Shelly's Book Blog

The serious subject matter of Dreamland, by Sarah Dessen, caught me off guard because I remembered her other books being pretty easy-going fare. In Dreamland, Caitlin's sister, who was supposed to have attended Yale, unexpectedly abandons her college plans and runs away from her family to go live with her boyfriend and work as an assistant on a daytime reality show. Caitlin and her parents are devastated, and Caitlin ends up in an abusive relationship with a young man who has himself been abused by his father. I've always found it very difficult to understand how women can stay in relationships where their boyfriends/husbands physically or emotionally abuse them, and the story Dessen tells here seems incredible. However, I know that Caitlin's story is all too real, so this was a disturbing book to read.