An epic in miniature, a novella for the ages. Whatever other literary blurbs you'd like apply. A gem of America's literary crown. Most importantly, Johnson's prose is as effective at obscuring the truth as it is in revealing it. He uses objects, the morphing of landscape, and the breakdown of Robert Grainier's body to show the passage of time and its giant skips in this wonderful, three hour read. We meet Grainier in the prime of his life, married, gainfully employed as a logger on the trail, passively assisting other jacks in the attempted murder of a Chinese man. Johnson does not purport to pull punches in image or plot with this book. We learn Grainier through vignettes and flashback, twining together to show a picture of solitude and solemnity in the waning days of the capital R Romantic American West. Every sentence seeps character, image, and plot. They propel you forward through the text, around the corners of Grainier's life. Johnson shows that he is capable with hanging in the sentence writer extraordinaire lounge, sipping mint juleps with Padgett Powell and Joy Williams, while staunchly maintaining his control over complex storytelling. I wish I could give this higher marks than 5 stars, as a poet, this is astonishing writing, flawless, unforgettable. I am certain there is "higher" meaning to this in the same way that "The Reader" sings and becomes "classic" literature, but taken as it is, without profound meddling, trying it to a chair and forcing a confession out of it, it is glorious. Gorgeous and hard to be finished with, I shall re read this again. A dream that doesn't want to end........
What do You think about Sonhos E Comboios (2002)?
Quick read on the trials and tribulations of a western mountain man.
—Kevin1
Atmospheric and convincing. Great read.
—Cookie_monsta
