This is the Dream


Fiction - Anthology
Kindle Edition
Reviewed on 03/10/2022
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Foluso Falaye for Readers' Favorite

Owen Thomas' This is the Dream is a collection of ten ingenious, realistic, and deeply engrossing stories involving characters who navigate through challenges and endeavor to make sense of life in their unique environments and circumstances. One of the stories, Island Santa, involves a 12-year-old who believes in Santa so much that she would argue intensely with her father about his realness. Failure To Thrive projects two friends—a novelist and a journalist—who constantly write to each other about their deepest desires and worries from different parts of the world. In Hating George Clooney, laid-off Danny envies his next-door neighbor's glamorous life so much that he plans to rob a convenience store. The ten stories in the book depict the value of being present as opposed to glamorizing the future or a dreamlike reality.

When it comes to building captivating stories around complex, perceptive characters, Owen Thomas makes it look like a walk in the park. From one story to another, I was completely drawn into the book and didn't want it to end. The book's calm pace goes well with its bountiful thrills, which are best savored and enjoyed unhurriedly like a slow-melting Popsicle. I couldn't get enough of the artistic language and the inclusion of several imagination-inducing similes, like "And his eyes were like little bits of sea glass that kept disappearing behind the wave of his eyelids." It's quite hard to pick a favorite, but I seriously enjoyed reading the letters between Katja and June because I found the conflict between the dangers of rushing into relationships and not wanting to be alone quite relatable. This is the Dream is such a gem! You should definitely read it.