Super Short Summary

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson is a novella about Robert Grainier, an orphan who grows up in Idaho from 1890 to 1960, detailing his life experiences amidst the closing of the American West. Grainier partakes in dangerous railway and lumber work, faces personal tragedy with the loss of his family in a fire, and endures years of isolation, until his eventual death in 1968. Contains mentions of violence and substance use.