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Smith's Dream
When Smith is left by his wife and goes to hide away in the bush in the Coromandel he never imagines he will become the most wanted man in the country. In a right-wing coup one man, Volkner, has seized power in New Zealand and is using army and special police to maintain his government. Smith's Dream forces us to imagine such a situation and to ask ourselves: Where would you stand? How far would you go?
- GenresFiction
142 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
2 people are currently reading
173 people want to read
About the author
C.K. Stead
68 books22 followersChristian Karlson Stead is a New Zealand writer whose works include novels, poetry, short stories, and literary criticism.
One of Karl Stead's novels, Smith's Dream, provided the basis for the film Sleeping Dogs, starring Sam Neill; this became the first New Zealand film released in the United States.
Mansfield: A Novel was a finalist for the 2005 Tasmania Pacific Fiction Prize and received commendation in the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize for the South East Asia and South Pacific region.
C. K. Stead was born in Auckland. For much of his career he was Professor of English at the University of Auckland, retiring in 1986 to write full-time. He received a CBE in 1985 and was admitted into the highest honour New Zealand can bestow, the Order of New Zealand in 2007.
One of Karl Stead's novels, Smith's Dream, provided the basis for the film Sleeping Dogs, starring Sam Neill; this became the first New Zealand film released in the United States.
Mansfield: A Novel was a finalist for the 2005 Tasmania Pacific Fiction Prize and received commendation in the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize for the South East Asia and South Pacific region.
C. K. Stead was born in Auckland. For much of his career he was Professor of English at the University of Auckland, retiring in 1986 to write full-time. He received a CBE in 1985 and was admitted into the highest honour New Zealand can bestow, the Order of New Zealand in 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 13, 2017
The gallery where I work has a particularly fantastic show on (Dream Dialects), based on the 70's film (Sleeping Dogs) based on this book, so I'll admit I read this more for research purposes than pleasure. I think this is ok, actually - it's not really a pleasurable kind of read.
I hadn't actually read anything by C.K. Stead before this (don't judge me too harshly, I'm very aware of my previous failings to beat the Cultural Cringe* and I promise I'm making an effort), so didn't know what to expect from the writing style. Turns out an Orwellian, Huxley-ish tone in a solidly NZ setting works pretty well. Imagining anti-facist guerilla fighters holed up in 70's Rotorua isn't too much of a stretch (perhaps because Rotorua still feels a little 70's), and the lush green of the Coromandel definitely lends itself to hiding revolutionaries.
Actually, in the current political climate, much of Smith's Dream hits a little too close to home, and as nice as a happy ending would be for us, here, now, the ending here is deliciously dark. Which is perfect - when confined to a neat little orange Penguin book, that is.
*as discussed here and here
I hadn't actually read anything by C.K. Stead before this (don't judge me too harshly, I'm very aware of my previous failings to beat the Cultural Cringe* and I promise I'm making an effort), so didn't know what to expect from the writing style. Turns out an Orwellian, Huxley-ish tone in a solidly NZ setting works pretty well. Imagining anti-facist guerilla fighters holed up in 70's Rotorua isn't too much of a stretch (perhaps because Rotorua still feels a little 70's), and the lush green of the Coromandel definitely lends itself to hiding revolutionaries.
Actually, in the current political climate, much of Smith's Dream hits a little too close to home, and as nice as a happy ending would be for us, here, now, the ending here is deliciously dark. Which is perfect - when confined to a neat little orange Penguin book, that is.
*as discussed here and here
June 26, 2014
Worth reading, particularly in NZ's current political climate.
April 18, 2022
This book had its ending changed by the author, I read the rewritten verision. Overall I enjoyed the book just not the ending! I will seek out an earlier version and see if I like it better.
September 24, 2019
I've been entrenched in a difficult 1,000 page Russian classic but took a bit of time out to smash out this book, given to me by Gallavin.
It's a book of its time; cold war and red peril, but set among reassuring New Zealand landmarks with Maori place names and familiar street names. I was deeply moved by the plight of a man who only wanted simplicity after his marriage failed but was overtaken by the prevailing politics and the willingness of the US to pour murderous amounts of money, arms and 'advisors' into a foreign country in the name of ideological freedom.
Worthy of Orwell, I was affected by this book. You have to be made of stone not to be.
It's a book of its time; cold war and red peril, but set among reassuring New Zealand landmarks with Maori place names and familiar street names. I was deeply moved by the plight of a man who only wanted simplicity after his marriage failed but was overtaken by the prevailing politics and the willingness of the US to pour murderous amounts of money, arms and 'advisors' into a foreign country in the name of ideological freedom.
Worthy of Orwell, I was affected by this book. You have to be made of stone not to be.
February 3, 2019
A mildly interesting political dystopia set in New Zealand. The main character was annoying as he refused to take a firm stand for either side and spent most of his time running away from his problems.
December 25, 2017
I thought the first three-quarters were good, although seemed to be replicating a few Orwell influences that felt flat. Smith's get away seemed inevitable, and there was no great plot twist near the end that I did not see coming. Take me for a ride, don't lead me down an inevitable path. Despite that, I thought the ending was stronger because of its ambiguity. It's got that simple prima facie interpretation, but can also take on metaphorical or symbolic meaning. It could also blur the line between reality and dream—Smith's Dream.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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February 14, 2020I see mwention made of DJ Trump as if he were to enforce a Democrat style oppression on New Zealand.
The Giant elephant in the room is in fact the non election of Jacinda Adern and her imposition of classic communist/socialist oppression on New Zealand,very much in the Style of this rather prophetic book. one only needs to read the Adern published wiki page to see how this horror began.
"After graduating from the University of Waikato in 2001, Ardern began her career working as a researcher in the office of Prime Minister Helen Clark. She later worked in the United Kingdom as a policy adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In 2008, she was elected President of the International Union of Socialist Youth.
Ardern became a list MP in 2008, a position she held for almost ten years until her election to the Mount Albert electorate in the 2017 by-election, held on 25 February. She was unanimously elected as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party on 1 March 2017, following the resignation of Annette King. Ardern became Leader of the Labour Party on 1 August 2017, after Andrew Little resigned from the position following a historically low poll result for the party. She is credited with increasing her party's rating in opinion polls. In the general election of 23 September 2017, the Labour Party won 46 seats (a net gain of 14), putting it behind the National Party, which won 56 seats. After negotiations with National and Labour, the New Zealand First party chose to enter into a minority coalition government with Labour, supported by the Greens, with Ardern as Prime Minister."
But Worse has come...the politicising of New Zealand police . Watch this video to see the truth as two SAS officers pose as police.https://youtu.be/x-JV6AMShFQ
https://anchor.fm/cross-the-rubicon/e...
In the last three years,not once has Trump acted in this manner,quite the opposite in fact.
The Giant elephant in the room is in fact the non election of Jacinda Adern and her imposition of classic communist/socialist oppression on New Zealand,very much in the Style of this rather prophetic book. one only needs to read the Adern published wiki page to see how this horror began.
"After graduating from the University of Waikato in 2001, Ardern began her career working as a researcher in the office of Prime Minister Helen Clark. She later worked in the United Kingdom as a policy adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In 2008, she was elected President of the International Union of Socialist Youth.
Ardern became a list MP in 2008, a position she held for almost ten years until her election to the Mount Albert electorate in the 2017 by-election, held on 25 February. She was unanimously elected as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party on 1 March 2017, following the resignation of Annette King. Ardern became Leader of the Labour Party on 1 August 2017, after Andrew Little resigned from the position following a historically low poll result for the party. She is credited with increasing her party's rating in opinion polls. In the general election of 23 September 2017, the Labour Party won 46 seats (a net gain of 14), putting it behind the National Party, which won 56 seats. After negotiations with National and Labour, the New Zealand First party chose to enter into a minority coalition government with Labour, supported by the Greens, with Ardern as Prime Minister."
But Worse has come...the politicising of New Zealand police . Watch this video to see the truth as two SAS officers pose as police.https://youtu.be/x-JV6AMShFQ
https://anchor.fm/cross-the-rubicon/e...
In the last three years,not once has Trump acted in this manner,quite the opposite in fact.
January 24, 2023
Wow, what a book. So well written and thought provoking. A book that is still very relevant today.
Succinct and powerful book. Everyone should read this.
under it lay the whole experience of music, which above all else made him grateful to be alive. pg 21
The extraordinary thing was to recognize that you had it at all, a short spell, a moment in which to breathe and to be.
You cann repair the national machine without curing the hunger of the spirit and in no time the machine will break down again. pg 39
When the spirit in a people stirs for change there will always be opposition. in the name of democracy there's a long established convention that one must be pious about democracy. They prevent change. They inhibit creative response. You mustn't squeeze the fruit because if you do you discover it's rotten and then you don't want to buy it. No one is permitted to push his finger into it to prove it. Two sides, government and opposition, contradicting one another for the sake of it.
Meanwhile we all made the best we could of our lives, evaded our children's questions, took fright and stopped them when we found them playing 'guerillas' in the garden, and worried in helpless silence when they played 'Special X' or "Americans'. We did not know where it would all lead. Mostly we hoped it would soon be over and that we would not ourselves be involved.
each event settled into a visual pattern, the ballet of a reality, not the reality itself. a sense of loss, so that Smith found himself on occasional struggling to recapture his own disgust, his own horror. They were there, but only as memories, as a scar remains bit not the wound itself. pg 97
because I can't see problems in abstract - only when they impinge on me directly.
he was struck by the irony that she should come to him full of this revolutionary fire at the very moment when he had been doubting whether there was anything violence could remedy that would not be better cured simply by the passage of time.
we woke to find ourselves bedfellows with our oldest enemies or menacingly confronted by our dearest friends. It was strange how we felt ourselves more than ever united, yet unable to act in unity. For the one necessity of unified action is that those who are to act should have a voice whose directions they accept. Pg 107
Succinct and powerful book. Everyone should read this.
under it lay the whole experience of music, which above all else made him grateful to be alive. pg 21
The extraordinary thing was to recognize that you had it at all, a short spell, a moment in which to breathe and to be.
You cann repair the national machine without curing the hunger of the spirit and in no time the machine will break down again. pg 39
When the spirit in a people stirs for change there will always be opposition. in the name of democracy there's a long established convention that one must be pious about democracy. They prevent change. They inhibit creative response. You mustn't squeeze the fruit because if you do you discover it's rotten and then you don't want to buy it. No one is permitted to push his finger into it to prove it. Two sides, government and opposition, contradicting one another for the sake of it.
Meanwhile we all made the best we could of our lives, evaded our children's questions, took fright and stopped them when we found them playing 'guerillas' in the garden, and worried in helpless silence when they played 'Special X' or "Americans'. We did not know where it would all lead. Mostly we hoped it would soon be over and that we would not ourselves be involved.
each event settled into a visual pattern, the ballet of a reality, not the reality itself. a sense of loss, so that Smith found himself on occasional struggling to recapture his own disgust, his own horror. They were there, but only as memories, as a scar remains bit not the wound itself. pg 97
because I can't see problems in abstract - only when they impinge on me directly.
he was struck by the irony that she should come to him full of this revolutionary fire at the very moment when he had been doubting whether there was anything violence could remedy that would not be better cured simply by the passage of time.
we woke to find ourselves bedfellows with our oldest enemies or menacingly confronted by our dearest friends. It was strange how we felt ourselves more than ever united, yet unable to act in unity. For the one necessity of unified action is that those who are to act should have a voice whose directions they accept. Pg 107
December 16, 2022
This book was disturbing on multiple levels. Stead, a teacher, like Pol Pot, goes for communism as a solution to the 'American' dictatorship which rules New Zealand in his novel. The book itself is seemingly if not banned, then certainly very rare. I managed to snag the only copy I could find for sale within New Zealand. Nelson Public Library has many of Stead's books, but not this one. Conspiracy? You decide.
In the novel, the dictator wants to make tobacco illegal. In Adernistan, tobacco has been made illegal for persons born on or after January 1, 2009. In the novel, media is tightly controlled by the dictator. Ditto in Adernistan, mainly through bribe money, $55 million paid to the media in order that they 'control the narrative.'
Stead was an English professor at Auckland University when I was an English major studying there. Fortunately we didn't meet. Communism was already deeply entrenched there, so in a sense this is a kind of manifesto of the era.
One is not overwhelmed by the hero, or, truth be told, too revolted by the actions of the dictator. All in all, a wishy-washy kind of tale.
In the novel, the dictator wants to make tobacco illegal. In Adernistan, tobacco has been made illegal for persons born on or after January 1, 2009. In the novel, media is tightly controlled by the dictator. Ditto in Adernistan, mainly through bribe money, $55 million paid to the media in order that they 'control the narrative.'
Stead was an English professor at Auckland University when I was an English major studying there. Fortunately we didn't meet. Communism was already deeply entrenched there, so in a sense this is a kind of manifesto of the era.
One is not overwhelmed by the hero, or, truth be told, too revolted by the actions of the dictator. All in all, a wishy-washy kind of tale.
April 1, 2023
A classic New Zealand book I didn’t expect to find as readable. The prose is thoughtful and sparing. Though it’s often rustic.
Which makes ‘Smith’s Dream’ a New Zealand equivalent ‘Clockwork Orange.’ Lacking the detail, social nuances and style of ‘Clockwork,’ Smith makes for an archetypal protagonist.
If I read it in school the 70s context would’ve been lost on the sleazy meeting of the horse girl. Now I can appreciate that as a dated period staple. Free spirit eroticism. The consequences with the father bring the political angle. Objectively strange. And unnecessary without thinking about hippies.
The movie is the preferable way to digest this story. Moreso to save some time. They adapted it well. And the 70s aesthetic and cinematic provenance are what makes 'Smith's Dream' still somewhat relevant. Warren Oates in NZ. Sam Neill's first. The first new New Zealand film industry statement.
Weird that 'Sleeping Dog's shockingly predicted Springbok when they were simply adapting a scene from the book...
Which makes ‘Smith’s Dream’ a New Zealand equivalent ‘Clockwork Orange.’ Lacking the detail, social nuances and style of ‘Clockwork,’ Smith makes for an archetypal protagonist.
If I read it in school the 70s context would’ve been lost on the sleazy meeting of the horse girl. Now I can appreciate that as a dated period staple. Free spirit eroticism. The consequences with the father bring the political angle. Objectively strange. And unnecessary without thinking about hippies.
The movie is the preferable way to digest this story. Moreso to save some time. They adapted it well. And the 70s aesthetic and cinematic provenance are what makes 'Smith's Dream' still somewhat relevant. Warren Oates in NZ. Sam Neill's first. The first new New Zealand film industry statement.
Weird that 'Sleeping Dog's shockingly predicted Springbok when they were simply adapting a scene from the book...
August 8, 2023
Man, this was beautiful but brutal. The author really captures NZ's political apathy and general she'll be right conservatism and shows what this could look like in a situation where we have given over the reins to somebody else. How do we let ourselves get scared enough to hand over control? How do we act once we have lost control and are deathly scared? This is was confronting and stark. I feel the plot actually benefitted from being skeletal. Anything chunkier would have lingered too long. This was a flash in the pan, an impression more than anything. Very successful imo, 5 stars
October 8, 2021
Interesting novel as it has quite a significant place in NZ literary history. The central figure Smith is a “man alone” kiwi archetype. The descriptions of the natural environment are great. The plot is weak and only plausible if you regard this as dystopian fantasy. Then again, the spectre of descent into political dictatorship is part of the reality of democracy. Overall somewhat derivative, very compelling, with some excellent narrative sections.
January 23, 2018
Stead's first novel and the basis of the Roger Donaldson film Sleeping Dogs, this look at a fascist government taking over New Zealand isn't exactly plausible, but there are moments in this book written more than forty years ago that foreshadow the rise of Trump-like figures and the disaffection of the voting public.
December 31, 2022
Those of you of a New Zealandy persuasion will remember that this is the book that the movie Sleeping Dogs was based on, starring mild-mannered action hero Sam Neill. The material shouldn't rate a 5-star review, since Charlotte Grimshaw's dad who wrote it has filled it with his own personal anxieties and concerns, but I was feeling generous, so he scraped in there.
April 3, 2018
Parallels will be drawn to Trump's America, and there are definitely some passages that could easily be an op-ed in the Washington Post. But what I found more captivating was the extension of the relationship between the US and NZ, and what that might come to mean for both sides of the conflict.
August 8, 2020
Interesting! Has to be read bearing in mind it was written in the early seventies. But ... in many ways could be very applicable these days, the positives and negatives of the human condition showing itself starkly - in this book, and in the world together. Sad really!!
November 3, 2023
Really good read keep me entertained great characters and good yarn
Recommend summer reading but also thought provoking in a way that sneaks up on you
When government starts to control every aspect of your life
Could have been written during the Covid years
Recommend summer reading but also thought provoking in a way that sneaks up on you
When government starts to control every aspect of your life
Could have been written during the Covid years
June 19, 2018
Thought-provoking in the current world political climate.
March 19, 2020
Reading again in 2020, after first reading in 1977. Just as good now, & has made seek out more CK Stead. Recommended!
December 26, 2007
I can't remember much, just that it was very political, with action and suspense. I think I enjoyed it.
February 28, 2011
I really enjoyed this book, got you thinking about how easy it might be for society in NZ to be turned upside down.
June 22, 2012
I read it many, many years ago...
November 12, 2014
I really enjoyed reading this book. I'm wondering why I'd not read it years ago. Lots of questions for book group now. Was it all a dream? Who knows?
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March 29, 2016The novel on which the film Smith's dream is based. It is an interesting premise,that the people of New Zealand could be manipulated to vote in a dictatorship.
June 28, 2015
Enjoyed this. Can't say much until we discuss it at book club.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews