Train Dreams: A Novella

by Denis Johnson

Hardcover

Published August 30, 2011

About the author

Poet, playwright and author Denis Johnson was born in Munich, West Germany, in 1949 and was raised in Tokyo, Manila and Washington. He earned a masters' degree from the University of Iowa and received many awards for his work, including a Lannan Fellowship in Fiction (1993), a Whiting Writer's Award (1986), the Aga Khan Prize for Fiction from the Paris Review for Train Dreams, and most recently, the National Book Award for Fiction (2007).

Reviews

[Derick Lugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Train Dreams is one of those books where you finish, stare at the wall for a minute, and think, I don’t know what I just read… but I’m pretty sure it was intentional.

Denis Johnson’s prose is undeniably skilled—spare, atmospheric, and often beautiful in a cold, distant way. The novella drifts through time and memory more than it tells a traditional story, which can feel meditative if you’re in the right headspace… or mildly disorienting if you’re not.

I kept waiting for something to grab onto—an emotional anchor, a narrative thread—but instead, it floated just out of reach. That may be the point. Still, I’ll admit: the fact that this book is short feels merciful. Three hundred pages of this haze might’ve been more than I could endure.

There’s talent here, no question. I just don’t know if I liked the experience—or if I merely survived it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (for craft, not comfort)

[Gsmattingly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book about an interesting fellow

I liked the descriptions of the man, the people and animals he met and the countryside in which he lived. I found it interesting and different from the descriptions of many other characters in many other books. I found his life reasonable for the times and not outlandish. I thought it was pretty good, more interesting than the movie.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5, and I think the film adaptation is far superior, but I can’t round it down. At times this reminds me of some of the shorter works of Norman Maclean and parts of A River Runs Through It, but parts are such a meditation on grief.