Oprah Winfrey has selected Dream State by Eric Puchner as the latest pick for her book club.
Puchner’s novel, published Tuesday by Doubleday, follows Cece, a woman who travels to Montana to prepare for her upcoming marriage to fiancé Charlie but ends up falling for his friend Garrett, who is set to officiate their wedding. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called the book “sprawling and elegant—a novel that feels both old-fashioned and bracingly inventive.”
Winfrey announced the novel’s selection on Instagram, saying, “It’s an exquisite examination of the most important relationships we have in our lives: love and marriage, of course, and friendships, and how life can turn out very differently than we expected. I promise you, it’s the kind of book you won’t want to put down.”
Winfrey and Puchner appeared together on CBS Mornings to discuss his novel and its themes of hindsight and regret.
“It’s very seductive to think that life is elsewhere and to fall through the trapdoor of regret,” Puchner said. “But that does not mean that you would have been happier living this other life. You may have been just as happy, or you may have been less happy.”
“What it says is that we can make a decision, and you can make happiness wherever you are,” Winfrey said.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
