate herself from the world and all the joy of love, the way her long-lost father did.

As always, McMann writes in a spare, poetic style rich with emotion and depth. Fans of realism and modernism will like McMann's no-nonsense, life is too complicated for a happy ending approach. Though it certainly involves fantastic elements I would classify it more as contemporary, than fantasy. Gone uses more adult language than the previous two books in the series, but it is authentic to the characters' ages and experiences.
Over all, a very enjoyable series, and I know I'll be standing in line to read her next book, Cryer's Cross in 2011.

Wake

Have you ever had a dream so powerful you found it hard to wake from? Janie has...in fact Janie does, quite frequently, only the dreams are not her own. Since Janie was 8 years old she has been pulled into the dreams of people who sleep in close proximity to her. She simply falls asleep in the midst of what she is doing and watches the dreams--the secret dreams of the girl at the sleepover, the humilitating dreams of the kid in study hall, the distorted dreams of her alcoholic mother. She sees her best friend's reoccurring nightmare and the frightening, horror-filled dreams of a strange boy she hardly knows. She fights to gain control and fears this affliction will destroy her life--how can she possibly go to college or have a relationship if she can't be near people who sleep?

The novel is written in short chapters over time and dated like diary entries, giving the story much drive and suspense. A couple plot elements are a little far-fetched, but the struggles of kids with rough home lives is portrayed sensitively and realistically, as is the touching romance in the story. Overall I enjoyed this quick read, realistic with some sci-fi-ish elements, and I'm super excited for the sequel, Fade which arrives February 10. Lisa McMann is an author with a lot of talent, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next.

Here's a book trailer I stumbled upon for Wake--it takes a different angle on the book than I would have, but it's interesting none the less.

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