On Saturday evening the Book Group met to discuss “Train Dreams” by Dennis Johnson, unfortunately only five members could attend, even so, we had a very good discussion. “Train Dreams” is a beautifully crafted novella of 116 pages which had been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in a year when it had not been awarded because the judges could not agree.
This is the story of Robert Grainger, an itinerant construction worker, who felled the trees on which the railroad was built into the inland northwest of Idaho and Washington State in the 1920s, a time of great change. Robert is haunted by the guilt of being involved in trying to kill a thieving Chinaman who actually escaped but he felt that he had put a curse on him. Robert got on with his life and through hard work and the willingness to work away from home for long periods he managed to buy land , build a shack, get married and have a daughter. Unfortunately all this came to a very bad end when returning from a period away, with money in his pocket, he returned to his valley to find that the whole place had been completely destroyed by a huge forest fire. Everything was gone, no survivors, just ash.
Robert grieved for his family while trying to rebuild his life and his home He did not move away because he could not accept that his daughter Kate had died in the fire. The nightly howling of the wolves and Robert trying to echo them is the background music to this story.
We had a very good discussion.about the book, a few thought that it was all fantasy, I completely accepted it as related, but now have second thoughts. Having been brought up to believe in the story of Romulus and Remus I quite accepted that Kate could have been cared for by the wolves, the others disagreed, they thought that Robert was hearing and seeing things in his head. We all agreed that it was beautifully written and very evocative of that period of pioneering America.
When we voted, the scores were quite high, our Host who chose the book, gave it a score of 9.5, I gave 8.5.
After this we got down to the serious business of eating cake. Our Host’s wife had made “A Twelfth Night Cake”, a sweet/savoury tart which was delicious, coffee meringues with cream and blackcurrant sauce,(all calorie free of course).
Our next book to read is “Radical Gardening” by George McKay. We have been offered a “Dip” in the host’s Hot Tub before the discussion, I think that I will give that a miss, funny thing, I have forgotten where I have put my bathing costume!!!!
An old bat's view from the bus and other places 