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Sweet Dreams
A man who dies and goes to Heaven nowadays expects something a little more sophisticated than gold streets and angels playing harps. He wants a place designed for his own individual needs and tastes – somewhere that allows for personal development and rich human relations – somewhere you can win. Here’s Howard Baker’s heaven. It may be yours.Long regarded as a classic in Great Britain, Michael Frayn’s comic fantasy Sweet Dreams (1973) returns to print in the U.S. for the first time in decades in this edition, which features a new introduction by the author.WHAT CRITICS ARE SAYING“Frayn has a most unusual talent. His books seem so deceptively simple, but they linger in the mind for years, and can be re-read with the greatest pleasure. Sweet Dreams is no exception.” – Margaret Drabble, New York Times Book Review“May go down in history as one of England’s special contributions to the twentieth century.” – Times Literary Supplement“Frayn is an impeccable writer . . . his novel is a kind of Candide – a vividly contemporary Candide – full of the most serious high comedy and the most enormous belly laughs.” – New Yorker
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
11 people are currently reading
428 people want to read
About the author
Michael Frayn
113 books268 followersMichael Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy. His novels, such as Towards the End of the Morning, Headlong and Spies, have also been critical and commercial successes, making him one of the handful of writers in the English language to succeed in both drama and prose fiction. His works often raise philosophical questions in a humorous context. Frayn's wife is Claire Tomalin, the biographer and literary journalist.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
October 23, 2013
An utter delight.
Even though it was written in the 1970s, it still feels completely fresh & topical today. It's a lovely, optimistic satire of man & covers many of the Big Ideas. I know when Life of Pi was so very popular, various reviews said it would affirm/renew your faith in God (a claim that left me mystified), but Sweet Dreams *is* actually one of those entertaining, sweet (& a teeny bit bittersweet), humorous stories that will affirm/renew your faith in God (a fun read even if you're not religious), or perhaps in just your role as a human in creating a better world. This is basically a philosophical musing set in a heaven/utopia, while pondering & satirizing man & God's role w/in the world. Like Vonnegut, Frayn's writing style is simple & understated, almost to the point that it seems quite effortless to ponder some quite heavy philosophy while enjoying such an easy, pleasing tale. *Definitely recommended*.
There are lots of lovely and funny parts in this book; I think my favorite sections are when Howard (main protagonist) gets a great job & his friend Phil has a rather interesting one as well....
and
Warning, SPOILERS ahead...
My other favorite sections include some rather fun conversations...
And, later, Howard is having drinks with Freddie & Caroline (Freddie's wife)...
So, God as a bit of a shy, self-effacing Englishman.... LOL.
Even though it was written in the 1970s, it still feels completely fresh & topical today. It's a lovely, optimistic satire of man & covers many of the Big Ideas. I know when Life of Pi was so very popular, various reviews said it would affirm/renew your faith in God (a claim that left me mystified), but Sweet Dreams *is* actually one of those entertaining, sweet (& a teeny bit bittersweet), humorous stories that will affirm/renew your faith in God (a fun read even if you're not religious), or perhaps in just your role as a human in creating a better world. This is basically a philosophical musing set in a heaven/utopia, while pondering & satirizing man & God's role w/in the world. Like Vonnegut, Frayn's writing style is simple & understated, almost to the point that it seems quite effortless to ponder some quite heavy philosophy while enjoying such an easy, pleasing tale. *Definitely recommended*.
There are lots of lovely and funny parts in this book; I think my favorite sections are when Howard (main protagonist) gets a great job & his friend Phil has a rather interesting one as well....
He has in fact got a job, now his father mentions it, and an astonishingly good one, too, for someone in his first year down from university. He is working with Harry Fischer's design group, which is almost certainly the liveliest team in the profession at this particular moment. They all think so, at any rate, though they turn it into a joke. You can tell how lively they are by the fact that they work not in great white north-lit drawing-offices, like the more fashionable and established groups, but in a few cramped rooms on the fourth floor of an Edwardian commercial block, above a tobacconist and an employment agency, mostly looking out on an airshaft.
They are designing the Alps.
and
Phil has an incredibly good job, too. He is creating man.
Or at any rate, he is with one of the research teams working on the man project. Half the university departments and industries in the city are involved. The end product, as everyone knows from all the projections and mock-ups they keep making public to try to justify the wildly escalating costs, will have two arms and two legs, a language capability, and a fairly sophisticated emotional and moral response. The general idea is to build something pretty much in their own image.
Warning, SPOILERS ahead...
My other favorite sections include some rather fun conversations...
"I beg your pardon?" says Howard.
Freddie clears his throat, and forces himself to look Howard in the eye.
"I said, I'm God."
He folds his arms very tightly, and looks away over Howard's shoulder. He is plainly embarrassed. So is Howard. He is embarrassed to have embarrassed Freddie.
"I'm terribly sorry," says Howard.
"Can't be helped," says Freddie. "Just one of those things."
"I mean, I'm sorry not to have known."
"Not at all. I'm sorry I had to spring it on you like that."
There is an awkward silence. Freddie fiddles with his biscuit, breaking it into small pieces, and dropping crumbs which catch in the hairy surface of his trousers.
"Well," says Howard. "Congratulations."
"Oh," says Freddie. "Thanks."
----------
The more Howard thinks about it, the less he knows where to look or what to do with his hands. He tries putting them behind his back and looking at the floor, smiling reflectively. Freddie is having difficulties, too. He puts his dry biscuit down, and with his left hand seizes his right elbow. With his right hand he takes hold of his chin. Then he, too, examines the floor.
"On second thoughts," he says, "I don't know about congratulations. Not like being elected to a fellowship, or whatever. Wasn't open to other candidates, you see."
And, later, Howard is having drinks with Freddie & Caroline (Freddie's wife)...
"I can't help feeling," says Howard, sticking his head forward ruefully, "now I know who you are, that I've been a bit outspoken in some of my remarks about the system."
"Not at all!" says Freddie.
"Not a bit!" says Caroline.
"But I must in all honesty say," says Howard very quickly, jutting his chin out and smilingly blinking his eyes, "that I still think there are a number of things in the universe which really need seriously looking into."
"Oh, the whole thing!" says Freddie with feeling.
"Ghastly mess," says Caroline.
"Absolute disaster area," says Freddie.
"Frightful," says Caroline.
"So far as one can understand it," says Freddie.
"Freddie feels frightfully strongly about it, you see," says Caroline.
Howard looks from one to the other in astonishment.
"Good heavens!" he says. "I should never have guessed...."
"Oh, Freddie's a terrific radical," says Caroline.
"Really?" says Howard.
"A terrible firebrand, really," says Caroline.
Freddie knots himself up.
"A bit firebrandish," he admits.
"A bit of a Maoist, to tell you the truth," says Caroline.
She looks sideways at Howard to see how he is taking this. So does Freddie.
"A Maoist?" says Howard, astonished.
"Permanent revolution," says Caroline.
"That style of thing," agrees Freddie.
"What he feels, you see," says Caroline, "is that people ought to struggle pretty well all the time against the limitations of the world and their own nature. Not stop."
Howard gazes at Freddie, deeply impressed.
"Don't worry," says Freddie. "I don't think my views have much effect."
So, God as a bit of a shy, self-effacing Englishman.... LOL.
November 14, 2021
if you like this review, i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com
030219 ftom ??? 2000s?: later addition: now where is my copy, i really need it at the moment..?
first review: this is the ultimate comfort-food for the very-down mind: light, seriously fun, beautiful description of just what Heaven is- for anyone, ever, though this in particular is a satirical but affectionate rendering of Heaven for a middle class briton circa 1972…
030219 ftom ??? 2000s?: later addition: now where is my copy, i really need it at the moment..?
first review: this is the ultimate comfort-food for the very-down mind: light, seriously fun, beautiful description of just what Heaven is- for anyone, ever, though this in particular is a satirical but affectionate rendering of Heaven for a middle class briton circa 1972…
September 22, 2007
My favorite book. The only one I've read five times. It's simply bloody marvelous: light, funny, elegant, wise, brief yet full of perfectly intricate little details.
Frayn achieves such a delicate balance between innocence and cynicism that he leaves you optimistic, light-hearted, but not naïve. The tone of this book is comic but not boisterous; satirical but not biting; affectionate but not cloying. It’s one of the most perfectly realized books I’ve ever read–and probably the only book I’ll read a sixth time.
See the full review at http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=35.
Frayn achieves such a delicate balance between innocence and cynicism that he leaves you optimistic, light-hearted, but not naïve. The tone of this book is comic but not boisterous; satirical but not biting; affectionate but not cloying. It’s one of the most perfectly realized books I’ve ever read–and probably the only book I’ll read a sixth time.
See the full review at http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=35.
November 8, 2016
Michael Frayn is a remarkably prolific playwright, novelist and newspaper columnist (from which half a dozen collections have been published). As such, just because I've scarcely heard of him doesn't mean he should be described solely in comparison to writers I am more familiar with. Nonetheless, for me this 1973 novel evokes Donald Barthelme and Italo Calvino (including the fact that it starts and ends with the same few paragraphs).
It's a cleverly surrealistic critique of the mores of 60s and 70s social change, in which the ostensible masters of the universe, all just down from Cambridge, find themselves in a Utopian city that is nothing like grubby old London and as they try to design and reshape their ideal world, find themselves being more and more drawn into the corridors of official power that they once thought they were rebelling against, eventually congratulating themselves on the sensible course of change from within.
Combining King and Church, there is a character called "God" (who you can meet at a cocktail party - also reminiscent of Barthelme) - God is at first anathema to the up-and-coming crowd, until one of them succeeds to the position.
It's a cleverly surrealistic critique of the mores of 60s and 70s social change, in which the ostensible masters of the universe, all just down from Cambridge, find themselves in a Utopian city that is nothing like grubby old London and as they try to design and reshape their ideal world, find themselves being more and more drawn into the corridors of official power that they once thought they were rebelling against, eventually congratulating themselves on the sensible course of change from within.
Combining King and Church, there is a character called "God" (who you can meet at a cocktail party - also reminiscent of Barthelme) - God is at first anathema to the up-and-coming crowd, until one of them succeeds to the position.
Read
December 16, 2022Very fast and very funny. Not every novel includes having God and His Wife over for dinner.
December 2, 2024
The more I dip into Michael Fryan's fiction, the more I am forced to conclude that he is a far better playwright than a novelist. In reviewing the Frayn-penned CLOCKWISE, Gene Siskel made a very smart observation that this film did not work because we could anticipate the comedy in advance. That there was inherently no surprise. And that is the same glaring flaw as this smug and aimless little novel. The afterlife can certainly be funny and interesting, as we have seen with Albert Brooks's DEFENDING YOUR LIFE and THE GOOD PLACE. But if everything is possible and there are no stakes, then why on earth (har har) are we reading? When various characters begin building mountains and designing countries, there is, quite literally, no punchline or payoff. Frayn expects to be wowed by his pedestrian conceptual approach, but doesn't seem to know how to style it or hone it for execution. This is also a remarkably unimaginative novel. Frayn even serves up groaners as "What a heavenly place!" And Frayn presents his characters as bored simply by presenting boredom, but not having them be active enough to do something about it. Tedious passages like this:
"He walks round the streets he walked round on that first morning. Here's the cafe where he sat down and read all the papers, trying to understand the local politics. Here's the shopping street he walked along, and, lingering in it like the smell of coffee, the first impression of the whole city he based on it."
To which this reader replied, "And?"
But there was nothing more than this.
Frayn is obviously a smart guy, but this novel shows that he's too smart for his own good. Or perhaps lost in the hubris of being a celebrated playwright. Without giving us anything even close to escalation, this incredibly awful novel is a complete waste of time. Instead of reading this book, you would be better off going to a junkyard and spending three hours staring at a Corvette chassis stripped of its engine.
"He walks round the streets he walked round on that first morning. Here's the cafe where he sat down and read all the papers, trying to understand the local politics. Here's the shopping street he walked along, and, lingering in it like the smell of coffee, the first impression of the whole city he based on it."
To which this reader replied, "And?"
But there was nothing more than this.
Frayn is obviously a smart guy, but this novel shows that he's too smart for his own good. Or perhaps lost in the hubris of being a celebrated playwright. Without giving us anything even close to escalation, this incredibly awful novel is a complete waste of time. Instead of reading this book, you would be better off going to a junkyard and spending three hours staring at a Corvette chassis stripped of its engine.
June 28, 2023
Michael Frayn is always good value, and while this didn't make me laugh as much as some of his others, it's a fun and philosophical romp. I hope Heaven is exactly like this. (Borrowed from my mum, and it turned out we'd had exactly the same thought: did Douglas Adams read this before he created Slartibartfast and had him design the Norwegian fjords?)
August 3, 2020
200802: comfort food... 4 reads? see review in aaafavorfiction...
September 24, 2017
A work of marvellous imagination, one man’s vision of eternity. It follows the adventures of Howard Baker and starts as he is sitting in his car waiting for traffic lights to change. He is distracted by a woman he thinks he knows walking on the other side of the junction but the lights change and he drives away, unsure if the woman was an acquaintance or not. Howard drives on to a town which is vaguely familiar and meets people who are also vaguely familiar. It is not clear why he has travelled to this town and he is aware that things are a little strange but using a sort of dream logic where disjointed events become the norm, Frayn succeeds in weaving a compelling narrative which pieces together a series of events representing aspects of Howard's life, his dreams, goals and ambitions. Howard becomes head of a successful marketing company, has an affair with an attractive stranger, makes a fine suburban home for his wife and family and meets God, all of which are set within a fully credible dreamscape.
Sweet Dreams is a short but inspired, thought provoking work, bordering on genius. The narrative is not absolutely clear on this point but I assumed that Howard died when he drove away from the traffic lights and the subsequent events are the author’s view of what eternity may be like – a sort of continuous but not necessarily sequential flow of events, prompted and subsequently created by our own psyche. An enjoyable and satisfying read, one which I would thoroughly recommend.
Sweet Dreams is a short but inspired, thought provoking work, bordering on genius. The narrative is not absolutely clear on this point but I assumed that Howard died when he drove away from the traffic lights and the subsequent events are the author’s view of what eternity may be like – a sort of continuous but not necessarily sequential flow of events, prompted and subsequently created by our own psyche. An enjoyable and satisfying read, one which I would thoroughly recommend.
November 29, 2016
This is the fourth book by Michael Frayn that I've read. Of the four, 'The Tin Men' definitely remains my favourite. 'Sweet Dreams' is a satirical account of heaven from the perspective of a bourgeois man. Although it worked very well as such, my lack of identification with the main character (and especially his treatment of women) reduced the book's appeal. The overall message seemed to be that true heaven for such a man is being taken seriously by everyone. It is clear, though, that his behaviour and ideas don't really justify such treatment.
As the book proceeds, a privileged middle-aged bourgeois clique emerges, defining themselves as revolutionary in a manner that is ironic and depressingly believable. Their revolution mainly consists of having house parties. This novel was first published in 1973 and works well as a satire on the left-wing politics of that time. It has perhaps aged worse than 'The Tin Men' as the class that the main character Howard Baker represents is now something of an anachronism. Howard may be deluded and pompous, but he is idealistic in a way that now seems quaint. Thus although the narrative is bitterly amusing, it isn't (to me) hilarious in the way 'Tin Men' was. Probably my favourite detail was the fact that everyone could fly, but didn't due simultaneously to the embarrassment of no-one else doing it and the worry of 'what if everyone did it?'
As the book proceeds, a privileged middle-aged bourgeois clique emerges, defining themselves as revolutionary in a manner that is ironic and depressingly believable. Their revolution mainly consists of having house parties. This novel was first published in 1973 and works well as a satire on the left-wing politics of that time. It has perhaps aged worse than 'The Tin Men' as the class that the main character Howard Baker represents is now something of an anachronism. Howard may be deluded and pompous, but he is idealistic in a way that now seems quaint. Thus although the narrative is bitterly amusing, it isn't (to me) hilarious in the way 'Tin Men' was. Probably my favourite detail was the fact that everyone could fly, but didn't due simultaneously to the embarrassment of no-one else doing it and the worry of 'what if everyone did it?'
July 8, 2025
Sweet Dreams by Michael Frayn, author of Spies http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/08/s...
7 out of 10
Groucho Marx has many anecdotes, humorous situations connected with his wonderful appearances – albeit Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis does not seem impressed in his Memoirs http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/12/m... - and one of them goes something like this; upon coming out of a party, the comedian says ‘thank you, I had a wonderful time, only not this time’
Alas, I have been enthused by the aforementioned Spies, and then by the sublime, hilarious Towards the End of The Morning http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/10/t... which delights readers with adventures in the newspaper business, with a failed trip that seems to be a climax of humor, entertainment, wondrous, fabulous prose and altogether a masterpiece I need to read again
The same awe, immense joy, bliss and Nirvana was experienced when reading the third marvel, another chef d’oeuvre by Michael Frayn – Headlong http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/04/h... a novel that combines with astounding magic humor and mystery, this is as much a thriller as a wondrous introduction in the history of art, in particular Dutch painting, for we have at the core the idea that an undiscovered Brueghel lands in the hands of the hero…well, that is part of the exhilaration of reading this magnum opus, following the main character to see if he gets the trophy, if this is the real thing, and if schemes and maneuvers will be successful, or they just land him in bankruptcy or worse, it could be jail, if something really illegal is envisaged and then put into practice…
Unfortunately, I did not get Sweet Dreams, it could well be another miracle performed, written by the Master, and writing this down I seem to experience a sort of remorse, combined with a reluctance to move on – what if this was a great miss, writing down all those three volumes that have elated me so much makes me wonder if this is not the great robbery, I am depriving myself of a major ecstasy…on the other Hand this could be Salvador Mundi, the much praised painting by ‘Leonardo’
Only it is not by the genius – my feeling is that it was Milan Kundera who wrote http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/t... that we use the word genius too much, and hence it loses its meaning, and there are very few humans that deserve it, Leonardo, Einstein, Shakespeare – and there is a whole fantastic film made about what happened to this, well, forgery
It is phenomenal documentary, following the painting from its ‘discovery’ and acquisition for a few thousand (or were hundreds) of dollars, to the moment when it is bought by MBS aka Mohamed Ben Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, who apparently has a taste for high (if fake) art, aside from his indulgence into cruelty https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/... he is the one who has ordered the killing and then chopping of a journalist in Istanbul, and surely many other executions, eliminations of adversaries or just beings that annoy him.
Sweet Dreams is not a false friend, this is not the point, it is just that seeking joy from reading this novel could be illusory, and the pleasure a false one, if only for this reader which has recently experienced some strange, outré failed efforts to enjoy the works of authors that I had savored, as in the case of Troubles http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/02/t... by JG Farrell
If Troubles and The Siege of Krishnapur have been monumental, The Singapore Grip was a letdown, so much so that I have abandoned the massive project and moved on…a couple of weeks ago I have started reading Nice Work, the last in the Campus Trilogy that has started with the mesmerizing, glorious Changing Places http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/05/a...
Malcolm Bradbury has written the magnanimous The History Man http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/11/t... an the hilarious, enchanting Rates of Exchange, but I was not as thrilled by To The Hermitage, though it has some extraordinary passages, like this one ‘Fiction’s people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its (fiction’s) actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
Anthony Powell has no fewer than twelve masterpieces in his roman fleuve A Dance To The Music of Time http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/07/a... which has not stopped being exhilarating, mirthful, engaging from the first volume to the last – I remember spacing them out, to keep enjoying the sublime gift for longer – but I am a little worried about taking the chef d’oeuvre up for a second time
White Man Falling has been a delight http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/10/w... on the first encounter and when read for the second time, it seemed to puzzle the reader as to why was this placed so high on the list, for it is not really a magnum opus…Sweet Dreams comes from the Anthony Burgess list of Ninety nine Best Novels in English, only if the writer was fabulous (A Clockwork Orange is among the favorites) then the critic was said to be too kind with the modest novels, as we find from The Belles Lettres Papers http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/05/t... by Charles Simmons
http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u...
7 out of 10
Groucho Marx has many anecdotes, humorous situations connected with his wonderful appearances – albeit Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis does not seem impressed in his Memoirs http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/12/m... - and one of them goes something like this; upon coming out of a party, the comedian says ‘thank you, I had a wonderful time, only not this time’
Alas, I have been enthused by the aforementioned Spies, and then by the sublime, hilarious Towards the End of The Morning http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/10/t... which delights readers with adventures in the newspaper business, with a failed trip that seems to be a climax of humor, entertainment, wondrous, fabulous prose and altogether a masterpiece I need to read again
The same awe, immense joy, bliss and Nirvana was experienced when reading the third marvel, another chef d’oeuvre by Michael Frayn – Headlong http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/04/h... a novel that combines with astounding magic humor and mystery, this is as much a thriller as a wondrous introduction in the history of art, in particular Dutch painting, for we have at the core the idea that an undiscovered Brueghel lands in the hands of the hero…well, that is part of the exhilaration of reading this magnum opus, following the main character to see if he gets the trophy, if this is the real thing, and if schemes and maneuvers will be successful, or they just land him in bankruptcy or worse, it could be jail, if something really illegal is envisaged and then put into practice…
Unfortunately, I did not get Sweet Dreams, it could well be another miracle performed, written by the Master, and writing this down I seem to experience a sort of remorse, combined with a reluctance to move on – what if this was a great miss, writing down all those three volumes that have elated me so much makes me wonder if this is not the great robbery, I am depriving myself of a major ecstasy…on the other Hand this could be Salvador Mundi, the much praised painting by ‘Leonardo’
Only it is not by the genius – my feeling is that it was Milan Kundera who wrote http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/t... that we use the word genius too much, and hence it loses its meaning, and there are very few humans that deserve it, Leonardo, Einstein, Shakespeare – and there is a whole fantastic film made about what happened to this, well, forgery
It is phenomenal documentary, following the painting from its ‘discovery’ and acquisition for a few thousand (or were hundreds) of dollars, to the moment when it is bought by MBS aka Mohamed Ben Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, who apparently has a taste for high (if fake) art, aside from his indulgence into cruelty https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/... he is the one who has ordered the killing and then chopping of a journalist in Istanbul, and surely many other executions, eliminations of adversaries or just beings that annoy him.
Sweet Dreams is not a false friend, this is not the point, it is just that seeking joy from reading this novel could be illusory, and the pleasure a false one, if only for this reader which has recently experienced some strange, outré failed efforts to enjoy the works of authors that I had savored, as in the case of Troubles http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/02/t... by JG Farrell
If Troubles and The Siege of Krishnapur have been monumental, The Singapore Grip was a letdown, so much so that I have abandoned the massive project and moved on…a couple of weeks ago I have started reading Nice Work, the last in the Campus Trilogy that has started with the mesmerizing, glorious Changing Places http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/05/a...
Malcolm Bradbury has written the magnanimous The History Man http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/11/t... an the hilarious, enchanting Rates of Exchange, but I was not as thrilled by To The Hermitage, though it has some extraordinary passages, like this one ‘Fiction’s people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its (fiction’s) actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
Anthony Powell has no fewer than twelve masterpieces in his roman fleuve A Dance To The Music of Time http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/07/a... which has not stopped being exhilarating, mirthful, engaging from the first volume to the last – I remember spacing them out, to keep enjoying the sublime gift for longer – but I am a little worried about taking the chef d’oeuvre up for a second time
White Man Falling has been a delight http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/10/w... on the first encounter and when read for the second time, it seemed to puzzle the reader as to why was this placed so high on the list, for it is not really a magnum opus…Sweet Dreams comes from the Anthony Burgess list of Ninety nine Best Novels in English, only if the writer was fabulous (A Clockwork Orange is among the favorites) then the critic was said to be too kind with the modest novels, as we find from The Belles Lettres Papers http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/05/t... by Charles Simmons
http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u...
August 1, 2016
I just couldn't get on with this at all which is surprising as I have enjoyed (sometimes very much so) all of the Michael Frayn novels I have previously read. I only saw Sweet Dreams through to the end as it is so short and I knew that Anthony Burgess very much admired it! This is a liberal, Cambridge-engineered view of heaven but I didn't find it either interesting or intriguing and, crucially, I also didn't find it funny at all. Perhaps it would have made more sense had I read it in the mid-1970s when it first came out but as I was still in short trousers then I doubt that it would have succeeded in ousting the football and sci-fi books I was addicted to then from my reading affections. Oh well, one lives and learns.
March 18, 2023
Michael Frayn, trained as a philosopher, brings a unique depth to his writing that is often disguised by his light and entertaining style. His novel, Sweet dreams, follows the story of a main character who finds himself in heaven, but it's nothing like what he expected. His work can be read purely for enjoyment, but for those who take a closer look, there is often something more profound waiting to be discovered. Frayn's work may even reaffirm one's belief in God, depending on the reader's perspective. Overall, a thought-provoking and very entertaining read.
August 30, 2016
A sweet book, actually (especially for a satire!), not mean-spirited in the slightest, funny in the sense that it will cause many a smile, rather than guffaws (judging from television comedies and my reaction to them, I guffaw when shocked, and I smiled when recognizing the absurdity of the familiar).
August 25, 2014
Gave up after Howard met the woman. Such a whinger..
March 4, 2023
Partly satire, partly I think a genuine attempt to answer the question of what would actually constitute a heaven of perfect happiness (a little sadness, but just enough to bring a pleasant nostalgia; the joys simultaneously of inaccessible love and of placid domestic bliss; the possessions you desired desperately as a child, and had forgotten; the ability to tell the perfect anecdote, to create, to be both your own familiar self and yet also attractive). And of course Heaven has to be populated by versions of all your family and acquaintances also, but in the perfect relationship to make you yourself feel good about their presence rather then in an awkward state of independence: they are there to entertain you, to keep you company and to admire your achievements, and to enable you to feel good by doing them favours. Perhaps Frayn's most astute insight is that there would have to be change in a modern-day Paradise, and not merely eternal contentment - because our happiness consists also of the perception that we are doing better now than in the past, and that we are in a state of promotion and progress. So his protagonist goes through different stages and different pleasures in life, from the workplace sparkling with creative energy to the rural idyll to the benevolent elder statesman with vast power to shape the world... and then quite unconsciously is returned afresh to the eager discoveries of his first arrival, to experience everything all over again as if for the first time (in itself a pleasure almost unattainable on Earth).
It is, of course, an immensely solipsistic heaven that revolves entirely around the experiences of the viewer whom it exists to gratify, and where God exists only so far as the perception of his existence can benefit the participant. The idea of sitting still for all eternity in worshipful communion with the ineffable no longer holds much appeal for most people.
If the book had not been billed on the back cover and in the foreword as a novel about a man who dies in a car crash and goes to heaven, I'm not sure, to be honest, that I would have realised what was supposed to have happened in the first chapter - in which case it might have taken me a very long time to understand the rationale behind the odd, dream-like sequence of events! Reading this book is very like being in a dream, as I suppose the title ought to have warned me; it's all very surreal, as one might expect from a world the essence of which is that you can, indeed, eat your cake and have it simultaneously . But as the title also suggests, it's oddly sweet-natured. The protagonist is frequently ridiculous, but in a way that reflects the basic ridiculousness of human nature rather than encouraging us to think of him as deserving of our scorn - the author is encouraging us to take a wry look at ourselves as much as he is satirising his own society.
And it's hard not to come away wondering what one's own heaven would be like, in an infinitely benign and malleable world containing every kind of beauty one can think of, alongside just enough darkness to whet appreciation...
It is, of course, an immensely solipsistic heaven that revolves entirely around the experiences of the viewer whom it exists to gratify, and where God exists only so far as the perception of his existence can benefit the participant. The idea of sitting still for all eternity in worshipful communion with the ineffable no longer holds much appeal for most people.
If the book had not been billed on the back cover and in the foreword as a novel about a man who dies in a car crash and goes to heaven, I'm not sure, to be honest, that I would have realised what was supposed to have happened in the first chapter - in which case it might have taken me a very long time to understand the rationale behind the odd, dream-like sequence of events! Reading this book is very like being in a dream, as I suppose the title ought to have warned me; it's all very surreal, as one might expect from a world the essence of which is that you can, indeed, eat your cake and have it simultaneously . But as the title also suggests, it's oddly sweet-natured. The protagonist is frequently ridiculous, but in a way that reflects the basic ridiculousness of human nature rather than encouraging us to think of him as deserving of our scorn - the author is encouraging us to take a wry look at ourselves as much as he is satirising his own society.
And it's hard not to come away wondering what one's own heaven would be like, in an infinitely benign and malleable world containing every kind of beauty one can think of, alongside just enough darkness to whet appreciation...
[...]a perfect night's sleep -- deep, clear and refreshing, like gliding down through sunlit water on a hot day; such a perfect night's sleep that he is entirely unconscious of how much he is enjoying it[...] so perfect that from time to time he half wakes, just enough to become conscious of how unconscious of everything he is.
September 13, 2025
A great comic idea for a novel: heaven being filled with British middle class executives and their wives (as would have been the expected norm in English commuter belt households in the early seventies). The satire is gentle, nothing like the desperate escaping from this world in the contemporary sitcoms of The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin and The Good Life> It could perhaps do with being less gentle in its humour, really, but it is one of Frayn's funniest novels.
November 12, 2020
Surreal and clever and kooky, and generally not my sort of thing (I am stodgy in that I prefer traditional novels to ones that try to stretch the boundries of the form). A dash of Italo Calvino here, and a pinch of Richard Brautigan there, this was a mind blower that I enjoyed very much.
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February 16, 2021I couldn't finish this. i didn't find it funny. It's about a guy that dies and goes to heaven. Heaven is is old life but this time people like him and his friends laugh at his jokes. I didn't finish it.
April 18, 2019
This book is amazing. Affectionate satire of human behavior and at the same time brings up universal issues of morality; religion and government.
June 14, 2025
I am surprised its ending landed as well as it did. Satires typically fizzle out long before they reach the final page.
November 1, 2025
An unusual and impeccably British take on the afterlife.
July 4, 2020
Sweet Dreams tells the story of Howard Baker and how he explores heaven in Frayn’s metaphorical and intriguing world.
I was given this book as a present for my birthday and I can safely say that I was not disappointed by any means. This novel was beautifully designed, with a creative and funny outlook throughout. What intrigued me the most, was Harold Baker’s character development, as he goes from being a cheerful and comedic character, to having immense responsibility which morphs his character entirely- even to the extent that his dialogue is completely alien to his original self at the beginning of the novel.
I think the aspect that I connected with the most was the metaphorical aspect of the book (which, of course, can have many interpretations depending on the perspective). There were many themes and messages that occurred to me when reading the book, but the most prevalent themes that I connected with were change and status. This is demonstrated by how the characters mould their lives around what what is considered leadership to boost their own personal worth and quality of life. This has given me some food for thought to reflect on, as well as a cheerful book on my shelf to pick up as I please.
However, at times, I found that the structure of the book was unclear and difficult to follow. In addition to this, I believe the book deserved a more defined ending with a bold moment to be more consistent the flow of the novel right until the very end. Otherwise, a great book with a great concept, I would definitely recommend it.
I was given this book as a present for my birthday and I can safely say that I was not disappointed by any means. This novel was beautifully designed, with a creative and funny outlook throughout. What intrigued me the most, was Harold Baker’s character development, as he goes from being a cheerful and comedic character, to having immense responsibility which morphs his character entirely- even to the extent that his dialogue is completely alien to his original self at the beginning of the novel.
I think the aspect that I connected with the most was the metaphorical aspect of the book (which, of course, can have many interpretations depending on the perspective). There were many themes and messages that occurred to me when reading the book, but the most prevalent themes that I connected with were change and status. This is demonstrated by how the characters mould their lives around what what is considered leadership to boost their own personal worth and quality of life. This has given me some food for thought to reflect on, as well as a cheerful book on my shelf to pick up as I please.
However, at times, I found that the structure of the book was unclear and difficult to follow. In addition to this, I believe the book deserved a more defined ending with a bold moment to be more consistent the flow of the novel right until the very end. Otherwise, a great book with a great concept, I would definitely recommend it.
November 12, 2014
Highly original and amusing satire of a bespoke heaven for boyish, middle management men of early middle age and their moral crises as the right hands of god. You can see the influence cast by this book on, for example, Douglas Adams. The chaps, all from Cambridge naturally, are no longer scholars but creators, and they have an easy, breezy, Ian Fleming style way with women and imagine themselves to be radicals, even the lukewarm Head Man, in that smug, cosy, implacable way, a la J P Sartre. The heavenly staples - taramasalata, gigot aux haricots and apple crumble, seem more like hell to me (which perhaps is the point). Staccato, episodic, naughty: good allegorical fun.
November 12, 2022
The difficult thing is, when I am working with a light Fantasia of the afterlife, this must come so close on the heels of replay, which managed all this and more, somehow simultaneously embodying and transcending all the expectations and limitations of such trite fare. Here, the language is lighter, the scenes more elliptical, and the narrative looser. All the same, it is neither more fluid, nor more expansive, nor more playful than REPLAY. And what it “has to say” amounts to little.
November 30, 2015
An odd little satire that I may have missed some of by not being British, but amusing nonetheless. It does an interesting job of trying to show an afterlife where everyone could be happy, but of course, most of us lack the requisite talent for happiness.
September 2, 2007
Designing the Matterhorn. Cambridge. God.
December 24, 2007
Lovely novel about heaven, basically.
November 3, 2017
mildly amusing satire
August 11, 2012
Intelligent and magical.
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