Train Dreams - Denis Jonson

[[BookNotes] Author: Denis-Johnson

stark, minimal short novella about a man living in the woods alone, who believes himself to be cursed. I sped through this but loved it. For such a small novella it contains so much - meditations on grief, an uneasy relationship to modernity and how it ruins nature. And so much of it is unspoken or hovers in the sidelines. I want to go back and read it again.

• Shock of sudden death and how it never leaves you.
• 20th century and modernity imposing on a person and the building of modern infrastructure. Lost the peace and it costs a lot.
• How grief lingers for years, buried and hidden. How it can resurface unexpectedly.
• Vivid, strange images. His daughter as a wolf, his wife’s spirt explaining her death. The final image of a scream.

• Pared back. Almost no emotion or reaction in the main character, allows you to fill in the gaps.