My Reaction to Sarah Dessen's Dreamland (Contains some Spoilers)
It's 6:58 AM and I just finished reading Sarah Dessen's novel, Dreamland.
Sarah Dessen is from Chapel Hill, NC. Because of that, she has always had quite a presence in the town, especially through her novels. I had always wanted to read one of her novels, but I could never find a novel I was interested in. Every novel I found from her only seemed like a steamy love story. I wanted more than that.
Three days before my AP Statistics final, I was in the library studying chapters 4 through 6. I was taking a study break (or procrastinating) and for some reason, I wanted to see if the UNCSA library had any novels by Sarah Dessen. Indeed, the library did have a few of her works. I read the back of every single one and stumbled across Dreamland. Judging by the caption on the back, it seemed like another steamy love story, but somehow, the caption pulled me in, and thank God it did. As soon as I returned to Chapel Hill, I checked out a copy of the novel from the public library. I decided to read 14 pages a day, but as soon as Rogerson slapped Caitlin, I couldn't put the book down.
I think this moral of this novel is you should never talk to strangers, especially hot, sketchy men like Rogerson. For example, Caitlin met Rogerson at a gas station. Sidetrack, I know that when my family is taking our annual road trip to Florida and we stop at a gas station, I always keep my guard up. Sometimes, people (especially men) have given me and my sister stares, even though we're only wearing Nike Shorts, flip flops, and a T-shirt. So I just knew something was up right when Rogerson appeared.
Another lesson that Dessen's novel teaches is signs of relationship abuse in women. The first sign that Caitlin showed was she started secluding herself from her extracurricular activities, her friends, and her family. Rogerson required Caitlin to always be with him and only him, whether that be selling drugs at a party or cruising through town in his car. So it wasn't like Caitlin had a choice. Rogerson wouldn't even allow Caitlin to talk to other people-especially men. For example, Caitlin was discussing a class project with a male classmate right Rogerson just happened to pull up in his car. Right when Rogerson drove off of the school grounds, he punched her in the face and told her to never talk to any other man except him. In order to dodge one of Rogerson's beatings and get to the school parking lot before Rogerson did, Caitlin sometimes had to skip class. Caitlin was also a part of her high school's cheerleading squad. Eventually, Caitlin also had to start skipping cheerleading practise in order to spend more time with Rogerson.
The second sign that Caitlin showed was constantly covering everything-figuratively and literally. For example, when Rogerson was selling drugs at a party, Caitlin was talking to another man. Of course, Rogerson noticed. Later that night, Rogerson dropped Caitlin off at the end of her block. Before Caitlin got out of the car, Rogerson punched her in the face. When Caitlin got home, her parents asked her what happened to her face. Caitlin said that she slipped on the driveway. Caitlin had bruises everywhere-thanks to Rogerson; Caitlin mapped out where every bruise on her body was. One day, Caitlin's mom bought Caitlin a summer dress-which Caitlin refused to wear without a coat. Caitlin's mom wanted to see what Caitlin looked like, so she tried to take off her jacket, but Caitlin yelled at her mom to stay away from her. Caitlin also made up the excuse that she was cold, which left her mom sad and confused (it was 80˚F). Caitlin's best friend, Rina, noticed that Caitlin was acting differently. Every time Rina tried to ask Caitlin what was going on, Caitlin always immediately answered, "I'm fine."
There are so many other signs of relationship abuse in this novel, but those were the two signs I noticed the most. Once Rogerson punched Caitlin, I couldn't stop reading the novel. I wanted to find out if Caitlin would ever step back into reality and rid herself of this awful man. I am not going to tell you what happens at the end, but the bittersweet ending relieved me.
I also finally understand the cover! There are many different covers for this book, but out of all the covers I have seen, I think this book cover is the most symbolic.
The water represents how Caitlin felt about her rocky relationship with Rogerson. Caitlin felt as if she was drowning. Whenever Caitlin would try to swim back to the surface, Rogerson would "...kiss [her] harder, and [she'd] go under again."-Pg. 150. The yellow piece of paper is probably one of the letters Cass, Caitlin's sister, wrote to Caitlin. The man on the bottom left corner is probably Rogerson. Caitlin takes a photography class headed by her neighbor, Boo. Caitlin put a lot of effort into getting the best shots of everything. One of her best shots was of Rogerson staring back at her with an irritated look. The black and white photo seems to have the most meaning in this very symbolic cover. Caitlin took a shot of herself in her mirror. When she looked back at it a few weeks later, Caitlin thought "I hated the girl I saw there, and she didn't even care, didn't know, just staring out, oblivious. ... I wanted to reach through that mirror and shake her, wake her up." -Pg. 227. Caitlin rips up the photo and later tapes it back together.
In a nutshell, Dreamland is not your everyday, Sarah Dessen love story, it is a story of an innocent girl who was a victim of relationship violence.
Sarah Dessen is from Chapel Hill, NC. Because of that, she has always had quite a presence in the town, especially through her novels. I had always wanted to read one of her novels, but I could never find a novel I was interested in. Every novel I found from her only seemed like a steamy love story. I wanted more than that.
Three days before my AP Statistics final, I was in the library studying chapters 4 through 6. I was taking a study break (or procrastinating) and for some reason, I wanted to see if the UNCSA library had any novels by Sarah Dessen. Indeed, the library did have a few of her works. I read the back of every single one and stumbled across Dreamland. Judging by the caption on the back, it seemed like another steamy love story, but somehow, the caption pulled me in, and thank God it did. As soon as I returned to Chapel Hill, I checked out a copy of the novel from the public library. I decided to read 14 pages a day, but as soon as Rogerson slapped Caitlin, I couldn't put the book down.
I think this moral of this novel is you should never talk to strangers, especially hot, sketchy men like Rogerson. For example, Caitlin met Rogerson at a gas station. Sidetrack, I know that when my family is taking our annual road trip to Florida and we stop at a gas station, I always keep my guard up. Sometimes, people (especially men) have given me and my sister stares, even though we're only wearing Nike Shorts, flip flops, and a T-shirt. So I just knew something was up right when Rogerson appeared.
Another lesson that Dessen's novel teaches is signs of relationship abuse in women. The first sign that Caitlin showed was she started secluding herself from her extracurricular activities, her friends, and her family. Rogerson required Caitlin to always be with him and only him, whether that be selling drugs at a party or cruising through town in his car. So it wasn't like Caitlin had a choice. Rogerson wouldn't even allow Caitlin to talk to other people-especially men. For example, Caitlin was discussing a class project with a male classmate right Rogerson just happened to pull up in his car. Right when Rogerson drove off of the school grounds, he punched her in the face and told her to never talk to any other man except him. In order to dodge one of Rogerson's beatings and get to the school parking lot before Rogerson did, Caitlin sometimes had to skip class. Caitlin was also a part of her high school's cheerleading squad. Eventually, Caitlin also had to start skipping cheerleading practise in order to spend more time with Rogerson.
The second sign that Caitlin showed was constantly covering everything-figuratively and literally. For example, when Rogerson was selling drugs at a party, Caitlin was talking to another man. Of course, Rogerson noticed. Later that night, Rogerson dropped Caitlin off at the end of her block. Before Caitlin got out of the car, Rogerson punched her in the face. When Caitlin got home, her parents asked her what happened to her face. Caitlin said that she slipped on the driveway. Caitlin had bruises everywhere-thanks to Rogerson; Caitlin mapped out where every bruise on her body was. One day, Caitlin's mom bought Caitlin a summer dress-which Caitlin refused to wear without a coat. Caitlin's mom wanted to see what Caitlin looked like, so she tried to take off her jacket, but Caitlin yelled at her mom to stay away from her. Caitlin also made up the excuse that she was cold, which left her mom sad and confused (it was 80˚F). Caitlin's best friend, Rina, noticed that Caitlin was acting differently. Every time Rina tried to ask Caitlin what was going on, Caitlin always immediately answered, "I'm fine."
There are so many other signs of relationship abuse in this novel, but those were the two signs I noticed the most. Once Rogerson punched Caitlin, I couldn't stop reading the novel. I wanted to find out if Caitlin would ever step back into reality and rid herself of this awful man. I am not going to tell you what happens at the end, but the bittersweet ending relieved me.
I also finally understand the cover! There are many different covers for this book, but out of all the covers I have seen, I think this book cover is the most symbolic.
The water represents how Caitlin felt about her rocky relationship with Rogerson. Caitlin felt as if she was drowning. Whenever Caitlin would try to swim back to the surface, Rogerson would "...kiss [her] harder, and [she'd] go under again."-Pg. 150. The yellow piece of paper is probably one of the letters Cass, Caitlin's sister, wrote to Caitlin. The man on the bottom left corner is probably Rogerson. Caitlin takes a photography class headed by her neighbor, Boo. Caitlin put a lot of effort into getting the best shots of everything. One of her best shots was of Rogerson staring back at her with an irritated look. The black and white photo seems to have the most meaning in this very symbolic cover. Caitlin took a shot of herself in her mirror. When she looked back at it a few weeks later, Caitlin thought "I hated the girl I saw there, and she didn't even care, didn't know, just staring out, oblivious. ... I wanted to reach through that mirror and shake her, wake her up." -Pg. 227. Caitlin rips up the photo and later tapes it back together.
In a nutshell, Dreamland is not your everyday, Sarah Dessen love story, it is a story of an innocent girl who was a victim of relationship violence.
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