Train Dreams

Starred review from May 9, 2011
Readers eager for a fat follow-up to Tree of Smoke could be forgiven a modicum of skepticism at this tidy volumeâa reissue of a 2003 O. Henry Prizeâwinning novella that originally appeared in the Paris Reviewâbut it would be a shame to pass up a chance to encounter the synthesis of Johnson's epic sensibilities rendered in miniature in the clipped tone of Jesus' Son. The story is a snapshot of early 20th-century America as railroad laborer Robert Granier toils along the rails that will connect the states and transform his itinerant way of life. Drinking in tent towns and spending summers in the wilds of Idaho, Granier misses the fire back home that leaves no trace of his wife and child. The years bring diminishing opportunities, strange encounters, and stranger dreams, but it's not until after participating in the miracle of flightâand a life-changing encounter with a mythical monsterâthat Granier realizes what he's been looking for. An ode to the vanished West that captures the splendor of the Rockies as much as the small human mysteries that pass through them, this svelte stand-alone has the virtue of being a gem in itself, and, for the uninitiated, a perfect introduction to Johnson.

November 28, 2011
Will Patton—who narrated Johnson’s Tree of Smoke—helms this audio version of the author’s far more compact novella about the life of day laborer Robert Granier, who—having lost his family—works his way across the country laying rail lines that will eventually connect the country. Patton narrates in a husky whisper, sounding like a longtime denizen of Johnson’s semimythical American West. It is hard to place Patton’s accent precisely, and this vagueness infuses his reading with an earthy, classic American sound that matches the author’s prose. Highly stylized, Patton’s narration might be too much to handle in a longer audiobook. But in this brisk performance, he never overstays his welcome, and the result is well worth a listen. A Farrar, Straus and Giroux hardcover.

Denis Johnson's tale about Robert Grainer, an early-twentieth-century laborer in the Pacific Northwest, challenges narrator Will Patton to leave behind his usual Southern accents (so effective in the James Lee Burke novels) and find a voice more befitting of railroad men and loggers of rural Idaho. Patton superbly meets that challenge in this gritty novella, which captures, without romance, a rugged way of life long vanished from the American frontier. Patton's down-home, earthy tones, poignant pauses, and vivid character voices create an evocative and, at times, intense listening experience. S.K.G. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine