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Brian James
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Life Is But a Dream Kindle Edition

by Brian James (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 50 ratings
See all formats and editions

Sabrina, an artist, is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and her parents check her into the Wellness Center. There she meets Alec, who is convinced it's the world that's crazy, not the two of them. They are meant to be together; they are special. But when Alec starts to convince Sabrina that her treatment will wipe out everything that makes her creative, she worries that she'll lose hold of her dreams and herself. Should she listen to her doctor? her decision may have fatal consequences.

Brian James calls Life is But a Dream "the most intense book I've written. Bringing this unique character to life and seeing the world through her eyes, with all its beauty and confusion, was an immense challenge that I hope is just as rewarding to read as it was to write." Intense--yes. Unforgettable--definitely.

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  1. Reading age
    12 - 18 years
  2. Print length
    241 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    7 - 12
  5. Lexile measure
    740L
  6. Publisher
    Feiwel & Friends
  7. Publication date
    March 27, 2012
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. ISBN-13
    978-0312610043
  12. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“LIFE IS BUT A DREAM is a beautiful and brave and necessary book. There are scenes from that book that are so transporting, I know they will remain with me forever.” ―Lewis Buzbee, author of The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop

“…a vividly and poetically described narrative….” ―Booklist

“...compelling...” ―Kirkus

“...a fast read with extensive dialogue and fantastic visual descriptions.” ―VOYA

“The depiction of going through life with a brain whose perceptions you can't trust is evocative and immediate, and the sharply observed character interactions will invest readers in Sabrina's plight.” ―BCCB

About the Author

Brian James is the author of several highly praised books for young adults, including Pure Sunshine; Tomorrow, Maybe; Dirty Liar, Zombie Blondes; and The Heights. He lives in Upstate New York.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00779MU14
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Feiwel & Friends (March 27, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 27, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.6 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 241 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 50 ratings

About the author

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Brian James

Brian James

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I grew up outside of Philadelphia, a town I portrayed all my thoughts and feelings about in Pure Sunshine and the short story Filthadelphia. When I was eighteen, I moved to New York City where I stayed for ten years. You can read about my impressions of that city in both Tomorrow, Maybe and Thief. For the suburban experiences of my life, check out Perfect World and Dirty Liar.

Needless to say, ten years in Manhattan is more than enough. It was time to pack up and head for the peace and quiet of the middle of nowhere. Alas, I ended up in the Woodstock area of upstate New York. An area aptly portrayed in my book Zombie Blondes.

My fascination with writing started in childhood with the notion of making up stories. I loved action figures as a kid. Actually, I still do and still collect them. But as a child, I would set up my entire bedroom like the stage for one epic story that I would play out for days. I didn't know it at the time, but it was the basis for what I do now. I was also a stuffed animal kid. I had dozens and they all had names and they all personalities. Basically, they were characters. Writing isn't very different than playing. It's just a grown up way of doing it.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
50 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Stellar Reviews
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Book, Beautifully Written
    Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    The skill of this author for descriptive writing is almost unmatched. I couldn't put the book down, and I'm an adult.
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  • AL
    4.0 out of 5 stars From the beginning, I had NO IDEA what to expect from Life Is But a Dream.
    Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2012
    my thoughts in a few sentences: From the beginning, I had NO IDEA what to expect from Life Is But a Dream. Despite all the good reviews I noticed, this book remained a big mystery until I sat down with it today. Each word James writes is like biting into beautiful and irresistible pastries. A giant lightbulb hides behind James' writing and illuminates every word so that it dazzles our eyes with pictures we can't see but can feel. Within Sabrina's mind lies a world so brilliant, a wonderful palette that contains a rainbow of colors and shapes, and as she creates some of it in her artwork, James masterfully paints something abstract and intangible and alluring with each drop of his colorful words. While the romance escalates quickly, it's FAR from unsatisfying, though it might be a tad unbelievable. However, that's the beauty of Sabrina's story--we're temped to believe in the illogical, the far-fetched, and enjoy what we find in her incredibly imaginative world.

    full review: Sabrina is being forced to separate reality from her daydreams--and so are we. The world around her instantly comes alive in a high definition fantasy that is reminiscent of worlds we would find in animated movies and magical books, a world within a world that no one but Sabrina can see. It's wondrous and tempting, because the places she sees transform into these vivid realms of impossibilities come to life and we can easily understand why Sabrina often, though sometimes unconsciously, chooses to suspend her time in the ordinary world and runs off into hers. It's vibrant and happy where she goes, and quite beautiful, as opposed to her current sterile surroundings in which she is among doctors and nurses who want the best for her but are always analyzing her, making her uncomfortable in their examining and evaluating, compelling her to feel as if every move and every thought are completely wrong. She was once special, her parents used to tell her so, and now the thing that defines her specialness is being slowly and meticulously broken down and discarded. Her sense of alarm and wariness is even more heart-breaking when bits of her memories are summoned to her each day and cast a sadness to her stay at the Wellness Center.

    Despite the emotion and immediate camaraderie we form with Sabrina, the extent of her disorder is fascinating, and her artwork and imaginative background make it more so. What adds depth to her almost fragile bearing is her fear of the outside world, which we learn stems beyond the natural symptoms of her disorder and is rooted more firmly to recent events that relate to her mistreatment by so-called friends. Her sense of security is because of her confinement to the Wellness Center. She is almost entirely convinced that she is broken and wrong and strange, and our pain reaches out to hers, because she's nearly certain she belongs where she is. That is, until Alec, a fellow patient, arrives on the scene. It's almost comical how quickly Sabrina becomes taken with this newcomer. She doesn't doubt him or fear him, but is intrigued by him and believes that their first meeting has already happened--in one of her dreams. She feels safe with him and doesn't mind opening up to him, and it's weirdly sweet how fast they grow on each other. Still, their romance doesn't quite begin as swiftly as their feelings kindle, and their growing friendship is a pleasant slideshow that reveals their secrets, their playfulness, their happy and sad talks with each other.

    While the pacing is slow-going, it doesn't very strongly effect our interest, as we are already too invested in Sabrina's future and how or if she will recover. It becomes crucial that she and her parents reforge their closeness, though the love never falters throughout the novel, that Sabrina is capable of surviving and enjoying life as anyone else, and that she continues to have Alec at her side, her sweetest reward for enduring torture and working at healing from whatever wounds, both mentally and emotionally, have been carried over. And when the ending magnifies so much that we have no choice but to look, we couldn't be more pleased and thrilled for those final handfuls of tender moments and sweet victory.

    Asher K.
    Paranormal Indulgence
    [...]
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  • RaeLynn_Fry
    3.0 out of 5 stars A bit scattered, but in the end, an okay read
    Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2012
    Life is But a Dream
    By: Brian James
    Genre: YA Contemporary
    Coffee Beans: 3.5/5
    Rating: PG
    Spoilers: No
    Favorite Line:It's too hard...when all of the things I believe stop being true...it just hurts too much. PG 233 (ebook version)
    Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for this honest review.

    This was an interesting book and I tossed around around for a while about how I wanted to write the book report. Sabrina, the main character, has schizophrenia and this story documents her journey through discovering what she has and how she handles it. I know nothing about this disease other than what I read about it in books or see in movies (and we all know how reliable those sources can be) so forgive me if some of my comments are a result of my lack of education.

    Let's start with what I appreciate about it.

    This book is told 100% from Sabrina's point of view. And let me tell you, reading it, exhausted me. To constantly be in her world--in her mind--thinking what she thinks, experiencing and seeing what she does--it left me speechless; that there are actually people out there in the world living with this day in and day out. It's just amazing. I have a whole new appreciation for the amount of strength those people possess. Now, saying that (and I'm assuming James isn't pulling from experience, but I could be wrong), I can only imagine the strength and patience and talent James has to write Sabrina's story from inside her head for 239 pages. And in such constant detail. There wasn't a page or a paragraph that we weren't in her head, experiencing the colors or images. The details were amazing.

    Throughout the story, Sabrina is struggling to find her way through her disease. Coming to terms with what it means to have schizophrenia and deciding how she wants to handle it. Deciding if the doctors know best or if she does or if a stranger does. I really enjoyed the way James played that entire internal struggle and the way he had the events unfold. To me, it was believable and fitting. James gives the reader great insight into why these people do what they do. You understand it and their actions start to make sense.

    Now, onto the things I didn't appreciate so much.

    I was so scattered inside Sabrina's head that I didn't get a chance to connect or empathize with her. Not until the very end, when my hopes and heart crushed along with hers. But that was only for a page or two, max. The relationship with Alec, to me, was entirely unbelievable. Now, that could be due to my ignorance of the disease (for example, I don't know if being schizophrenic makes you fall in love immediately, etc), but I have a very hard time believing she fell in love with him and he her in a day. I felt cheated, especially since Alec was such a driving force in her decisions and the propulsion in her story.

    The novel is told in the present tense, from the Wellness Center, and then in flashes from Sabrina's past--events that led her to where she is today. But the flashbacks aren't linear, and while that wasn't life-shattering, it was a little confusing and jarring when I had to sit and try and place a memory in the timeline of Sabrina's life.

    Like I said in my little blip for this book under Just Read..., the story didn't start getting interesting for me until the very end. And then it was over. The beginning was a little slow, and I felt a good chunk of the book was set up. It wasn't exactly boring, but I wasn't reading it because I just had to know what was going to happen next. It was more like, I needed to get to the end and write a review. It wasn't bad or boring content, but neither was it exciting or snappy. It was just everyday stuff that kept the story churning at a steady pace.

    This next part could also be attributed to my lack of knowledge of schizophrenia, but throughout the story, I got this overwhelming feeling of immaturity from Sabrina, even though she's a senior in high school. If this is how the disease effects its victims, then WELL-STINKIN'-DONE, James. Well done indeed. Great job. If, however, it's not, then there needed to be some hefty work done on that. PS - I want to let you know that I called the ending of this book (or pretty stinking close to it) by page 90.

    Overall, I enjoyed the novel. It was an interesting look into a unique topic. There was a nice little lesson/warning to be heeded at the end and a cute bow with a HEA tag. It fit the story, so I was happy, even if I wasn't overly obsessed with the book. Pick it up, I think it'd be worth your time if you have some spare hours to fill with a book.

    Happy reading, my friends!
    RaeLynn Fry
    [...]
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  • Avinash
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Great Product, Excellent Seller
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on November 18, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Book came as described, speedy delivery.
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