Eric Puchner

Jonas waited in the police station, sitting by himself in the corner and listening to the noisy smacks of a policeman sucking on a cough drop at his desk. Earlier the guy had shown Jonas his gun. It was the third one he'd been asked to admire that day. "Wow," Jonas had said, because the man so clearly wanted him to say this. He'd asked the guy if he was ever tempted to turn the gun on himself, since police officers had the third-highest suicide rate of any profession. The policeman frowned show more and moved to the other side of the office, where he'd remained for the past hour in a suicidal funk.

The Ziller family looks great from the outside. They're living in a gated neighborhood near the beach in California, it's the summer of 1985 and things are looking good. Except that each member of the Ziller family is going through things in ways that mean that the parents aren't noticing that the kids aren't fine and while Camille knows something isn't right with her husband Warren, his silence has her thinking he's having an affair. As each person deals with their problems on their own, they become problems that affect the entire family, leading to a moment where everything collides.

This is a slow burn kind of novel, where a lot of the allure at the beginning is in how well Puchner evokes that specific place and time. The author takes his time establishing each member of the Ziller family and letting their crises develop over the long summer days, so that when the crisis is reached, it's both surprising and inevitable. And then Puchner takes the time to sit with the family through the entire aftermath, not just the dramatic bits, but the parts that are hard and grinding. And the characters remain true to themselves even as they change in small and large ways. It's a well-balanced and thoughtful novel and I'm eager to read more by this author. show less

Life was a voyage, and heartbreak filled the sails. from Dream State by Eric Puchner

Three characters who love each other cause each other heartbreak and joy throughout their lives while the land they love turns to fire and ash. I cried for their pain and for the beauty of Montana devastated by climate change.

So many insights the characters come to are hauntingly familiar. Youthful joy and hope, the vagaries of relationships, the fears of parenthood, the sorrow of seeing a changing world.

Life show more was a long, incompetent search to get back to a feeling you had when you were six. from Dream State by Eric Puchner

Charlie and Garrett met in college and became best friends, glorying in life. Then one of their friends died in a tragic skiing accident. Garrett felt responsible and crashed into soul deadening depression. Until the day he met Charlie’s fiance, Cece, a woman who made him want to live again.

Their tangled relationship impacts the rest of their lives, the love and sometimes hate they feel, the alternating doubts and frustrations and surety.

They have children with their own problems, who remain mysteries, all the love and care given them “like tossing a coin into a well.” They grow old, watch each other succumb to the indignities of age.

It was appalling, what love expected of you. from Dream State by Eric Puchner

Over their lifetimes, their love for the beauty of Montana is central, the pristine blue lake, the snow-capped mountains, the lofty trees. Fires further west turns the air toxic, then the glaciers melt and the mountaintops are bare. The animals disappear. And fire comes to their homes.

“Cece often felt guilty for feeling happy–or whatever you wanted to call it–given the state of things.” We live our lives, embrace our small joys and cry over our losses, doubt our choices and wonder if they made any difference. And look at what is happening to the world and are chagrined and wonder why we worry about such small things.

The reversals in the character’s lives are undeserved, arbitrary, their lives imperfect, flawed. They wonder what it was all for.

We only live once, Cece is told on her wedding day, calling for her to jump into the lake. And that is how we live life, jumping into it, uncertain, yet hopeful.

One of the most honest books I have read in a long while. I highlighted paragraphs of wisdom, insightful writing.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley. show less

Dream State had a slow start for me. I’ve recently read books where the main protagonist(s) were unlikeable. I thought this book was going down that path too, but it was just realistic character development. Cece married Charlie who has a good future ahead of him but never files the wedding papers and falls in love with and marries Charlie’s best friend Garrett who doesn’t have a promising future ahead of him.
The years pass throughout the book with the characters and their families show more intertwining during the years. A good family saga but also highlights some environmental issues—wildfire impact in Montana and the Wolverine population. This intrigued me enough to do a little research. All in all, an enjoyable book. show less

Dream State by Eric Puchner has a lot of things to like, and some things to not. It’s interesting to me that the publisher’s descriptions make it sound like a book about Cece, but she is merely a player in a bromance between Garrett and Charlie. They meet in college and promise to stay friends no matter what — and they basically do just that. Puchner begins in the middle, and uses flashbacks admirably to fill in the blanks at critical moments as readers traverse these characters’ show more lives in 450 pages. Using a semi-omniscient third-person narration allows readers to understand certain motivations, but keeps many thoughts and actions off-page. Puchner’s writing keeps all of these balls in the air with humor, emotion, and at times brilliance. (His time jumps during Lana’s teen years will stay with me for a long time.) Alas, his portrayal of women falls incredibly short — even borderline misogynistic — making the marketing of the book even more ridiculous, but overall a decent book about male friendships and marriage. show less