'Poppy Fields' offers engaging commentary on grief and therapy

“From above, it’s a carpet of crimson, but as you lean closer, you see that it’s not one singular sheet of color, but rows upon rows of distinct red dots. Thousands of them. All of them nearly identical. Most of them silent and still. Some occasionally vibrating with movement. Like a wild field of poppies. Except it’s nothing like that. Because the little red dots are not flowers, but people.”

— “The Poppy Fields” by Nikki Erlick

Nikki Erlick, author of “The Measure,” recently published her second novel, “The Poppy Fields.” This deeply moving book is centered around an interesting concept for dealing with grief. There is no escaping the pain of grief, but how each person deals with it runs the gamut: they turn to work or hobbies for distractions, over- or under-eating, isolation and avoidance. Some coping mechanisms are healthy and some unhealthy. All individuals are affected by and deal with grief differently, but one of the most common impacts is the inability to sleep. The lack of sleep is the premise behind “The Poppy Fields.”

Deep in the California desert is an experimental facility for those suffering from grief to fall into a week’s long sleep that teeters close to a medically induced coma. After a month of sleeping the patients wake up feeling refreshed and avoid the most acute pain in the grieving process. The experiment isn’t without its possible side-effects. Some patients experience a complete wipeout of emotions.

This controversial treatment isn’t isolated to voluntary patients. There are family members and protesters who vehemently oppose the treatment at the facility. This includes three strangers in a Kansas City airport trying to catch a flight to California. Unfortunately, the airport gets shut down due to a tornado. The three strangers decide to rent one of the few remaining vehicles and drive to the facility. Along the way, they run into another young girl named Sky who is at a taco stand right here in Albuquerque. She is an optimistic young woman who wants to head west and explore parts of the United States she hasn’t seen.

The story weaves these imperfect characters together with their desire to find out what is happening at the facility, find family members, or even participate in the process by becoming a patient.

The concept of medically induced sleep to avoid pain begs the question, are we playing God by allowing a scientific experiment that forgoes the grieving process? Or is this up to the individual despite what some family member may oppose or even societal opposition? After all, the patients came to the facility at their own free will.

This beautifully written book will make readers question whether we can just wake up when the hardest stages of grief are over.

Deborah Condit is the owner of Books on the Bosque, 6261 Riverside Plaza Lane, Suite A-2 or at booksonthebosque.com.