Linda Dahl | THE BAD DREAM NOTEBOOK

Plot:

John and Erica Mason-Grey are hard-working artists and loving parents—but when John dies, their teenage daughter Mona’s casual drug use spirals into heroin addiction. She and her mother soon begin an anguished game of hide-and-seek leading to countless arguments, arrests, thefts, rehabs, and relapse, a recurring nightmare that seems to have no end. Ultimately, it’s only when each of them finds a way to accept their new reality—Mona by taking charge of her own recovery, and Erica by focusing on her own vitality—that each experiences the unexpected joy and renewal that await those who decide to stop living in the bad dream of addiction. Unflinching about the ways the disease of addiction can torpedo a family yet leavened with dollops of humor, The Bad Dream Notebook will resonate with anyone who has lived through the agony of a loved one’s drug dependency.

Review:

Linda Dahl has written a splendidly candid and honest portrayal of loss and addiction. This novel is not one that treads lightly when it comes to addiction as we get to see both of our main characters deal with their own demons. What I truly liked about this one was that Dahl does not hold back. The outbursts, the withdrawal, the honesty...it's all there and it's realistically beautiful and sad. While Erica is reserved and seems to hold more of her feelings in for the reader to digest, Mona is an against-the-grain rebellious teenager who is lost. 

Addiction isn't the only subject matter as we see both women try to battle demons and deal with addiction, but also get a poignant and heartbreaking look into their feelings of loss due to the death of Erica's husband and Mona's father. These scenes are beautifully painted full of sorrow, confusion, and anger. 

This whole novel is built on honesty. Honest for the how well the characters are written and how beautifully crafted this story is. The two characters battling addiction are portrayed gorgeously and Dahl does not tread lightly with the harrowing reality of meetings, rehab, and relapsing. This novel is beautiful and yet anxious, sad, and leaves you longing to skip ahead twenty years and find out how this all plays out. My personal favorite aspect was the brutal nightmares that begin each chapter, leaving the reader with no questions unanswered and no feelings unfelt. A truly dark and disastrously amazing novel for any fan of good writing, this one is one to not leave on your bookshelf for too long.

Special thanks to BookSparks for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4/5