Book review: Lucid by Stotlz & Bass

Lucid by Stoltz & Bass
Potential Triggers: Identity confusion, death, sexuality, family matters, integration
Summary and review: There are two girls named Sloane Margaret Jameson. One goes by Maggie and one goes Sloane. Maggie lives in New York and is an high-school aged actress. But at night she doesn't just dream, she dreams of Sloane. Sloane is a high school student living in Mystic, Connecticut who also dreams of Maggie. Ultimately, no one knows who dreams of who. To start with, this story is well-written and there are no leaks into either world that could lead the reader to suspect that one world is more real or more fake than the other. Both are equally real to both the characters and the readers. Eventually, things start to fall apart and the two worlds begin to collide - the authors suggest via therapists the possibilities of schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder but never go into any sort of details about what either of these things are or how they could be relevant to either of the characters or any other possibilities of what could be afflicting the characters. The two worlds seem to be converging with increasing rapidity and for no apparent reason when the two characters seem to just give into it and allow for themselves to accept that they are each other and can't live without one another. This decision seems contrived and a little like the authors just got tired of writing or couldn't think of a good way to bring their story to a close. The story literally ends within the blink of an eye and has no consequences for the characters. It's ultimately unsatisfying. The book was well-written until the end but the end left a lot to be desired.

Sounds like that could have been a very interesting book, had it ended properly!

-B