Title: Dakota and the American Dream
Author: Sameer Garach
Publishers: Mare Press
Format: ebook
Pages: 158
Genres: Adventure, Satire, Middle Grade, Fantasy, retelling
Rating: 3/5
Release Date: 25th December 2019
Where To Buy: Amazon UK, Amazon USA
Summary: When ten-year-old Dakota becomes bored sitting next to his mother on a park bench, he drifts off and falls into a dream in which he follows a squirrel down a game of hopscotch until he finds himself in a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures.
The satirical tale plays with many themes characteristic of America and its corporate culture as seen through the expert eyes of a child, giving the story popularity with adults as well as children. From a rudimentary perspective, the novella is about the trials and tribulations of growing up, or overweight, or old. But from another more complex one, it concerns ridiculous points of sharp humor, such as the American Dream, the rat race, racism in the workplace, the corporate ladder and hierarchy, office romance, an unhealthy love affair with body image, the obsession with prescription medication, the work and coffee culture, the constant fear of losing one’s job, the importance of golf in career success, happy hour and team-building exercises, age discrimination, and the diversity of dialect found in the United States.
To define the charm of the Dakota book—with those wonderful eccentric characters the Greenback Squirrel, the White Mouse, the Black Rat, the Bigwig, the Chairman, the Big Boss, the Westchester Whelp, the 800-pound Gorilla, etc.—as merely an adolescent arousal would convey a lack of proper understanding, for it really comprises a satire on language, a corporate allegory, a reflection of contemporary history, and a parody of twenty-first-century children’s literature.
Thank you so much to author Sameer Garach for the ebook copy to read and review.
Review: This book is a take on Alice in Wonderland as our Protagonist Dakota follows a Squirrel and heads into a world filled with animals living in a Corporate America world where everything is not as he was used too. While in the world Dakota tries to build himself up through the rungs of the ladder and experiences all the difficulties and hardships of this battle.
It’s a very quirky and satire book, taking a deep hard look at the world around them from what it’s like working in a job like that, to the racism that still goes on in this world and in a area such as this, to how flighty and judgmental people within the corporation can be.
It was written well and went into plenty of detail with a big mix array of characters that intermingled within this story. It followed the pathway from Alice really well but with changes that met perfectly to this story. I liked how it ended and found it a very interesting take to end it that way but it was great.
While this book wasn’t personally for me and I found myself struggling to get into it throughout the whole book. I definitely feel that others would enjoy reading it, it was a very creative book and had lots of lessons within the story.
About Author: Sameer Garach is the American author of “The Bull Option,” a unique and cunning financial thriller that moves at a breakneck pace, and “Dakota and the American Dream,” a charming and hilarious contemporary satire that entertains adults as well as children. To learn more about Sameer, visit sameergarach.com.
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