The Poppy Fields
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the digital review copy of this title. This one hit shelves everywhere on June 17th.
I wanted to love this more than I did. The concept was intriguing, and I’d heard so many good things about The Measure by the same author. I figured this would be an easy win for me. The novel features four strangers who are all headed to California to visit a facility known as The Poppy Fields. It’s a place where people go to treat acute grief by sleeping for 4-8 weeks straight. That is perhaps an oversimplification of the process, but you get the gist.
I found the characters to be mostly compelling. I liked their backstories and following them as they processed their own reasons for heading to the fields, some seeking comfort, some answers, some reconnection, some escape. The application notes and interviews for the treatment center throughout the book also made for interesting breaks in the narrative.
In theory, this should have gotten five stars from me. It falls in line with so many of the books I love—speculative, emotional, grief-exploration, etc. So why didn’t it get that rating?
I thought there were many lovely lines and ideas in this book, but at times, the dialogue felt stilted. It could be a matter of my reading interpretation and the voice and tone I imagined for each character; maybe I would have benefited from listening to this as an audiobook.
I found the discussions of grief to be too overt at times. It felt like more of a “tell” than “show” when it came to the characters’ emotions around their losses, and I, as a reader, never quite got fully attached to them. I felt like I was kept at an arm’s length.
Overall, I still liked this, but felt the execution could have been subtler. And based on rave reviews, I’m still planning to circle back to Erlick’s, The Measure, as I’ve been assured it is worth it.
