Train Dreams
A Novella
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3.7 • 215 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A New York Times Notable Book for 2011
One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year
One of NPR's 10 Best Novels of 2011
From the National Book Award-winning author Denis Johnson (Tree of Smoke) comes Train Dreams, an epic in miniature, and one of Johnson's most evocative works of fiction.
Suffused with the history and landscapes of the American West—its otherworldly flora and fauna, its rugged loggers and bridge builders—this extraordinary novella poignantly captures the disappearance of a distinctly American way of life.
It tells the story of Robert Grainer, a day laborer in the American West at the start of the twentieth century—an ordinary man in extraordinary times. Buffeted by the loss of his family, Grainer struggles to make sense of this strange new world. As his story unfolds, we witness both his shocking personal defeats and the radical changes that transform America in his lifetime.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Readers eager for a fat follow-up to Tree of Smoke could be forgiven a modicum of skepticism at this tidy volume a reissue of a 2003 O. Henry Prize winning novella that originally appeared in the Paris Review but it would be a shame to pass up a chance to encounter the synthesis of Johnson's epic sensibilities rendered in miniature in the clipped tone of Jesus' Son. The story is a snapshot of early 20th-century America as railroad laborer Robert Granier toils along the rails that will connect the states and transform his itinerant way of life. Drinking in tent towns and spending summers in the wilds of Idaho, Granier misses the fire back home that leaves no trace of his wife and child. The years bring diminishing opportunities, strange encounters, and stranger dreams, but it's not until after participating in the miracle of flight and a life-changing encounter with a mythical monster that Granier realizes what he's been looking for. An ode to the vanished West that captures the splendor of the Rockies as much as the small human mysteries that pass through them, this svelte stand-alone has the virtue of being a gem in itself, and, for the uninitiated, a perfect introduction to Johnson.
Customer Reviews
Good, not Great
I expected more after reading all the glowing reviews but found a good story, well written, and not verbose, but not extraordinary in any way. I will read more Johnson however as he has a way with words...EAF
Gorgeous!
Not a word out of place. Gorgeous!
A rare beauty
A beautiful, subdued novella set in a forgotten time and place: the lumber camps of Depression-era Idaho and eastern Washington. The protagonist — one Grenier — discovers and clings to his humanity through the momentousness of love and grief. As ever, Johnson grasps the inherent worth in the downtrodden and outcast scorned by society. His inimitable description of Grenier’s first (and likely only) flight is worth the price or admission alone.