Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream

by John Derbyshire

This is a magical novel of a Chinese immigrant's coming to terms with himself, his marriage, and America--and the unlikely moral force that guides his life.

Chai is middle-aged, a disillusioned formed Red Guard who escaped China for Hong Kong and then America, where he works in New York as a banker. He and his wife, Ding, are the parents of an infant and enjoy a contented marriage; he develops a fond obsession with President Calvin Coolidge, the taciturn New Englander whose wry wit and wisdom delights Chai. One day, a chance discovery leads him He learns that a lover from his youth is now in Boston, living with her husband and their son. The son is Chai's very image, and the staid banker is inflamed by the implications of the resemblance. Confused by his emotions, he becomes determined to revive the affair. How Ding schemes to win back her wayward husband--and teach him the necessary truths about love--forms the plot and beguiling conclusion to John Derbyshire's tale.

Genres: Fiction, Novels

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Currently living on Long Island, New York

Reviews

[Anya Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was completely unexpected and charming. It especially appealed to me because the narrator is a Chinese guy living in America (I've lived in China), and it was fascinating to hear his take on Chinese culture and American culture. The book is a good example of the use of an "unreliable narrator", but it's a lot lighter than Vlad Nabokov or Kazuo Ishiguro. Warning, though--the sections dealing with the Cultural Revolution in China are as brutal as they gotta be.

[Adam Kovynia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have felt so much better about myself after seeing calvin Coolidge in a dream. Life has seemed much clearer and simpler. I shall tell Ding everything when I am sure I have found the words. Before lantern festival at any rate.

from the book 'Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream: A Novel' page 272

[Gregory Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interestingly, I was drawn to this title because I had had a recurring dream myself, when I was a child, about being Calvin Coolidge. At the time I didn't even know who he was, other than one of the U.S. Presidents. This story is interesting and well-written, though a little scattered. I did learn a lot about the Chinese culture, and even more about Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President. I can't help but wondered what motivated the author to write this specific story - there has to be some entertaining motivator behind creating such a whimsical and imaginative novel as this.

[Aaron Broadwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the beginning very much as the narrator talks about his life in China and how he came to America. But toward the end it turned out that Calvin Coolidge is really a device to condemn "liberal morality". I felt tricked!

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read but the aspirational patriotism gets old and a narrator one is meant to patronize isn't quite what I look for in a story.

[Beth Wilson]

Unfortunately I found out he works for a white súpremist organization so sorry I even posted this book

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had rather liked this charming book about a former Chinese Red Guard, Chai, living in New York who discovers his ex-lover, Selina, from Hong Kong is now living in Boston. When he goes in search of her to reignite their affair, despite being married to Ding and having his own child, he glimpses Selina's son, who bears a striking resemblance to himself. This sighting ignites his desires for Selina so much that he is willing to deceive Ding to get what he wants.

Alas, too bad it was ruined for me. There were hints of conservatism in the book, but I was willing to overlook them in search of the bigger story. However, when Chai sees Calvin Coolidge in a "dream" (manufactured?) -an overly long passage in which Chai is reprimanded by the dead president about his pursuit of the affair with Selina - I was quite annoyed. The long passage not only interrupted the flow of the story but it reminded me of the moralizing diatribe, John Galt's 60-page rant, at the end of Atlas Shrugged which, if I remember correctly, was a speech over the radio espousing his theory of Objectivism. I had read most of that despicable book and then put it down in disgust, unfinished.

I then discovered that John Derbyshire is a British-born American paleoconservative who works for the far-right website VDARE, associated with Neo-Nazism, white supremacy and white nationalism. Ugh. That took the book down many notches in my opinion. He and J.D. Vance go into the same category of authors ruining their own books by their political leanings.

[Brandon Minster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird book, in a good way. But now I get why some people have a problem with authors writing characters outside of their own experience. When the narrator says "all us Chinese people do X," is it really Derbyshire saying, "all those Chinese people do X"? Maybe it's nothing, but for as many mentions of "racism" as Derbyshire's Wikipedia page has, I'm not sure it is nothing.

[J. McCue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a charming little book. I'll admit I was attracted to it mainly because it was written by John Derbyshire, who I find to be a somewhat interesting character, and because it has "Calvin Coolidge" in the title, who is one of my favorite presidents. The book has an odd kind of writing style, supposedly meant to imitate that of a Chinese immigrant, but it makes the read suitably breezy. Lots of references to Chinese literature and contemporary non fiction. I think this one 250 page book added some 10 or 20 other works to my reading list, comprising not less than 15,000 future-pages.

I tore through the whole thing in 24 or 36 hours, but it took multiple sittings, so that's something of a back-handed commendation.

[Paul Sand · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Imported automatically from my blog. Some formatting there may not have translated here.]

A few years back, I read John Derbyshire's Prime Obsession[image error], a 2003 book (of all things) about the Riemann Hypothesis, an unproved mathematical conjecture. And (of course) I'd been reading his stuff over the years at National Review. He's probably the only conservative writer who's appeared in a Bruce Lee movie.

So I picked up his novel, written back in 1996. As you might expect from a math-geek conservative Kung Fu movie actor, it's unusual. The first-person narrator is Chai, and he's had an interesting life: Born in Red China, got caught up in the Cultural Revolution, became a Red Guard, escaped to Hong Kong in disgust, lucked into a job in a bank. His unexpected talents propel him upward in the financial hierarchy, and he emigrates to America, settling down in a comfy bourgeois existence with a wife and a kid on Long Island.

That's probably a good book right there, but Chai develops a slightly unusual hobby for a Chinese immigrant bank executive: he becomes obsessed with Calvin Coolidge. He reads everything he can find about Silent Cal; he and the family make a pilgrimage to Vermont to check out the family homestead.

But in addition, Chai becomes aware that his one true love in China, Selina, is also in America. And Selina becomes an obsession as well. These two threads intersect unexpectedly right at the end of the book, in a charming manner.

Without spoiling things too much, you can read the book two ways: taking Chai's narrative at face value, accepting his interpretation of events. Or you can pick up on the clues Derbyshire scatters throughout the text, and discover for yourself what really happened. (And, frankly, I didn't figure things out until a few hours after I finished the book, started to think about it a bit, and … Oh, yeah. Duh.)

[Brittany McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Tepper isn't going out' meets 'This is How You Lose Her', seasoned with large deference toward Dickens and accompanied with notable quotable tidbits of flavor from history and poetry. For its plot, it is a sweet book.

Someone left this book in my building's laundry room and I picked it up between loads. The narrative is chunked into neat paragraphs, more than several brief rectangles a page, which make for digestable enjoyment.



"I have found the world kinder than I expected, but less just" said the great Dr. Johnson in his old age. (pg 149)

[Laura K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. It was not what I expected! The main character, despite his quirks and "bad acts" is endearing. Creating a likable character with this history took some skill on the author's part. When Chai does finally see Calvin Coolidge in a dream it doesn't happen in the way you would imagine. (For such an intelligent guy, he really is pretty clueless about this.)

I enjoyed the writing style and when I looked up Mr. Derbyshire on Goodreads I was surprised to see the other books that he had written. I had expected (hoped) to see additional novels about Asia.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Derbyshire Chai, a fomer Red Guard from Mao's China, is 40+, now a banker in NYC, wife Ding, ex-love Selina, tries to rekindle, Ding and her friends outsmart him through his obsession with history (Calvin Coolidge in particular)...an actor appears to him as in a dream with a chastizing message...and he's back to Ding, doing the right thing. Tone is wonderful, light brush strokes style, writing creates wonderfully wistful, wry Chai.

9.5 of 10

[Liriope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Characterization was a bit weak as was the ending, but it's still good. Nicely paced.

[Kit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the exposure to Chinese customs, fairly recent history, and assimulation very interesting.