by Jeffrey Dunn ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 25, 2017
A Brautigan-esque ramble through a river’s history.
A debut abstract novel ponders the intersection of nature, history, and writing.
The Little Spokane River, a 35-mile-long tributary of the Spokane River in eastern Washington state, is the geographic and spiritual nexus for this episodic tale. “Dream Fishing” is somewhat equivalent to daydreaming or woolgathering: the narrators meander through the countryside and around the riverbanks, sharing anecdotes about local characters, buildings, and books and articles they have read as well as an assortment of koans, fables, and bits of folklore. “Think of Dream Fishing as a train wreck or a library or even a visit with Carl Jung,” Dunn advises readers at one point. “Think of Dream Fishing as something in a child’s hand.” In “The Great Northern Train Wreck,” a foster child fishes for tench on the Chain Lakes and catches the ID plate from a derailed locomotive. In “What the Biker Chick Said,” the eponymous woman details the recipe for Spam fried rice at the Dragoon Creek Campground. In “Dream Fishing the Little Spokane Library,” the narrator imagines a ghostly library among the old and forgotten cemeteries in the environs of the river. In a characteristic display of metafictional winking, the subsequent chapter is called “Footnotes to the Dream Fishing the Little Spokane Library Chapter.” It begins: “I was thinking you might like some explanation for what’s in the ‘Dream Fishing the Little Spokane Library’ chapter. You might have the impression that we writers sometimes get a bit carried away.” These short pieces, which turn away from one another and back again like bends in the river itself, accumulate in readers’ minds to form a picture not just of a place, but of a certain mindset: melancholic, irreverent, and untamed. Dunn writes in a conversational prose that is nevertheless capable of moments of sincere lyricism: “I was thinking about America’s children, the way they leave their morning homes, sleepy eyed, their breath fogging the frostbite air.” At other points, he seems to attempt to goad readers into skipping ahead to the next chapter, offering a timeline of the events in the life of a 19th-century police officer or a chart of “U.S. Yearly Road Kill Estimates.” While certain characters recur, the protagonist of this wayward text is Dunn himself, leading readers through a series of mostly unrelated segments. The author references Richard Brautigan several times throughout the volume. Brautigan’s Trout Fishing in America is clearly the primary influence here. For some readers that may be welcome; for others, it may be a good sign that they should stay away. As in Brautigan’s books, Dunn’s work operates by its own internal logic that is often quite opaque. One exchange between characters early on accurately captures the experience of reading the novel: “What do you think of that?” “Wow, that’s quite a story.” “Sure is. Makes you think, doesn’t it?” “Maybe. Makes you think about what?” “I don’t know, just makes you think.” Indeed.
A Brautigan-esque ramble through a river’s history.Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9993339-0-7
Page Count: 142
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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APPRECIATIONS
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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