Review of Dream State by Eric Puchner

Dream State felt like different genres in one book; what felt like a romance became a story of characters who are often bitter or disappointed with the imperfections of their lives; then the novel examines memory and memory loss along with a zigzagging journey to forgiveness, ultimately set against the backdrop of dramatic local implications of climate change.

Cece is at her in-laws' summer home in Montana several weeks before her wedding, solo and handling the details while her doctor fiance Charlie works.

Charlie has asked his friend from college, Garrett, to look in on Cece--really intending for Cece to be positive company for Garrett, who tends to be morose--particularly after the tragic death of their dear friend years earlier.

But Cece's time with Garrett begins to make her question her future with Charlie. When a stomach bug ravages the wedding guests and Charlie himself, will Cece use it as a chance to bow out, or will her determination to see through her commitment see her married and a doctor's wife?

I often felt as though the story was trying to do too many things, with a shifting tone I couldn't always get a handle on. The book's cover design says "literary fiction" to me, but the novel felt at first very much like a light, formulaic romance (will she or won't she? who's the better match for her--on paper, they're both great, and she wants them both? also, men are so bad at communicating, am I right?).

Then Dream State takes the reader on a journey through decades of characters' irritated angst (alternating between satisfaction and wanting what once was possible but can no longer be had). At first I didn't have a lot of patience for the temptation of regret and the characters' wallowing when faced with real-world complications and imperfections. But the draw to the romanticized past and what might have been, alternating with the waxing and waning allure of the messy present, created a structure for the book and its characters' actions that I found compelling.

The story and its characters are largely focused on a place (the Montana lake) that feels pivotal to so many aspects of their lives, then much later, and seemingly abruptly, the story is somewhat focused on climate change and its destruction as related to this location.

Side note: Before the dramatic events related to the lake compound, I did at times feel impatience somewhat similar to my frustration while reading The Dutch House; it feels childishly unfair and sometimes facile for characters to pin their own regrettable decisions or follies on having been away from a place, or to imagine that more or different access to this place would have formed their lives in different, dramatic, essential ways. They were acting all along with free will, after all, and reasonable adults must realize that life twists and turns and is not perfect, nor should a place be expected to impart perfection upon your life.

Anyway, later Dream State is a meditation on memory and memory loss as related to personhood. Finally, the story focuses on the fits and starts of a version of complicated forgiveness after years of pain and emotional barriers.

But the bulk of the story is, appealingly, about the ups and downs of a marriage and parenting; the messy bonds of commitment and partnership; the precious building of inside jokes and a unique history together; forgiveness for past missteps; then a poignant considering of what it all means if one person's memory of these gems and challenges is lost.

I listened to Dream State as an audiobook.

More about Eric Puchner

Eric Puchner is also the author of the novel Model Home as well as two collections of short stories, Last Day on Earth and Music Through the Floor.