100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Fast Overnight NZ-wide Delivery 🚀

Train Dreams

By Denis Johnson
0.0 (0 reviews)
3.9 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating. ( 30,040 ratings, 3,781 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson is a novella set in the American West, following the life of Robert Grainier, a day labourer living through a period of significant historical change. The narrative explores themes of isolation, survival, and transformation as Grainier navigates personal tragedies and the evolving landscapes around him at the turn of the 20th century. Through his experiences, the book delves into the profound human connection to nature and the passage of time.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK Please add to wishlist to be notified when back in stock

Sorry, we're currently out of stock of Train Dreams. Please add to your Wishlist and we'll send you an email as soon as it's back in stock.

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you have an interest in lyrical and evocative storytelling set against the backdrop of early 20th-century America. It offers a deep dive into themes of isolation, longing, and the vastness of human experience through the life of an ordinary man shaped by extraordinary circumstances. Fans of beautifully crafted prose and profound exploration of the human spirit will likely find it compelling.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

An epic miniature of one man's life journey through the American West at the turn of the twentieth century.

An epic miniature of one man's life journey through the American West at the turn of the twentieth century.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Robert Grainier is a day labourer, and has been for as long as he can remember. It is the start of the twentieth century and the world is changing at a rapid pace.

Adrift following the loss of his family, Grainier struggles to make sense of this strange new land. He travels and takes refuge in hills and mountains, bearing witness to deportations and new discoveries. As his mind begins to deteriorate, Grainier dreams of his life past and present, an everyman, yet no man, living through extraordinary times.

A short but sweeping novel that suffuses both the history and landscape of the American West, Train Dreams captures the disappearance of a distinctly American way of life.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson is widely praised as a masterpiece, celebrated for its concise yet powerful storytelling, riveting prose, and emotional depth. Reviewers laud Johnson's ability to blend vivid realism with poetic elements, creating a haunting and evocative narrative. The book, set in the early 20th-century American West, beautifully explores themes of isolation and the human cost of civilisation, earning it comparisons to the finest in American literature.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781783787623

Publisher: Granta Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 04 November 2021

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Granta Books

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 10.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 98g

Pages: 128

Collections

Denis Johnson Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Penguin Books

About the Author

DENIS JOHNSON was the author of six novels, three collections of poetry, and one book of reportage. His novel Tree of Smoke was the 2007 winner of the National Book Award. He died in 2017.

Also by Denis Johnson

View all
  • Jesus' Son
    American master Denis Johnson's nationally bestselling collection of blistering and indelible tales about America's outcasts and wanderers. Denis Johnson's now classic story collection Jesus' Son chronicles a wild netherworld of addicts and lost souls, a violent and disordered landscape that encompasses every extreme of American culture. These are stories of transcendence and spiralling grief, of hallucinations and glories, of getting...
    By Denis Johnson
    Paperback
    $4800
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Train Dreams
    Now a major motion picture starring Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones—streaming on Netflix. A New York Times Notable Book of the YearAn The Economist's Book of the YearAn NPR 10 Best Novels of the Year From the National Book Award-winning author Denis Johnson (Tree of Smoke) comes Train Dreams, an epic in miniature, and one of Johnson's most evocative works...
    By Denis Johnson
    Paperback
    $4800
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Train Dreams
    Train Dreams
    A New York Times Notable Book of the YearAn Economist Book of the YearAn NPR Best Novel of the Year From the National Book Award-winning author Denis Johnson (i>Tree of Smoke) comes Train Dreams, one of Johnson's most evocative works of fiction. Contemplative, precise, and unforgettable, Train Dreams is Denis Johnson's epic in miniature, charting the upheavals of the twentieth...
    By Denis Johnson
    Paperback
    $4700
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Tree of Smoke
    Tree of Smoke
    Shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Tree of Smoke - the name given to a 'psyop' that may or may not be hypothetical and may or may not be officially sanctioned - is Denis Johnson's most gripping, visionary and ambitious work. Set across South-East Asia and the United States, and spanning two decades, Tree of Smoke tells the story...
    By Denis Johnson
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • Jesus' Son
    Jesus' Son
    A young, unnamed man, reeling from his addiction to heroin and alcohol, spirals through these interlinked stories of grief and transcendence, of rock bottom and redemption, of getting lost and found and lost again. In the course of his adventures, he meets an assortment of people, who seem as alienated and confused as he; sinners, misfits, the lost, the damned,...
    By Denis Johnson
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • Train Dreams
    An epic miniature of one man's life journey through the American West at the turn of the twentieth century.Robert Grainier is a day labourer in the American West, felling the trees that feed the railways. It is the start of the twentieth century, and the world is changing at a rapid pace.Life is fragile in the wilds of the frontier;...
    By Denis Johnson
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • Jesus' Son
    Jesus' Son is a visionary chronicle of dreamers, addicts, and lost souls. These stories tell of spiralling grief and transcendence, of rock bottom and redemption, of getting lost and found and lost again. The narrator of these interlinked stories is a young, unnamed man, reeling from his addiction to heroin and alcohol, his mind at once clouded and made brilliantly...
    By Denis Johnson
    Paperback
    Sold Out

More from General Fiction

View all
  • The Wedding People
    'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people — but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...
    By Alison Espach
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Buy to Win
    Dungeon Crawler Carl
    The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman-now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition! You know what's worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what's worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction...
    By Matt Dinniman
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Big Little Truths
    Parenting teens is not for the faint of heart but Madeline, Jane and Celeste have been through worse. It's been a decade since the school trivia night that changed their lives forever and now they're living blissfully ordinary suburban lives. But when an anonymous grisly package arrives at the local high school, and a man in a green Volvo is...
    By Liane Moriarty
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    17% off
    Dylan's Pick Dylan's Pick
    Theo of Golden
    THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came from…His name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance –...
    By Allen Levi
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Throne of Glass Box Set (Paperback)
    Enter the realm. Unleash the darkness. Live the legend. Discover the worldwide phenomenon of the #1 New York Times-bestselling Throne of Glass series in this gorgeous 8-book box set! In a land without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She has no love for the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but she has not...
    By Sarah J. Maas
    Set
    $12400
    Elsewhere:
    $15500
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Ballad of Falling Dragons [Special Deluxe edition]
    The No.1 Sunday Times bestselling sensation When the Moon Hatched continues with the second book in The Moonfall Series, The Ballad of Falling Dragons… Raeve’s thirst for vengeance continues to burn, as does her love for Kaan Vaegor – a staunch beacon from a past she’s yet to face. With Rekk’s blood still fresh on her hands, she learns the...
    By Sarah A. Parker
    Hardback
    $5999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Goal
    Welcome to Briar U!Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy!Read The Goal now for the perfect forced proximity romance! She's good at achieving her goals . . . College senior Sabrina James has her whole future planned out: graduate from college, kick...
    By Elle Kennedy
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Buy to Win
    On Sale
    17% off
    Project Hail Mary
    Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, the SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of The Martian, offers a gripping new adventure in hard science fiction. With endorsement from notable figures such as Barack Obama and a slew of five-star reviews, this novel promises a thrilling and intellectually stimulating journey. Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut, finds himself on a...
    By Andy Weir
    Paperback
    $2000
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    (5)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    On Mystic Lake
    One of the greatest storytellers of our time - Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing Annie Colwater's only child has just left home for school in England. On that same day, her husband of twenty years confesses that he's in love with a younger woman. Left alone in the beautiful California house which was once a home, Annie...
    By Kristin Hannah
    Paperback
    $3100
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Buy to Win
    East of Eden
    Set against the backdrop of the fertile Salinas Valley in California, East of Eden is a profound and compelling novel by John Steinbeck, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. This masterful narrative charts the intertwining destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—across multiple generations. Steinbeck's intricate portrayal of human nature and enduring exploration of moral themes...
    By John Steinbeck
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Buy to Win
    Carl's Doomsday Scenario
    Join Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat Princess Donut as they fight fantastical creatures and deadly mobs in the second book in the smash-hit Dungeon Crawler Carl series -now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition Now on the third floor, Carl and Donut have to fight harder than ever. They've already proven that a Coast Guard vet and once-and-forever...
    By Matt Dinniman
    Hardback
    $4699
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings Boxed Set
    Embark on a journey through Middle-earth with J.R.R. Tolkien's timeless masterpieces, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. These enthralling tales recount the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, a modest hobbit whose life is turned upside down when he unwittingly becomes entwined in a perilous quest involving dragons, wizards, and the fate of the world. Alongside iconic characters such as...
    By J. R. R. Tolkien
    Box Set
    $7199
    Elsewhere:
    $8999
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.

General Fiction lists from the team

Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!

The Latest at Book Hero

View all