While several other bloggers today have been busy posting the same cover art image to a new book from some American clothing manufacturer, I thought I'd make people aware of a recently-released book by one of the best American writers of the past two decades, Steve Erickson's These Dreams of You. This book, told in short, sharp passages that cover usually only 1-2 pages a chapter, tells the story of an adopted Ethiopian child who comes to the US around the time that President Obama is elected President. Her story and that of her adopted family (the girl, nicknamed "Sheba," is more the object of others' points of view as she is a vivacious four year-old) struggling to make ends meet is emblematic of a whole host of cultural and social issues that Americans have confronted over the past four decades. Erickson is known for mixing in elements of the speculative into this novel and there is a trace of that here. Although I am more partial to his previous novel, Zeroville, These Dreams of You is a very well-written novel that will appeal to a wide range of readers.
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