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Cover of Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

Book · Adult

Train Dreams

by Denis Johnson

128 pages · 2026

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About the book

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year An Economist Book of the Year An NPR Best Novel of the Year

From the National Book Award–winning author Denis Johnson (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 century through the eyes of one ordinary man. Known for his stories of American abjection, Johnson uses the slim space of Train Dreams to commit to the sublime: the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, the integrity of a perfect kiss, the totalizing force of grief. Immense in its impact and exact in its attention, Train Dreams traces the injuries and grace of time itself with a brutal sensitivity only Johnson can offer.

For parents

No age or grade range recorded.

Grade ranges are editorial guidance. Every reader is different.

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