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Megan McDowell

Megan McDowell

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Fever Dream (Spanish: Distancia de rescate) is a 2014 horror novel by Samanta Schweblin. An English translation by Megan McDowell was published in 2017 through Riverhead Books. The novel has elements of psychological fiction and takes inspiration from the environmental problems in Argentina.

Waking up disoriented in a clinic, Amanda begins a conversation with a young boy named David. He urges Amanda to try to remember what happened before she came to the clinic. Through the constant cajoling of David, Amanda recounts her memories as she attempts to piece together what happened to her.

Amanda tells how she met David's mother, Carla, while staying at a rented house in the country. After a day at the lake, Carla told Amanda about her son David and how he came to be the way he is now. The story involves her husband Omar and his prized stallion. One day Carla noticed that the horse was missing. She and David went looking for the horse and found it sipping from a stream. David played in the stream, but when Carla saw that there was a dead bird nearby, she quickly got David out of the water. After a few days, the horse became severely ill and died. Carla, realizing that David might also be infected, hurriedly took David to the mysterious woman, reputed as a healer, who lived in the green house. This woman told Carla that David could be saved, but he would be forever different as his soul would be split into two portions through a process called transmigration. But it would allow him to survive. Carla agrees to save David, but after the treatment, she recognizes how he has changed and she refuses to touch him, calling him a “monster.”

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