TRAIN DREAMS

Denis Johnson’s tale about Robert Grainer, an early-twentieth-century laborer in the Pacific Northwest, challenges narrator Will Patton to leave behind his usual Southern accents (so effective in the James Lee Burke novels) and find a voice more befitting of railroad men and loggers of rural Idaho. Patton superbly meets that challenge in this gritty novella, which captures, without romance, a rugged way of life long vanished from the American frontier. Patton’s down-home, earthy tones, poignant pauses, and vivid character voices create an evocative and, at times, intense listening experience. S.K.G. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2011]