Train Dreams Summary
Denis Johnson

Train Dreams Overview

This short novella sketches in the life story of woodsman and railroad worker Robert Grainier. The narrative offers brief glimpses of Grainier’s life as it jumps backward and forward through time – specifically, a period of around 60 or 70 years ranging from the early to mid-twentieth Century. As it portrays Grainier’s efforts to build a life for himself after a series of hardships, the book also explores themes relating to the impact of unexpected encounters, the relationship between death and rebirth, and the relationship between nature and civilization.