Train Dreams

A Novella

paperback, 116 pages

Published May 22, 2012 by Picador.

ISBN:
978-1-250-00765-0
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(13 reviews)

3 editions

La dura vida d'un treballador forestal americà a principis del segle XX

Una novel·la curta, però intensa que t’enganxa a la lectura (me l’he polit en dos dies) perquè tant la història que explica com la manera de contar-la són molt interessants. Narra la vida dura d’un home que als estius treballa talant arbres en els inacabables boscos del nord-oest d’Amèrica del Nord i a l’hivern fent feinetes al poble. Es casa una mica gran (per l’època) i tenen una nena. Tanmateix, un gran incendi forestal arrasa tota la vall mentre ell és fora treballant i quan pot tornar no troba ni la dona ni la filla.

La novel·la explica aquest sentiment de frustració i solitud que l’acompanyarà la resta de la vida, però que no li impedeix continuar escarrassant-se i tirant endavant. És un home solitari, malgrat que a la novel·la hi apareixen multitud de personatges secundaris, cadascun d’ells amb una història al darrere i units per un fil constant que …

as perfect as is possible

No rating

This might be a perfect book, if there is such a thing. I'm selecting an incredible passage to include here, but I think you could just grab any paragraph and be be blown away:

"The wonder-horse show that evening in 1935 included a wolf-boy. He wore a mask of fur, and a suit that looked like fur but was really something else. Shining in the electric light, silver and blue, the wolf-boy frolicked and gamboled around the stage in such a way the watchers couldn't be sure if he meant to be laughed at.

They were ready to laugh in order to prove they hadn't been fooled. They had seen and laughed at such as the Magnet Boy and the Chicken Boy, at the Professor of Silly and at jugglers who beat themselves over the head with Indian pins that weren't really made of wood. They had given their money …

Review of 'Train Dreams' on 'Goodreads'

This is not a book I would choose to read if it weren't recommended in one of those articles about authors' favorite books. I can't remember which author liked it, but it is a very good book. At only 116 pages, it left me with a feeling of something much more epic, perhaps a Dennis Lehane novel.

The story takes place in the early part of the 20th century in the Idaho panhandle, and stars a man who spends his summers working on the huge trestle railroad bridges that were being built at the time. He winters in his cabin with his wife and daughter until he tragically loses them. Most of the rest of his life is spent trying to resolve his loss.

Robert makes his way while running into some pretty gnarly characters. The book is packed with their stories and with evocative descriptions of a wilderness that …

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