The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters
Published: October 14th 2014 by Harry N. Abrams
Genres: young adult, historical, paranormal
Summary: Olivia Mead is a headstrong, independent girl—a suffragist—in an age that prefers its girls to be docile. It’s 1900 in Oregon, and Olivia’s father, concerned that she’s headed for trouble, convinces a stage mesmerist to try to hypnotize the rebellion out of her. But the hypnotist, an intriguing young man named Henri Reverie, gives her a terrible gift instead: she’s able to see people’s true natures, manifesting as visions of darkness and goodness, while also unable to speak her true thoughts out loud. These supernatural challenges only make Olivia more determined to speak her mind, and so she’s drawn into a dangerous relationship with the hypnotist and his mysterious motives, all while secretly fighting for the rights of women. Winters breathes new life into history once again with an atmospheric, vividly real story, including archival photos and art from the period throughout.
REVIEW
For some reason, I
have always been hesitant to pick up a book by Cat Winters, because I thought
she only wrote books set during World War One and I’m not a fan of this time
period, to be honest. But I kept seeing positive reviews for her books and
added one to my TBR, in hopes to read it someday, before deciding October was
the month to do so, with Halloween around the corner. Now I just want to slap
myself for not reading The Cure from
Dreaming sooner, because it was absolutely fantastic!
This novel captured
my attention from the first page. I was swept away in 1900 Oregon and was
walking along Olivia the entire time. The fact that Cat Winters added black and
white photographs helped a lot to picture this era, even if it was pretty easy
for me. The author really did her research perfectly, because she captured the
feeling of that time period.
To be honest, I don’t
think I’ve ever read a book about the suffragist movement before, but I was so
involved along these women and now I would love to learn more about that. I was
shocked to see women speaking against other women: I can understand women not
fighting for their rights, but it’s so frightening to see women fighting for not
having rights, even though it happened. It was so hard to read everything men
said to women during the entire book, how they belittled them, but sadly it
happened and the worst part… Is that it’s still happening. This book definitely
made me go through a wide spectrum of emotions, and anger was definitely part
of them, because seeing women being bullied is so infuriating.
Olivia was an
amazing heroine. She was headstrong, independent and wasn’t afraid to fight for
what she wanted. In the fact, the more her father was trying to tame her, the
bolder she became and I was admiring her so much. At first, she was a character
with beliefs but didn’t act on them too much, until she truly became active as
a suffragist and stood for herself. She was definitely relatable and likeable
and she’s my new favourite.
At first, Henri
appeared distant, because he was this mysterious hypnotist performer but the
more we got to know him, the more we saw he was human and flawed. I personally
loved his close relationship to his sister, because as you might know by now, I’m
always a sucker for sibling bonds. Moreover, I was digging his French accent,
as I’m French myself, because it’s so enjoyable to understand a ‘foreign’
language in a book, as it was written in English.
The secondary characters
had an importance place in this novel, to the point they even saved the day, at
some point. It was very interesting to read about all these women that fought
for their rights and to see how mentalities were changing in this new century.
I loved Olivia and
Henri’s relationship. This book didn’t focus on the romance and actually I
would have loved for it to. For once, I’m complaining about that, who am I?
Olivia and Henri were the perfect
partenaires all along the book and it was interesting to see how Olivia
came to trust him, even if she didn’t rely on him too much. Between the two,
she was clearly the stronger one by the end, which is so rare in books.
Nevertheless, these two brought out the best of each other and I would love to
read a sequel or an epilogue about them.
I confess I was
drawn to this book because of the hypnosis aspect, and I was completely
satisfied. The first chapter of the book was dedicated to Henri Reverie’s first
show and I felt in love right away with this book because of it. I love how
hypnosis was part of the American folklore and that the author incorporated to
her book so beautifully. Indeed, the ‘paranormal’ aspect, with Olivia seeing
the world as it actually is, was just a metaphor for us as human beings, and
the way we acted, because Olivia could actually see the wickedness in people,
which was so interesting. Cat Winters never completely explains how Henri
hypnotized people, but it was part of the magic of this book, but we still got
to understand how to resist it.
The ending was
definitely faithful to Olivia and for that, I think it wrapped the book
perfectly. However, I thought I would get one more chapter after it, so when I
realized the book was over, I started to cry, because I would have loved an epilogue.
I’m feeling so bittersweet, because I do understand the ending, but I just want
more time with these characters. It’s so rare I’m that attached to characters
during standalone novels, but right now it’s the case and I need to see them
again. Please.
Overall, this book came as a huge surprise and I know I will
be thinking about it long after I’ve finished it. It is a story about equality,
pursuing one’s dreams and how oppressing a minority will only make it fight
harder. I adore this book with my whole heart, and I would love to see Olivia
and Henri again. I think this one is a perfect read for Halloween, so go ahead, you won't be disappointed!
Have you read any books by Cat Winters? Have you read this one? What did you think? Have you read other books involving hypnosis? What do you like to read around Halloween?
