2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Dream Wheels by Richard Wagamese.

Pages: 416 pages

Length: 1 month (September)

Participants: Lorraine, Valerie

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started! Feel free to look up discussion questions specific to this book or come up with your own. Just make sure any questions that contain spoilers are under spoiler tags.
Discussion questions are not required but may be a fun way to talk about the book and get to know each other!

Prior to starting:
What prompted you to join this buddy read?
Have you read this author before? What do you think of their other books?

Mid-read:
What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

After reading:
What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

Hello Valerie. I hope to start this book either tomorrow or Monday. It's been a while we haven't read Wagamese.

Yes it certainly has! I’m planning to start this next week. Hoping it’s as good as his other books.

Part 1. Took a bit of getting into because of the structure (view spoiler)[ I wasn’t quite sure who was who at first as the storylines switched and alternated, but it was clear by the end of this part. I’m definitely more invested in Joe and his family than with Aidan- I’m wondering how they are linked. The future looks grim for both boys at the moment. (hide spoiler)].
As always, his writing is both powerful and lyrical.

I've finished Part 1 too.(view spoiler)[I agree that it takes some time to place all the characters and understand that we have two separate groups who don't know each other but will surely meet at some point.
I feel for Aidan, who is stuck in a situation he has no control over, with his mother accepting being beaten by a man and expecting him to remain silent and play along. As a teenage boy, that must be very difficult to accept.
As for Joe Willie, having to rebuild his life at such a young age is certainly going to be difficult. (hide spoiler)]
Getting back to Wagamese's writing feels like coming back to a very comfortable place. I find his writing very poetic, although maybe the word you used, "lyrical," is actually the better one.

Part 2. I agree, Lorraine, that you can dive into his writing and be carried along with the story. Quite an achievement when you consider the serious and complex issues he deals with. In this part we begin to see how the different threads will weave together. (view spoiler)[ Although I doubt it will be straightforward. I foresee a lot of frustrations and difficulties for Joe - although I’m intrigued by the bear/old women - is this a vision, an hallucination, or ? Aidan is headed for losing his chance if he deals with Cort as the toxic culture around him demands but it’s difficult to see what options he has. I also find it difficult to believe that Claire will just be able to break her patterns but we will see (hide spoiler)].
I’ll be interested to see how the stories come together.

Part 3. Well I certainly learnt a lot about a way of life (view spoiler)[ I actually felt like I was learning alongside Claire and Aidan. I did have to suspend disbelief a little to accept that Aidan was a natural talent at rodeo and also just happened to know about car engines, but I can see how that is necessary, plot wise, so that the two young men can work together and share their knowledge on equal terms. We did learn a bit more about the bear vision being about using anger in a positive way. And of course Johanna’s comments about choices is as always a central message. (hide spoiler)].
I do foresee some tension between the protagonists so we will see how this all plays out.

I've also finished Parts 2 and 3. Sorry for not commenting earlier. We had visitors from the USA and my reading time was limited.
(view spoiler)[I agree that you need to suspend disbelief to stay engaged in the book. How can Claire change a life of being abused by men in just three weeks? Being myself afraid of horses (they are so big!), can you really learn to ride one in a few lessons, as Claire does, and in one lesson for Aidan? And as for becoming a cowboy and riding angry bulls, wow! Can Aidan really become a superstar like Joe in three weeks?
But that being said, I am very engaged in the story and, against all odds, I hope for a fairytale ending. I really hope Wagamese is not going to burst my bubble! But au fond de moi, I know it could happen... Let's see! 😊 (hide spoiler)]

Finished. I was really enthralled by the quality of writing in part 4. (view spoiler)[ It is one thing to write evocatively about beautiful landscapes and scary but spiritual encounters with bears, but he even had me considering the beauty of bulls and cars which, believe me, is an impressive achievement. It was interesting to explore a fundamentally masculine world (which contrasted with the toxicity of the prison environment), and to see the growing relationship of two male characters develop in a way that we more often see depicted between women. What did you think of the ending? I thought it worked well to leave us guessing (hide spoiler)].

I waited a few days before writing my final comments on Dream Wheels. I wanted to make sure my 5/5 rating was the right one and not just because I loved the ending! Which I did! 😊
(view spoiler)[ Even though, as you said, Wagamese leaves us guessing about what will happen to Aidan and whether there will be a relationship between Claire and Joe, I've decided that yes, those two will get together, and yes, Aidan will become a star! I wanted a fairytale ending, so I gave myself one. 😊
Your comment—“It was interesting to explore a fundamentally masculine world (which contrasted with the toxicity of the prison environment), and to see the growing relationship of two male characters develop in a way that we more often see depicted between women”—made me think about the story again afterward. And yes, that part was quite interesting, because it is not something we often see in literature.
My feeling is that authors more often write about the sins of the fathers being passed down to their sons, rather than about the building of a relationship between them. The book also reminded me of Medicine Walk, which we read together in 2025. (hide spoiler)]