Life is but a Dream tells the story of a teenager named Sabrina who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and committed to a psychiatric ward. Soon after, she meets Alec, another patient in the psych ward, and together they begin to question whether they even want to “fit in” with society. Sabrina wonders if the medications are designed to turn her into a robotic version of herself, a version that everyone else is comfortable with, but is it really who she is?

The beautiful writing brings to life in vivid detail the strange and colorful world that Sabrina inhabits when lost in her visions. She tries to connect her two realities with her drawings that seem to express all of the things she can’t put into words. There were times when I couldn’t begin to wrap my mind around her logic, but was fascinated all the same. Sabrina’s unusual way of perceiving the world was captured perfectly so that I was able to empathize with her even though I often couldn’t follow her logic. The world she envisioned for herself was filled with color and connection and emotion and once she met Alec, she felt she finally found someone who understood her, who could see the world the same way that she did.

Alec was also a very complex character. He seemed to be always just on the edge of becoming violent, so full of rage and anger. But he seemed to focus all of that negative energy into protecting Sabrina. He also felt like she was the only person who understood him, who saw him for the person that he really was. Together they viewed anyone outside of their little bubble as the enemy. I alternately felt sorry for Alec because he was also just a kid with very real problems, and annoyed with him because he refused to see things that were so obvious and instead made some very stupid impulsive decisions.

There was definitely an aspect of insta-love and obsessive love, but it seemed to be fitting considering the mental issues that Alec and Sabrina each struggled with. Their relationship made sense and was even rather beautiful in its own way. It was so obvious that Alec really cared about Sabrina that I couldn’t help but root for them even when I wasn’t sure whether being together was the best thing for either of them.

Life is but a Dream was an enjoyable, thought provoking story. There were several unexpected surprises. I never felt like I knew exactly where the story was headed. The doctors, nurses, and other background characters were very much in the background but still did not feel one dimensional. The story meandered back and forth from past to present which sometimes became a little confusing. And the choice to forego quotation marks was a bit distracting sometimes when I had to determine who was speaking and whether it was dialog or thoughts. There were, however, very few flaws and I definitely enjoyed reading this.

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Life is but a Dream tells the story of a teenager named Sabrina who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and committed to a psychiatric ward. Soon after, she meets Alec, another patient in the psych ward, and together they begin to question whether they even want to “fit in” with society. Sabrina wonders if the medications are designed to turn her into a robotic version of herself, a version that everyone else is comfortable with, but is it really who she is?

The beautiful writing brings to life in vivid detail the strange and colorful world that Sabrina inhabits when lost in her visions. She tries to connect her two realities with her drawings that seem to express all of the things she can’t put into words. There were times when I couldn’t begin to wrap my mind around her logic, but was fascinated all the same. Sabrina’s unusual way of perceiving the world was captured perfectly so that I was able to empathize with her even though I often couldn’t follow her logic. The world she envisioned for herself was filled with color and connection and emotion and once she met Alec, she felt she finally found someone who understood her, who could see the world the same way that she did.

Alec was also a very complex character. He seemed to be always just on the edge of becoming violent, so full of rage and anger. But he seemed to focus all of that negative energy into protecting Sabrina. He also felt like she was the only person who understood him, who saw him for the person that he really was. Together they viewed anyone outside of their little bubble as the enemy. I alternately felt sorry for Alec because he was also just a kid with very real problems, and annoyed with him because he refused to see things that were so obvious and instead made some very stupid impulsive decisions.

There was definitely an aspect of insta-love and obsessive love, but it seemed to be fitting considering the mental issues that Alec and Sabrina each struggled with. Their relationship made sense and was even rather beautiful in its own way. It was so obvious that Alec really cared about Sabrina that I couldn’t help but root for them even when I wasn’t sure whether being together was the best thing for either of them.

Life is but a Dream was an enjoyable, thought provoking story. There were several unexpected surprises. I never felt like I knew exactly where the story was headed. The doctors, nurses, and other background characters were very much in the background but still did not feel one dimensional. The story meandered back and forth from past to present which sometimes became a little confusing. And the choice to forego quotation marks was a bit distracting sometimes when I had to determine who was speaking and whether it was dialog or thoughts. There were, however, very few flaws and I definitely enjoyed reading this.

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Life is but a Dream tells the story of a teenager named Sabrina who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and committed to a psychiatric ward. Soon after, she meets Alec, another patient in the psych ward, and together they begin to question whether they even want to “fit in” with society. Sabrina wonders if the medications are designed to turn her into a robotic version of herself, a version that everyone else is comfortable with, but is it really who she is?

The beautiful writing brings to life in vivid detail the strange and colorful world that Sabrina inhabits when lost in her visions. She tries to connect her two realities with her drawings that seem to express all of the things she can’t put into words. There were times when I couldn’t begin to wrap my mind around her logic, but was fascinated all the same. Sabrina’s unusual way of perceiving the world was captured perfectly so that I was able to empathize with her even though I often couldn’t follow her logic. The world she envisioned for herself was filled with color and connection and emotion and once she met Alec, she felt she finally found someone who understood her, who could see the world the same way that she did.

Alec was also a very complex character. He seemed to be always just on the edge of becoming violent, so full of rage and anger. But he seemed to focus all of that negative energy into protecting Sabrina. He also felt like she was the only person who understood him, who saw him for the person that he really was. Together they viewed anyone outside of their little bubble as the enemy. I alternately felt sorry for Alec because he was also just a kid with very real problems, and annoyed with him because he refused to see things that were so obvious and instead made some very stupid impulsive decisions.

There was definitely an aspect of insta-love and obsessive love, but it seemed to be fitting considering the mental issues that Alec and Sabrina each struggled with. Their relationship made sense and was even rather beautiful in its own way. It was so obvious that Alec really cared about Sabrina that I couldn’t help but root for them even when I wasn’t sure whether being together was the best thing for either of them.

Life is but a Dream was an enjoyable, thought provoking story. There were several unexpected surprises. I never felt like I knew exactly where the story was headed. The doctors, nurses, and other background characters were very much in the background but still did not feel one dimensional. The story meandered back and forth from past to present which sometimes became a little confusing. And the choice to forego quotation marks was a bit distracting sometimes when I had to determine who was speaking and whether it was dialog or thoughts. There were, however, very few flaws and I definitely enjoyed reading this.

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Reading Life is But a Dream was a very interesting experience for me. I was really intrigued by the description and was interested in seeing how it would be played out. The cover is also just lovely! It's so light and airy, much like the whole tone of this book. I had huge expectations for this one and while it didn't really live up to them, it was still a good read that I'd recommend to anyone with an interest in books dealing with mental health issues.

The writing in this was a bit hard for me to get used to. It's just such a different style and a bit hard to read fluidly, really! I do think it reflected Sabrina's character well but it made the book a bit slow for me. Another thing about the writing that I found hard to get into was the flashbacks. They were so random with no real break between sitting in the therapist's room and thinking back to last year. I suppose this can also reflect Sabrina's mental state but as a reader, I found it confusing.

Other than that though, I genuinely did like this book and I'm so glad I read it. It is fascinating to step into a mind so different to a ''normal'' mind and it was really easy to see where Sabrina was coming from. Her world was beautiful and fascinating, all she knew, why on earth would she want medication to make it all dreary and normal? I can imagine how she must have felt and how scary it would be to have it all stripped away when it's all you've known. Alec was really well written and definitely believable. I loved their interactions with each other and their different ways of viewing the world. They understood each other yet at the same time had very different experiences.

There is definite character development throughout this book, with both Sabrina and Alec. It was great to watch them change and grow. They have lots of set backs along the way and the ending was not predictable to me at all. For the most part, I thought this was a good book. I just found it didn't really grip me like I thought it would and was a bit disappointed in that. I think there are a lot of people who will like this one and most people will find something to take from it. ( )

I think I just found an author to stalk--I mean follow. This is the first Brian James book I have read and it won't be the last. Brian has a unique writing style. Not only are his words evoke feeling from the reader, but his use of hyphens rather than quotation marks stirs even more emotion.

The topic of schizophrenia in Life is But a Dream is what originally drew me to this story. It is an idea that floats out there, but no one truly understands that adults are not the only ones living with this diagnosis. There are so many teens out there who are suffering and are misdiagnosed. I know that I learned a lot about how misinformed I was about this disease.

This is a must read!!! ( )