Train Dreams

A Novella

By: Denis Johnson

Narrated by: Will Patton

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.

Mesmerizing

I reread/listened to Train Dreams after hearing a movie was being made. Don’t recall it hitting so hard the first time, in college, as it did this time, in my middle age.

Maybe it has to do with the years passing and having experienced more tragedy, for Johnson’s words treat your trauma with casual beauty and inadvertent respect, as life does, as the world does.

Denis Johnson takes you from tears to laughter to terror on a single page. He is a master of observation who gives a story to the people and situations on the fringe, the invisible, the inconvenient, the otherwise forgotten. This read left me both heartbroken and grateful.

amazingly raw!

it is nothing short of raw unabashed reality. an amazing and quite frankly a must read!

Will Patton is excellent

Such a beautifully written and moving story. I read it first and then listened to the Audible version. Will Patton is excellent.

Spokane International

Yes, this is a book to read (or listen to). Three times now in the last couple of days to fully catch all the words - it's short. The lyrical quality resonates with images of the early 1900's in the North West. Haunting. You too may dream, hopefully of good things, maybe of the Spokane International, or of other creatures.

short and beautiful

beautiful narration of beautifully descriptive writing. one man's life- a life so far from what we live today