Monday, September 17, 2018

Introduction/Room to Dream

Welcome to my new blog! The premise is simple--I love books and have assembled quite a few. My to-read pile has, more and more, begun to look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. So I'll be sharing my thoughts on books I've read. I love contemporary literary fiction, but I'll be reading the occasional non-fiction book (like this week!), old Vintage Contemporaries titles from the 1980s, and even the occasional horror book--whatever else ends up on the aforementioned stack.


Today I want to talk about “Room to Dream”, a quaint memoir about a Depression-era orphan who survived America's uncaring foster system to become a patent attorney in Omaha.



Okay, okay, I'm kidding. but seriously, look at that cover; the cute childhood photo and the title's sketchy, childish font all scream “earnest book club memoir”. I passed it by completely until I saw this guy on the back...



“Room to Dream” is an exhaustive memoir/biography about David Lynch, the cult filmmaker/painter/singer/dead animal fetishist. He made Twin Peaks, one of my favorite shows, and unforgettable movies like Mulholland Drive and Eraserhead, so I knew I had to crack that spine. The book, as with so many things involving Lynch, is odd since it's split into two very different sections. The first is a straight-ahead, chronological retelling of Lynch's life by journalist Kristine McKenna. She spent decades interviewing Lynch's family, friends, lovers, actors and assistants about how a funny, exuberant Midwest kid (he was born in Montana but spent most of his formative years in Boise, Idaho) became a renowned artist known for disturbing and unsettling his audiences. The other sections of the book, nestled in-between McKenna's chapters, are ostensibly written by Lynch himself (they read more like long form interviews) and feature his reactions to what McKenna has written about his life. Sometimes he corrects her reportage, but usually they're in agreement.

McKenna's sections were perfect for readers like me; I've watched dozens of interviews with Lynch, but never thought much about his upbringing. Room to Dream starts by exploring the Midwest in the 1950s, fulll of immaculate picket fences, clean sidewalks, glistening buildings free of graffitti; a time when neighborhood kids roamed the street until dinnertime. This is Lynch's world—he clearly pines for those long-lost days of innocence. Some of his favorite memories including watching friends build rockets in their backyards and spending time with his grandfather just before he died. However, there are darker shades to these early recollections—Lynch also remembers seeing a bloodied, naked woman walking down the street at night when he was just a child, an image that troubled him for years.

The back-and-forth nature of the book takes some getting used to, but I think it's the best balance. McKenna's writing is thorough, walking us through his turbulent adolencense, his myramid of high school crushes, and a chance encounter with a classmate's dad that showed him that people could be painters and live “the art life”. She leaves no stone unturned, but after a while the blow-by-blow accounts becomes bland; that's when Lynch comes in to spice up the narrative. Unsurprisingly, he remembers the little things—the texture of the wallpaper in the first home he purchased, the bizarre earthen displays he built on his kitchen table, the mural he painted on his apartment ceiling. McKenna's sections are the body, and Lynch's sections are the blood pumping through its veins.

Your mileage with this book will vary. If you only know Lynch from Twin Peaks, buckle up—the show isn't mentioned until page 239. However, the book does cover all his projects, from short films like “The Cowboy and the Frenchman” to even...lesser work (sorry hardcore Lynchians!) like his astoundingly awful album Crazy Klown Time. The book also covers his fascination with Transcendental Meditation; personally, it reminded me of a less-aggressive Scientology, with actors getting gigs only after meditating with him at TM facilities and former lovers being eased out of his life after showing no interest in the practice. Lynch is a creative genius, but seems naive about how the group uses his name and money for their own purposes.

Personally, I was hoping for a little more insights about the years between Eraserhead's completion and his wider fame; Lynch's first wife states that their life in California was a literal “rags to riches” story, but it feels like McKenna skipped a beat. On one page Lynch is a broke man living in a lousy apartment with a young daughter, but within a few pages he's shooting The Elephant Man in London with name actors and living what seems to be a comfortable life. Perhaps that's how quickly it happened in reality, but the transition was too jarring after spending so long reading about a Lynch who seemed allergic to pursuing mainstream success.

That said, Room to Dream is essential reading for any serious Lynch fan. If you've ever wondered how he shoots so many videos and records so much music out of his own house (a truckload of assistants) or how much he misses the late, great Harry Dean Stanton (a lot), it's all in there.



Sweet dreams.

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