When I was in grad school, I took a class on magical realism. My professor believed magical realism could only be serious fiction - used to show the horrors of the world through a mystical lens. However, Miye Lee completely blows his argument out of the water with The Dallergut Dream Department Store. Cozy and whimsical, we explore the world of dreams - a hidden world that lives in humanity's collective subconscious, and the department store where people buy the dreams they want for the night.
The story consists of ten intertwined vignettes, starting with Penny's interview for the store and ending just before she celebrates her first year on the job. Each vignette gives a different perspective on dreams - including letting us see the lives of the people who order them. It helps us understand why they would want that kind of dream in the first place and how it impacts their lives for the better. We even get the point of view of what animals dream - which takes us into the life of Leo the dog in one of the purest pieces of writing I have ever read.
The novel's characters are a brilliant cast that brings this department store to life. Each floor has its own manager that matches the vibe of what they are selling. I appreciated that not only was each floor incredibly different, but how the managers who ran them showed off their unique personalities. You wouldn't want a generic dream from anyone other than the meticulously organized Vigo Myers, while Speedo is the best for a nap-exclusive dream as he will get you in and out of the store fast so you can enjoy the little rest you can get. We see all of this through the eyes of Penny - she's brand new to the store and is clearly being trained to take over from her manager Weather as the great Dallergut's second-in-command. We learn how the dream business works alongside Penny, which gives the reader a fantastic way of better understanding the setting alongside our main character. In doing this, the reader becomes Penny, asking questions alongside her as we do our best to understand the intricacies of dreams.
The translator of the novel, Sandy Joosun Lee, did an amazing job of providing us with the dreamy prose necessary for this book. She also plays with verb tense, an intentional decision she talks about in the translator's note at the end of the novel. She made the decision to use present tense whenever we are in the dream world, giving it a dream-like sense of wonder. However, whenever we visit the customers in the real world, it switches to past tense, allowing these passages to feel much more solid and realistic. I found her intentional switching was easy to follow, and in doing so, allowed the two different types of worlds to come into their own without causing much confusion.
This was a cute and cozy read, that not only reminded me of the importance of having a dream but also reminded me of the simple joys of my own life. It's easy to get swept up in the horrors of today's world - after all, there are plenty of them. I truly needed the reminder that all we need is a good night's sleep, and a good dream to go with it.
The Dallergut Dream Department Store is available through HarperCollins Publishers