Train Dreams

Originally published in The Paris Review in 2002, Train Dreams by Denis Johnson tells the story of Robert Grainer, an alienated, taciturn man who moves through his lonely yet colorful life while remaining a mystery to himself and those around him. The book begins in 1917, with Grainer serving as a witness to and occasional participant in changes and events on a grand scale: the building of massive railroad bridges, the clearing of trees in Northwest forests, the destruction wrought by a forest fire. These events take a heavy toll on Grainer's life—he ages out of lumberjacking, he becomes widowed—and he is forced to wander, looking for gentler work and some kind of place he can call home. To Johnson's credit, the omnipresence of death and Grainer's encroaching mortality gently nudge the story along without the themes ever becoming heavy-handed or obvious. But as the story moves toward its inevitable end, Johnson succumbs to the supernatural to help him out, and the novella culminates in a finale that seems lifted from David Lynch's Café Silencio. But the trip up to it—sad, thoughtful, and imbued with scenes of real tenderness and wonder—makes Train Dreams a valuable reissue and an exceptional addition to Johnson's oeuvre.