The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026--San Antonio

I quit reading The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami when I was 17% of the way through it. It wasn't because it isn't a well-written novel.  It was because it was making me miserable and upset reading it.  The story is about an ordinary citizen becoming entrapped in a government surveillance program most likely because the interviewer at customs when returning home was offended by her questioning if it was due to her last name but also because the program is secretive with no definite guidelines and no requirement to reveal the reasons.  The citizen is sent to a retention center for 21 days, but no one seems to get out after that length of time since restrictions so tight that it is easy to keep extending the time for not following rules.  This story is too close to what is happening today in our country to immigrants and even to U.S. citizens being caught up in that program.  The further I read in the book, the more upset I became.  No rating for the book.  I do not recommend it for reading by anyone who has an ounce of empathy for others being caught up in such a system.