t.ly/tU5nO The first section of this book is positively mesmerizing. I'm not sure I've seen this situation detailed so well previously, at least not recently.
You know how it is, when you feel a connection. And you wonder if they feel it too.
There hasn't been any conversation about it. You're twisting in the wind, do they feel the same way you do?
I was riveted.
The best book I've read recently is not "Dream State," but "The Slip," which is billed as this year's "Corrections," and Ron Charles of the "Washington Post" said you're going to love it or hate it, just like everybody seems to do with Jonathan Franzen books.
HOWEVER, "The Slip" is in no way smug. As a matter of fact, it's great. Except for two things. One, it focuses on boxing. That's the not the entire plot, but it figures in pretty bigly, so if you find that a turnoff... (Yet the boxing is not macho, this is not the gym culture of a movie.) And I found the ending unsatisfying.
Therefore, I recommend you read "Dream State" before "The Slip," but I'm not giving two thumbs way up to either of these books, neither is a slam dunk, but both are a huge step above most of the stuff out there.
These are not genre books, they are not mysteries, never mind romance novels. They're about life, people and real world situations. Which I find to be the most rewarding reading.
As for "Dream State"...it's about average people doing average things. What I mean is no one is setting the world on fire to the point where they're featured in the news. The people are not unsuccessful, but normal, like most, which is what makes the book so interesting.
And your dreams and choices... How do those work out for you? You wake up and one day you realize this is your life, and most of it is behind you, and did you do what you wanted to do, did you achieve what you wanted to, did you make the right choices? And everybody weighs "what if" to a degree, if they'd gone down the other path...
I kinda want to write about some of the plot points, but I don't want to ruin it. But I will quote a few lines.
"But greatness was cruelty, it was passion, it was Self at the expense of everything else."
This is what no one tells you, this is what the average person doesn't realize. It takes EVERYTHING to make it, you can't have a normal life. You may portray a normal human being in the media, but don't confuse that with the truth. If you're not willing to sacrifice everything but your dream, you won't make it. And if you're truly trying to make it, if you're playing on an elite level, everything else is secondary: love relationships, kids... Believe me, this is true, don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
"...and losing his glove had made him weirdly depressed"
Your good mood can evaporate in an instant. They're out skiing and the glove is lost and they're in the mountains on a day it is dumping and everything is looking up and then suddenly it looks down. This is the nature of life, your spirit can crash in an instant. And what's worse, then everybody criticizes you for being down. You're in a gorgeous environment, how can you be depressed?
"Life was a long, incompetent search to get back to a feeling you had when you were six."
Isn't that it? The sense of wonder and magic?
"If you look for a meaning, Tarkovsky once said, you'll miss everything that happens."
You've got to jump in, you've got to experience. This is the problem with too much MFA writing, the authors are detached, trying for big themes instead of getting into the story. I read for story, I watch for story, the big meaning can be contemplated afterward. This is the scourge of elite education, focusing on analysis instead of experience. What I want to do is experience it like I'm six, like above.
Turns out "Dream State" is an Oprah book.
When I read it, I thought it was a Jenna book, which was why I was reluctant. The stuff Jenna recommends is often a reasonable read, a decent ride, but a bit too lowbrow. Reese's stuff is one step better, but Oprah always recommends stuff if not exactly highbrow, at least serious...as in the person can write and there's a level of intelligence emanating from the words, Oprah's books are never a waste of time. And neither is "Dream State."
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