George Orr has dreams which seem to have an effect on reality: after waking up, the world around him seems subtly changed towards the world of his dreams. Scared of changing the world, George turns to drugs, but quickly gets discovered for using more than his government allotted prescription. He’s sentenced to therapy with Dr. William Haber, an expert psychiatrist and sleep researcher. Far from believing that George is insane, Dr. Haber instead sees in him the potential to change the world to suit his own ends.
I found this to be a good and entertaining short novel. It mainly unfolds as a series of Monkey’s Paws as you might expect. I felt the descriptions of a changing world to be well handled, giving you a sense of being unsure of your footing at any point in the novel. Despite the intentional confusion, the novel is still easy to follow.