The Dallergut Dream Department Store: A Novel

The Dallergut Dream Department Store: A Novel by Miye Lee

A woman gets a job at a dream department store. This store is open 24 hours and visited by people to find dreams during their sleep. They don't remember past visits to the store. Many dreams are sold on the "pay later" basis, where people only pay if they are satisfied. The woman gets to explore the various departments and their different personalities and types of dreams. There are also special dreams. Precog dreams tell the future. These are typically not sold to people that want them. The people that do buy them will later have déjà vu. There are also special dreams related to death.

After touring the departments, the woman is not sure what she wants. Then she hears of an opportunity to work on the front desk and takes it. She has a number of interesting experiences in the store and gets to know the people better. We also learn of some of the best dream authors, including Santa Claus. There are award ceremonies for the most popular as well as "best" dreams. The book ends with a humorous epilogue of somebody that is optimizing everything for time. After seeing a long queue at the bank, he accuses one man of "preying on the elderly" as a means for shortening his wait. This works and he is able to complete his errands as he desired and have a successful day. However, he doesn't realize that he helped topple a crime ring and been offered a reward.

The book has a gentle, whimsical tone that explores an interesting topic in a matter-of-fact manner.