What do you think?
Rate this book
Things said in dreams
Terrorized by her high school classmates, she now has the chance to save their lives. Matthew Temple's Things Said in Dreams, the first novel from independent publishing house Sibling Rivalry Press, gives us a female Holden Caulfield and a haunting, memorable story of twisted, dangerous grace.
Kindle Edition
First published August 17, 2010
1 person is currently reading
6 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 28, 2012
A New Definition of Narrative Writing
Mathew Temple presents his novel THINGS SAID IN DREAMS as more than a story, though a story is very much present in the midst of all the magical things he does with thoughts and internal conversations that come to us through the mind of his principle character - one 16 year old very strange girl whose mental state and physical state can only be understood by following the vagaries of her own Betz cells.
This novel must be as close to the mentation of a physically and sexually and emotionally challenged teenager traversing the corridors of her high school and her out of school maze trying to make sense of her pets, her strange boy friend, her boyfriend's sister (the descriptions of her sensual obsession with that sister's body and accoutrements is at once hilarious and erotic) as any author has accomplished to date. Yes, there is a lot of `vulgarity' for lack of a better term for early physical exploration, dialogue with her classmates with some very bizarre moments. But the glory of the writing is the ongoing unspoken dialogue our strange girl has with us, the reader. It is all over the place crazy at times, disjointed, flights of fancy, discombobulated for pages, but reading this wondrous work is very much akin to wandering in and out of a performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations - complex, wild at times, tender at times and in the end finding center the way Bach's variations are indeed variations.
`Ok. Ok. All your solutions are wrapped up in the same pieces that form your problems. There aren't any new pieces. Just rearrange existing ones and cancel things out, like algebra. Get out of the tub. Unstop the water. Try reading a really subversive book and see if that helps. If we have any.' That is a little taste of how her mind puts the world together in a manner she can comprehend, and in lasting through the entire story with her means of communicating this very private mind with us is as satisfying a literary experience as has come down the pike in a novel form in a long time. Watch Matthew Temple grow. Next time around he may be a male.....
Grady Harp
Mathew Temple presents his novel THINGS SAID IN DREAMS as more than a story, though a story is very much present in the midst of all the magical things he does with thoughts and internal conversations that come to us through the mind of his principle character - one 16 year old very strange girl whose mental state and physical state can only be understood by following the vagaries of her own Betz cells.
This novel must be as close to the mentation of a physically and sexually and emotionally challenged teenager traversing the corridors of her high school and her out of school maze trying to make sense of her pets, her strange boy friend, her boyfriend's sister (the descriptions of her sensual obsession with that sister's body and accoutrements is at once hilarious and erotic) as any author has accomplished to date. Yes, there is a lot of `vulgarity' for lack of a better term for early physical exploration, dialogue with her classmates with some very bizarre moments. But the glory of the writing is the ongoing unspoken dialogue our strange girl has with us, the reader. It is all over the place crazy at times, disjointed, flights of fancy, discombobulated for pages, but reading this wondrous work is very much akin to wandering in and out of a performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations - complex, wild at times, tender at times and in the end finding center the way Bach's variations are indeed variations.
`Ok. Ok. All your solutions are wrapped up in the same pieces that form your problems. There aren't any new pieces. Just rearrange existing ones and cancel things out, like algebra. Get out of the tub. Unstop the water. Try reading a really subversive book and see if that helps. If we have any.' That is a little taste of how her mind puts the world together in a manner she can comprehend, and in lasting through the entire story with her means of communicating this very private mind with us is as satisfying a literary experience as has come down the pike in a novel form in a long time. Watch Matthew Temple grow. Next time around he may be a male.....
Grady Harp
June 5, 2011
'Things Said In Dreams' doesn't leap off the page. It spills from it and washes over you like a steady stream of consciousness, released in a singular breath of spoken word given life by the protagonist.
In a way, the plot is secondary to the sheer experience of chasing the story. It seems to race ahead, with characters and relationships appearing from nowhere, each quite organic, but some seeming to want further exploration. Yet that never seems to hinder the flat-out, take-no-prisoners style which Temple wields deftly.
When I finished, I knew what had happened, and how, with even a hint of 'why', but I realized that I was exhausted. This is not a bad thing in any way. Temple has created a mature, complex experience that is more pursuit than novel, where the story is first out of the starting blocks and you are close behind, never ahead.
A thoroughly enjoyable book for readers seeking a deep, driven narrative.
In a way, the plot is secondary to the sheer experience of chasing the story. It seems to race ahead, with characters and relationships appearing from nowhere, each quite organic, but some seeming to want further exploration. Yet that never seems to hinder the flat-out, take-no-prisoners style which Temple wields deftly.
When I finished, I knew what had happened, and how, with even a hint of 'why', but I realized that I was exhausted. This is not a bad thing in any way. Temple has created a mature, complex experience that is more pursuit than novel, where the story is first out of the starting blocks and you are close behind, never ahead.
A thoroughly enjoyable book for readers seeking a deep, driven narrative.
February 9, 2012
It took me a little while to get into this, but once I did I was caught up in the flow of the story and really impressed by the way it dealt with what goes through the mind of a teenager trying to cope with the world.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews