Fever Dream

Amanda is the protagonist of Fever Dream, a young mother who comes from the capital of Buenos Aires to spend her holiday in the country with her daughter, Nina. Throughout the novel, she lies in a hospital bed, feverish and hallucinating, trying to understand the events that led her there. Though the novel is framed as a conversation between Amanda and David, Amanda is effectively the first-person narrator of Fever Dream, and her hallucinatory state makes her unreliable. She frequently confuses parts of her story, especially as she nears the end, and there are parts she cannot remember at all. There is also some evidence that Amanda might be hallucinating David, which could also cast doubt on other elements of her narrative.

Motherhood is the central aspect of Amanda’s identity. She doesn’t mention a job, her relationship with her husband, or life back in Buenos Aires. Rather, she is completely focused on her daughter, introducing the concept of the “rescue distance” to describe her constant vigilance. Amanda represents the mother who is always prepared for the worst, sure that “sooner or later something terrible will happen” (127). However, she also admits, “I always risk more than I should” (19), letting Nina go farther than she feels is safe.