Adam Dove’s Everyone! In the Dream! Is You! is a sharp and intimate collection of interconnected short stories that grapple with identity, masculinity, memory, and the messiness of love. Told in a poetic yet plainly honest style, the book moves between dreamlike surrealism and raw psychological insight. From sculptors binding lovers in clay to children descending into the earth searching for their lost fathers, Dove’s stories weave together fragile characters trying to anchor themselves in shifting emotional terrain. The title story is both a literal and metaphorical encapsulation of the collection; everyone, in every dream, might be a projection of the self.

What struck me most about Dove’s writing is how intimately he writes about emotional discomfort. The dialogue has the cadence of real relationships, awkward, evasive, and occasionally brutal. The prose feels lived-in, worn at the edges like a favorite coat, which makes the moments of beauty hit even harder. There’s an undercurrent of melancholy in every story, but it’s not melodramatic. It’s quiet. It creeps in during a pause between conversations or in the way a character stops mid-sentence. I found myself rereading passages just to sit in the strange sadness of them.

Dove doesn’t shy away from power imbalances, codependency, or emotional manipulation, especially between men and women. At times, I questioned whether the intimacy bordered on claustrophobia. But that discomfort seems intentional. Dove isn’t trying to offer easy takeaways or comforting conclusions; he’s holding up a mirror, and not everything in it is pretty. And that honesty, to me, is what makes the book worth reading.

I’d recommend Everyone! In the Dream! Is You! to readers who appreciate literary fiction that takes emotional risks. It’s perfect for fans of Raymond Carver or Carmen Maria Machado. If you’ve ever loved someone too hard or felt yourself coming undone trying to be who someone else needed, these stories will resonate. They left me feeling unsettled and weirdly grateful. And that, I think, is the mark of something good.

Pages: 208 | ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DY69TB2M