McMann, Lisa. (2008). Wake. New York: Simon Press. ISBN-13:978-1-4169-5357-9. p. 209
Genre: Fiction
Interest Age: 15+
Curriculum: NA
Reader’s Annotation
Janie Hannagan has a power she cannot control; she can enter people’s dreams, their fantasies, and their nightmares.
Plot Summary
Janie Hannagan is an average high school student; she works at a nursing home; she is saving money for college; she copes with her alcoholic mother. She also must live with a secret. She has the power to enter people’s dreams. It has been happening ever since she was a little girl. She’ll be sitting in a room, someone with drift off to sleep, and Janie will be uncontrollably pulled into the dream. She sees everyone’s inner most thoughts, desires, dreams, and fears. It lets her see the horrible nightmares of Cabel, the boy with a mysterious past. She sees more than he tells her. Is he a liar? Drug dealer? Monster? She must find a way to control her power if she is to understand what she sees and possible help those around her.
Critical Review
Lisa McMann mixes elements of the supernatural, suspense and drama to create a fast paced narrative filled with creepy and surreal imagery. McMann does a fantastic job at creating the character of Janie, who has been haunted by the dreams of others since she was little. Janie also deals with an alcoholic mother who spends most of the book stone drunk/past out or completely absent altogether. Despite having a drunk as a mother and never really knowing her father, Janie is a determined individual who works hard to maintain her grades at school in order to get into college. She also works long hours in order to pay for school. Cabel, Janie’s love interest, is also a well rounded character. On the surface, McMann paints Cabel as the stereotypical bad boy or “rebel without a cause”, but as the story progresses, he becomes a fairly complex individual who challenges Janie and showed that although she may be able to see into people’s dreams, she might not know as much as she thinks she knows.
The most effective parts of the story are the dream sequences. The reader is introduced to Janie’s power immediately and the experiences can be scary and disorienting. Janie doesn’t control her power and for most of the book, is a mere spectator in these dream states. She experiences everything from the surreal sexual fantasies for her classmates, to the nursing home resident’s memories of war and death. McMann builds scenes of significant tension as Janie is unexpectedly wrenched in and out of the dream world.
Even though the drama and mystery dissipates towards the end of the novel and the conclusion is somewhat lackluster and unfulfilling, Lisa McMann builds on a fascinating premise and creates an exciting story which should entice young, reluctant readers. Wake feels like a prelude to a much larger more intricate story.
Author Info
Lisa McMann is the author of the Wake Trilogy which includes Wake (2008), Fade (2009), and Gone (2010). McMann was born in 1968 in Holland, MI. She graduated from Calvin College in 1990 and has worked as a writer, blueberry picker, bindery worker, bookseller and realtor. She won the Templeton short story award and Wake was nominated by the ALA as a Best Book for Young Adults.
McMann was inspired to write Wake after she dreamt about being in her husband’s dream. McMann currently lives in Arizona.
“Lisa McMann.” Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 May 2010.
Book Talking Ideas
1. What are dreams and how do they reflect the actual lives of the characters in Wake?
2. How does being able to see into people’s dreams affect Janie’s relationships in the book?
Challenges
I have not found any current challenges to Wake but the novel does contain a significant amount of profanity which is one of the most cited reasons for a challenge or banning.
Why I choose this title
It made the YALSA Top 10 YA Books list in 2008.
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