Book · 2006 · Railroad construction workers
Train dreams
- mentions
- 8
- people
- 3
- podcasts
- 2
- episodes
- 3
- recommendation
- 1
Train Dreams, which is this short but extremely powerful book about this man's life, Robert Grainier.
What they say about it
- Adapting into a film“adapting this work”3
The best things said about it
And so I read also this week in about an hour and a half his very slender novel Nolla called um Train Dreams which I have now already misplaced.
Train Dreams, which is a film that he adapted from the 2011 Denis Johnson novella of the same name.
Do you recall any particular moment from the book Train Dreams on that first reading that really stuck with you the entire time?
Claire Thompson is a character in the novella, but she is a widow that he's transporting.
Clint Bentley The Book Review · Feb 2026 Given that we were adapting this work, you know, anytime we were in the car out in that world, we were listening to the audio book of Train Dreams narrated by Will Patton.
Clint Bentley How I Write · Jan 2026 Why people recommend it
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson is a slender, poignant novella following the solitary life of Robert Grainier, a laborer in the American West during the early twentieth century. On The Book Review, John Williams recommended the short novel, noting that he had recently read it in a single sitting. Gilbert Cruz and filmmaker Clint Bentley discussed the book extensively on The Book Review, exploring its evolution from a 2011 novella into a cinematic adaptation. Cruz contrasted the compact, devastating emotional weight of Train Dreams with Johnson's sprawling, multi-hundred-page Vietnam War epic, Tree of Smoke. During their conversation, Cruz and Bentley examined specific, memorable moments from the narrative, including Grainier's early romance and proposal to his wife, Gladys, as well as encounters with supporting characters like Claire Thompson that cemented the book's themes of isolation and loss. Furthermore, Bentley shared on How I Write that he and his co-writer continually listened to the audiobook version narrated by Will Patton while traveling through the remote landscapes that inspired the story. Together, these discussions underscore how Johnson's concise masterpiece continues to captivate filmmakers and readers alike through its stark prose and haunting atmosphere.
Every mention
John Williams and so I read also this week in about an hour and a half his very slender novel Nolla called um Train Dream… 1
“and so I read also this week in about an hour and a half his very slender novel Nolla called um Train Dreams which I have now already misplaced”
Gilbert Cruz Tree of Smoke, which is this large sprawling 700-page book set during the Vietnam War, and then all the way… 5
“Uh Clint is the director and the co-writer of Train Dreams, which is a film that he adapted from the 2011 Denis Johnson novella of the same name.”
“Tree of Smoke, which is this large sprawling 700-page book set during the Vietnam War, and then all the way on the other end of the spectrum, you have Train Dreams, which is this short but extremely powerful book about this man's life, Robert Grainier.”
“Do you recall any particular moment from the book Train Dreams on that first reading that really stuck with you the entire time? Yeah, one was like the way that he talks about their first date and their first kiss where Grenier ends up proposing to Gladys.”
“Train Dreams is the fourth film that you've worked on. You've co-written all four with him. You've directed two of them. Um how did you get the opportunity to make this one in particular having read it, you know, 12 years ago, 13 years ago?”
“So bear with me. This is the ending of Denis Johnson's Train Dreams.”
Clint Bentley Given that we were adapting this work, you know, anytime we were in the car out in that world, we were list… 2
“Claire Thompson is a character in the novella, but she is a widow that he's transporting. And there's not much that's said between them, but it's a really important moment in Grenier's life that culminates in her telling him in the book that the the lord needs a hermit in the woods as much as a preacher in the pulpit.”
“Given that we were adapting this work, you know, anytime we were in the car out in that world, we were listening to the audio book of Train Dreams narrated by Will Patton, who now narrates the film”
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“two of the finalists were Train Dreams by Denis Johnson and Swamplandia.”