The Poppy Fields – Nikki Erlick
Set in an only-slightly speculative present, “The Poppy Fields” follows four strangers and one scrappy rescue dog as they journey from the Midwest to a controversial treatment center in the California desert, where patients can literally sleep through their grief.
The premise has shades of “The Atmospherians” and “Severance,” but with the soft humanism Nikki Erlick showed in her debut, “The Measure.” Her work is less about the dystopia itself than the emotional journey.
“The Wizard of Oz” parallels are made explicit from the start — there’s even a tornado, albeit at the Kansas City airport — and the characters mostly align to the archetypes. Ava (Dorothy) is searching for her estranged sister, Ellis, the enigmatic founder of the Poppy Fields. Ray (Cowardly Lion) wants answers about his brother’s sudden death after undergoing the treatment. Sasha (Tin Man) is nursing guilt over a dead fiancé she wasn’t sure she love, and Sky (Scarecrow) is a wayward teen who keeps crossing their path for reasons that are never entirely clear.
The early chapters are sharp and engaging. Erlick balances character introspection with momentum, and Marin Ireland’s narration brings real texture to the cast, though her teenage voices are, frankly, a bit traumatizing after surviving the terrible “My Friends.” The audiobook's use of a full cast adds a nice layer to the world-building, with a cast of nine others voicing news clips and patient testimonials that flesh out The Poppy Fields’ broader implications.
But somewhere around Albuquerque, things start to sputter. The road trip loses steam, and the promised confrontation with Ellis arrives with more of a whimper than a bang. She’s less Wizard than weary founder, neither villain nor savior, just a brilliant woman detached from her own emotions after undergoing the very treatment she pioneered. It's a fitting twist, but not a surprising one.
Like “The Measure,” the book leans heavily on its core question (Would you erase your grief if you could?) without always earning the depth it’s aiming for. That’s not to say it’s without merit.
There are lovely moments of clarity, especially in Sasha’s arc, and the novel’s gentle insistence that feeling pain is proof of life is both earnest and welcome. Still, as each character arrives at the same philosophical conclusion — just phrased a little differently — it becomes clear that the book’s greatest strength, its emotional thesis, is also what holds it back.
In the end, “The Poppy Fields” keeps circling its central idea without pushing it somewhere new. It wants to be allegory and character study, pop philosophy and road trip novel, and while Erlick is clearly evolving as a storyteller — there’s far more depth here than in “The Measure” — she still feels more comfortable writing around an idea than fully embracing it.
If you enjoyed “The Measure,” there’s a good chance you’ll find something to appreciate here. But for those hoping for a bolder leap forward, this one never quite recaptures the promise of its setup.
Thanks to Libro.fm, HarperAudio and the author for an advance listener copy in exchange for an honest review. This exchange of goods did not influence my opinion.
Rating (story): 3/5 stars
Rating (narration): 3/5 stars
Format: Audiobook (personal library)
Dates read: June 13 – June 16, 2025
Multi-tasking: Good to go. This isn’t really a difficult story to follow, although you might get lost in the mess of names and situations in the first 20 percent if you aren’t paying close enough attention.