The Book Club: A ‘Read With Jenna’ pick explores the imagined effects of artificial intelligence
"The Dream Hotel," by Laila Lalami -- plus a review of 'Sea of Tranquility," by Emily St. John Mandel.
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Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com. – Barbara Ellis
“The Dream Hotel,” by Laila Lalami (Pantheon Books, 2025)
This novel explores the imagined effects of artificial intelligence, the monetization of personal data, the surveillance state, and the privatization of retention centers on individual freedoms. The narrator is accused of a crime based on her dreams. She eventually realizes that while logic suggests docility in the face of absurd and unfair measures, illogically, attaining freedom requires disobedience. (A Read with Jenna Book Club pick.) — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“Raising Hare,” by Chloe Dalton (Pantheon, 2025)
Memoirs of connections between humans and other animals are among my favorites. During lockdown, Dalton, a British politico, retreats to a converted barn in the countryside. There, she encounters a newborn hare who changes her perceptibly: “The leveret’s calm and orderly existence challenged my priorities, and woke up my senses.” The leveret becomes her focus and her companion, despite a dearth of accurate intel to guide its care. Unexpectedly, Dalton observes much that adds to our understanding of a shadowy species. I was absorbed, but read with a little dread (nature is apathetic, after all), but I needn’t have worried: This memoir is grateful and gracious in all the kindest ways. — 4 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker
“Sea of Tranquility,” by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf, 2022)
Another winner from the best-selling sci-fi author, this one hopscotches through time and locations with abandon, not to mention characters. It’s almost as if Mandel has a series of ideas and themes that entrance her, and she holds them up and turns them around to examine them from different angles. She retains the threat of pandemics and time anomalies, shifting timelines and character jumps, as parts of different times intersect with others, and characters affected seem as confused as they and the reader should be. This might leave the reader feeling unsettled. Perhaps that’s as satisfactory as a happy conclusion with no loose ends can be, or at least one that provides definitive answers. There are resolutions by the conclusion but we don’t know if they’re true. What is real and what is not? What is real and what should be real? — 2½ stars (out of 4); Bonnie McCune, Denver (bonniemccune.com)
“All the Water in the World,” by Eiren Caffal (St. Martin’s Press, 2025)
Climate change has led to the “nonlinearity” of seasons and “hypercanes” (exponentially worse than hurricanes) in this dystopic novel set in New York. Employees of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) have barricaded themselves inside the museum to save its collections, and they end up living on the roof as flood waters rise, utilities fail and broken supply chains leave stores empty. When life in the AMNH is no longer safe, the 13-year-old narrator’s father and family friend lead the small family on a dangerous journey toward the imagined sanctuary of a family farm in upstate New York. Although many scenes feel written for the silver screen, the severe conditions described don’t feel all that impossible. Yet, the author holds out hope for survival. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
