Machine Dreams

I remember when Machine Dreams, Jayne Anne Phillips' debut novel, was first published in 1984 and was immediately hailed as a wonderful book. I was 29 at the time. For awhile it was everywhere. I never had any particular aversion to reading it. I just never got around to it. So now, finally, I have done so, and I'm glad I did. Machine Dreams shows us three generations of a working class West Virginia family, running from the 1920s through the 1960s. There's not too much in the way of plot, I guess, but there are some very vivid character studies, and some very good descriptive writing of personalities and environment, both natural and man-made. The central theme to me seems to be disappointment and the ways in which the workaday demands show more of small town life in a disconnected area of the U.S. press life down into the constant tasks of daily requirements. I know I've made the book sound grim, but it really isn't. The nature of the character depictions of brings life and even sometimes courage into the tapestry quite believably. So, as I said, I'm happy to have finally read the novel, and I can certainly see myself reading further into Phillips' work to see how her writing progressed over the intervening years. show less

A story of a family, each chapter the voice one person, all the voices well done.