Agualusa's The Society of Reluctant Dreamers

The Society of Reluctant Dreamers was a unique read - but not for the reason that I expected. What fascinated me about this book is the setting, the Portuguese-speaking regions of Africa. This is an area that I am not very familiar with, so I do admit that it was difficult for me to follow the plot in certain parts.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Another aspect of the book that stood out to me was how modern it was compared to the other texts that we have read this semester. The period that the book was set in is fairly recent, with the epilogue taking place in 2017. Daniel's character was interesting, especially because of his dreams and how they were influenced by his reality. It made me ponder how our subconscious thoughts are often influenced by our life and the people in them. This is similar to the associations made in the lecture to Freud and his beliefs of dreams being a manifestation of one's unconscious thoughts.


Furthermore, I found it fascinating that the author decided to combine the political storyline of the book with magical realism. Politics are notoriously controversial and rooted in the 'harsh reality of life' - so it's quite interesting to see how the narrator's thoughts are largely communicated through his dreams. I found the politics a little hard to keep track of throughout the book, especially because I was completely unaware of the entire situation. 


Also, I found the initial dialogue between Daniel and the hotel owner to be kind of odd, especially when they discussed Hitler's kindness to animals. I suppose it did achieve the purpose that the author intended, which was to make us uncomfortable at the idea of a truly terrible person having any goodness in him. 


Overall, I found Agualusa's The Society of Dreamers to be a unique concept with an intriguing execution. By combining dreams with politics, Agualusa pushes readers to mull over how our reality can merge with something as stressful as politics. My question to the class would be: what do you think of the act of dreaming and what does it say about our subconscious? 

Comments

  1. Celine H.3 April 2022 at 22:19

    Hi Devanshi, thank you for your post! I also agree how the time setting is modern compared to the other readings. The conversation between Daniel and Hossi about vegetarian was kind of odd but this turns out to be one of the most vivd conversation in the novel to me. To answer your question, I think dreaming reveals one's unconscious desires because they are not able to satisfy them in real life (reality).

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