Snake Dreamer

KLIATT

To quote KLIATT's May 1998 review of the hardcover edition: Galloway is known for her Truly Grim Tales, retellings of eight familiar folktales; here she turns to Greek mythology. She connects troubled contemporary adolescents, tormented by nightmares about snakes, to the legend of the Gorgons, specifically Medusa. Dusa, a teenager in Toronto, is hospitalized as her mental and physical health deteriorates because of the snake nightmares. She and her mother are desperate for help, so they welcome the interest of two visiting Greek women, psychologists specializing in this very malady. Dusa goes with these women to a remote Greek island where she undergoes therapy, mostly hypnosis, which does ease her nightmares. However, strange events and a plea for help from another patient lead Dusa into dangerous confrontations. The novel is full of adventure, even though the reader of course must suspend disbelief as the elements of the myth emerge. An unusual story, to say the least, with an intelligent, courageous young woman leading us through it. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 1998, Dell/Laurel-Leaf, 232p, 18cm, $4.99. Ages 13 to 18. Reviewer: Claire Rosser; May 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 3)

VOYA - Lynn Evarts

Dusa Thrasman's nights are tormented by snakes; they weave in and out of her dreams, making her lash out in sleep, causing great concern for her mother. Enter the Gordon sisters, Yali and Teno, researchers from Greece who specialize in helping snake dreamers. Unfortunately, for Dusa to receive help she must leave her mother and travel to a remote Greek island-the sisters insist that this is the only way Dusa will recover. When Dusa arrives at the island, she meets the only other inhabitants, a young man named Perse and his father. Dusa soon discovers that the other workers and patients fled while the sisters were in America. As the story progresses, Dusa learns that the sisters have ulterior motives, and begins to wonder if she's made the right decision in allowing them to treat her. As the story moves to its conclusion, Greek myths become intertwined in Dusa's fight to save herself and others from the powers of the ancients. Galloway works to create a fantastic thriller for her readers by combining elements of ancient horror and modern-day psychology. Initially, the story moves very slowly as readers follow Dusa and the Gordon sisters to Greece, but once Dusa reveals the secrets of the island the excitement and adventure begin. Readers who are not well-versed in Greek mythology will find themselves struggling with the allusions Galloway weaves throughout the story, but those looking for a change-of-pace thriller will enjoy the twists and turns offered here. VOYA Codes: 4Q 3P J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses, Will appeal with pushing, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9 and Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).

Children's Literature - Rebecca Joseph

Haunted by persistent dreams of snakes, teenager Dusa Thrasman is slowly deteriorating. When she and her mom learn about the special treatment offered by the Gordon sisters, they go the two bizarre women for help. Accepted into the Gordon sisters' unique treatment program, Dusa travels alone to a small island near Greece, Upon arrival, she finds that all the other patients and clinic staff have left. As Dusa begins her difficult treatment regimen, which includes hypnosis, she begins to suspect that the Gordon sisters have ulterior motives that involve bringing their dead sister back to life. The problem is that their sister might just be Medusa, the well-known creature from Greek mythology. The interesting mixture of realism and fantasy works well in this mesmerizing novel.

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-Dusa, 16, dreams of snakes: horrible and beautiful dreams of multicolored, raging reptiles that cause her to have seizures. Conventional doctors are unable to explain her ailment, and Dusa and her mother despair until doctor sisters Teno and Yali Gordon claim that they can cure her. Once at their clinic on an idyllic Greek isle, Dusa gradually becomes suspicious of the two women. Why is she the only patient? What is the story behind the sullen servant boy, Perse? Why has communication with her mother been cut off? As she undergoes hypnosis and other "treatments," the teen's fears increase. When she discovers another patient in a tower room, Dusa learns of the Gordons' sinister plan. Not humans, but legendary Gorgons, they seek out adolescent girls who are snake dreamers, hoping to communicate with their dead sister, Medusa, locate her severed head, and reunite it with her body--thus resurrecting Medusa's terrible power of changing people to stone. Combining the elements of fantasy and thriller, Galloway creates an intriguing expansion of a classical tale into contemporary times, a thought-provoking meeting of myth and modern science. Implausible moments abound, but if readers can accept the premise they will find Dusa to be a game, sturdy heroine. There is plenty of nicely built suspense, lots of detail about exotic and mysterious Greece, and a neat subversion of the classic myth when it is revealed that Medusa is no villainess, but a kind and loving victim of persecution. A gripping and entertaining read.-Jennifer A. Fakolt, Carson City Public Library, NV

Kirkus Reviews

Galloway (Truly Grim Tales, 1995) revisits the Greek myth of Medusa, the Gorgon with the head of snakes, in a page-turning, occasionally convoluted, contemporary fantasy. When there seems to be no reasonable medical explanation for her continued disturbing dreams of snakes, Dusa is whisked off to Greece by herself, to undergo special treatment at the clinic of the mysterious Gordon sisters, Yali and Teno. When she arrives, all other patients have disappeared, and only the strange boy Perse remains. The slow story soon escalates with Dusa's discovery of the jar that contains the head of Medusa, the very thing the power-hungry Gordon sisters have been searching for, in hopes of reuniting their sister with her body. Dusa doubts their evil intentions, their ability to shift shapes, their real identity (the Gorgons) until she discovers one of their former patients hidden in an attic room. Not without loss, Dusa comes face to face with Medusa in the mirror, confronting her demons and managing an escape. Dusa's adventure is about recognizing and accepting one's own inner strength; aspects of the original myth are murky at times, and readers who have grown up with an image of Medusa as hideous monster may have to make a leap to fathom how "victim and killer come together." Nevertheless, even if some of the symbolism is lost on readers, and certain threads of the myth dangle, Dusa is a credible character all the way through her independent, triumphant finale. (Fiction. 12-14)