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Dream City
In Depression-era Chicago, six-year-old Michael Halligan longs to be a hero. Consumed by the world of Big Little Books, he imagines himself as “Mike Steele,” righter of wrongs and friend to Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers, and The Lone Ranger. But reality pops him on the jaw: when his mother dies unexpectedly in 1934, Michael is left in the custody of his gangster father, Paddy, and he begins to lose his faith in the power of good over evil.
As an adult, Michaelcombs the streets of Chicago and its suburbs, looking to recover the purity and comfort that defined his boyhood. While he attempts to track down a copy of every Big Little Book in existence, Michael, perhaps unintentionally, also starts to seek out unconditional love, security, and stability in an arbitrary and unkind world.
An exhilarating novel featuring a colorful cast of heroes, villains, and damsels in distress—both real and make-believe—Dream City poses the most dangerous of questions: What happens when we finally discover what we’ve spent our entire lives searching for?
As an adult, Michaelcombs the streets of Chicago and its suburbs, looking to recover the purity and comfort that defined his boyhood. While he attempts to track down a copy of every Big Little Book in existence, Michael, perhaps unintentionally, also starts to seek out unconditional love, security, and stability in an arbitrary and unkind world.
An exhilarating novel featuring a colorful cast of heroes, villains, and damsels in distress—both real and make-believe—Dream City poses the most dangerous of questions: What happens when we finally discover what we’ve spent our entire lives searching for?
- GenresFiction
375 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2008
2 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Brendan Short
1 book5 followersBrendan Short's debut novel, Dream City, was published by MacAdam/Cage in November 2008. The novel has been called "powerful" (Chicago Magazine), "accomplished" (Austin American-Statesman), "complex" (San Francisco Chronicle) and "an impressively mature first effort...Highly recommended" (Library Journal). According to Rod Lott at the Oklahoma Gazette, "It's rare that a novel can affect and haunt the reader to a marked degree, but this one does."
Brendan is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the James A. Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, where he held a three-year fellowship in fiction and poetry. His stories and poems have appeared in several literary journals, including The Literary Review and River Styx, and have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A former writer-in-residence at St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., he lives in the Chicago area with his wife and daughter.
Brendan is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the James A. Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, where he held a three-year fellowship in fiction and poetry. His stories and poems have appeared in several literary journals, including The Literary Review and River Styx, and have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A former writer-in-residence at St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., he lives in the Chicago area with his wife and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 19, 2010
One of the saddest books I've ever read, and yet so very beautiful. Michael Halliday is a young boy in Chicago in the 1930s. His parents take him to the World's Fair, the "Dream City," which offered a vision of a utopian future, all the more poignant for the horrors that were to come. Michael's mother dies while Michael is still young, and the boy is raised by his hard, cruel father, a minor gangster.
Michael seeks solace in his collection of Big Little books, novelizations of comics like Dick Tracy. His goal is to collect every book, with the vague hope that he will fnd a sense of happiness. As an adult, he collects anything that reminds him of his childhood. Ironically, the one thing that he really wants, a pictue of his mother, he cannot find. Ultimately, his collection means more to him than human connections. His obsession erodes his ethics, alienates him from potential loved ones, and contributes to his unhappiness.
Some critics have compared this book to Michael Chabon's Adventures of Kavalier and Klay. I don't think this is an accurate comparison. The events in Chabon's novel are much more connected to the big history of the time, the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, the extermination of the European Jews, the explosion of American pop culture, and so on. Brendan Short's book is smaller in scope, a more personal, intimate affair. One thing that the two books have in common, however, is the sadness of personal loss. Where Chabon offers his characters a sort of redemption, Short's characters never quite recover.
As sad as this book was, it was a pleasure to read, and I was reluctant to finish. I eagerly look forward to more from this author.
Michael seeks solace in his collection of Big Little books, novelizations of comics like Dick Tracy. His goal is to collect every book, with the vague hope that he will fnd a sense of happiness. As an adult, he collects anything that reminds him of his childhood. Ironically, the one thing that he really wants, a pictue of his mother, he cannot find. Ultimately, his collection means more to him than human connections. His obsession erodes his ethics, alienates him from potential loved ones, and contributes to his unhappiness.
Some critics have compared this book to Michael Chabon's Adventures of Kavalier and Klay. I don't think this is an accurate comparison. The events in Chabon's novel are much more connected to the big history of the time, the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, the extermination of the European Jews, the explosion of American pop culture, and so on. Brendan Short's book is smaller in scope, a more personal, intimate affair. One thing that the two books have in common, however, is the sadness of personal loss. Where Chabon offers his characters a sort of redemption, Short's characters never quite recover.
As sad as this book was, it was a pleasure to read, and I was reluctant to finish. I eagerly look forward to more from this author.
August 15, 2018
While it wasn't a very uplifting read, it was fine historical fiction, seemingly well-researched, into a particular socio-economic group: South Side Irish in the Depression years and after. As a fan of Chicago Literature, and a resident of Chicago's West suburbs now, I reveled in Short's description of 1930's-2000's Chicago, Oak Park, River Forest, Lyons, and LaGrange. The novel goes as far north as Racine and the area around Milwaukee.
Short has an economical style, a cool attitude, and an eye for detail. I'd like to see what else he's written.
Short has an economical style, a cool attitude, and an eye for detail. I'd like to see what else he's written.
December 20, 2008
I picked this one up because of its title, which echoes a phrase I've used myself for my own windblown nocturnal metropolis, and for its cover, which shows a strong-jawed, big-shouldered comic book hero in trench coat and fedora. But I stayed for the story, a compelling and multifaceted tale experienced through the eyes of an Irish-American family in the suburbs of Chicago.
The book is episodic, skipping whole decades in its journey through the 20th Century. Yet it is strongly tied together by its central character, Michael Halligan, and by Michael's obsession with ephemera - specifically, with Whitman's Big Little Books. I remember these from my own childhood, although by that time they were long past their heyday. The only example I own is a slight and now coverless tale of Mickey and Goofy and a flying "space island," but even today that silly story resonates with me, and I can understand Michael's fascination with these artifacts even if I don't really share it.
Though Short's work does bring to mind that of Michael Chabon - I agree with the back cover blurb which refers to Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - I think another touchstone is even closer: Jonathan Lethem's The Fortress of Solitude. Like Lethem's book, Dream City is not so much about the comics themselves or about their creators as it is about those of us whose lives are affected by the primary-colored heroes of our childhoods.
For Halligan, Big Little Books are just coming into prominence as he is growing up, and the one that gets away from him - a giveaway at the 1933 World's Fair called Trouble in the City of Dreams - becomes the linchpin of his lifelong quest to find and collect all of them. That quest is the one true constant in Halligan's life, outlasting everything else - family, employers, lovers and friends.
Dream City is relentlessly devoid of any hint of the surreal, of the fantastic, other than what appears in the imaginations of young Michael Halligan and of the writers and artists who create the Big Little Books that Michael collects. And that, in this case, is a good thing. This is the strongest of mimetic fictions.
The book is episodic, skipping whole decades in its journey through the 20th Century. Yet it is strongly tied together by its central character, Michael Halligan, and by Michael's obsession with ephemera - specifically, with Whitman's Big Little Books. I remember these from my own childhood, although by that time they were long past their heyday. The only example I own is a slight and now coverless tale of Mickey and Goofy and a flying "space island," but even today that silly story resonates with me, and I can understand Michael's fascination with these artifacts even if I don't really share it.
Though Short's work does bring to mind that of Michael Chabon - I agree with the back cover blurb which refers to Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - I think another touchstone is even closer: Jonathan Lethem's The Fortress of Solitude. Like Lethem's book, Dream City is not so much about the comics themselves or about their creators as it is about those of us whose lives are affected by the primary-colored heroes of our childhoods.
For Halligan, Big Little Books are just coming into prominence as he is growing up, and the one that gets away from him - a giveaway at the 1933 World's Fair called Trouble in the City of Dreams - becomes the linchpin of his lifelong quest to find and collect all of them. That quest is the one true constant in Halligan's life, outlasting everything else - family, employers, lovers and friends.
Dream City is relentlessly devoid of any hint of the surreal, of the fantastic, other than what appears in the imaginations of young Michael Halligan and of the writers and artists who create the Big Little Books that Michael collects. And that, in this case, is a good thing. This is the strongest of mimetic fictions.
December 4, 2008
Dream City is the story of about 60 years in the life of Michael Halligan, the Chicago-bred son of a thuggish ex-boxer, and his love of comic books. The story centers on Michael and his mostly sad and solitary life, but also follows his father, his mother who died in his childhood, his maiden aunt, his wife, and the family of a comic book publisher/boxer/performer who has an important, if ill-defined role in Michael's life as a pen-pal, father in the art of collecting comics, and inspiration.
While the story is nicely written and often vivid, I felt like I'd read this before in many other forms. There is a flavor of E.L. Doctorow's World's Fair, a good bit of Paul Auster in the solitary, lonely, obsessive collector, and I got the sense that the comic book/superhero focus was more calculated to get a cover blurb referencing Michael Chabon than because it mattered in an important way to the author or the characters.
Mostly, I think, the book suffers from trying to understand and explicate too many characters at once. I appreciate that even peripheral characters are not left as mere side figures to propel the central character along, but in giving so many of them their own turn in the spotlight, the development of the central character, Michael, felt underdone. Ultimately, Michael is a fairly empty vessel to whom things happen, and around whom other sad, violent, or depressing characters orbit.
While the story is nicely written and often vivid, I felt like I'd read this before in many other forms. There is a flavor of E.L. Doctorow's World's Fair, a good bit of Paul Auster in the solitary, lonely, obsessive collector, and I got the sense that the comic book/superhero focus was more calculated to get a cover blurb referencing Michael Chabon than because it mattered in an important way to the author or the characters.
Mostly, I think, the book suffers from trying to understand and explicate too many characters at once. I appreciate that even peripheral characters are not left as mere side figures to propel the central character along, but in giving so many of them their own turn in the spotlight, the development of the central character, Michael, felt underdone. Ultimately, Michael is a fairly empty vessel to whom things happen, and around whom other sad, violent, or depressing characters orbit.
October 13, 2008
Dream City, the debut novel of Brendan Short, chronicles Michael Halligan as he navigates life in Chicago and its near western suburbs from his childhood to middle age. Michael is an interesting central character -- he is frustrating, elicits sympathy, and at the core is a immature man stunted by his family's violent past, the death of his mother and his incredible loneliness. The supporting characters, specifically his mother Elizabeth, are also complex and engaging and usually have engaging...more Dream City, the debut novel of Brendan Short, chronicles Michael Halligan as he navigates life in Chicago and its near western suburbs from his childhood to middle age. Michael is an interesting central character -- he is frustrating, elicits sympathy, and at the core is a immature man stunted by his family's violent past, the death of his mother and his incredible loneliness. The supporting characters, specifically his mother Elizabeth, are also complex and engaging and usually have engaging stories to carry them through the novel. The novel commences in 1930s era Chicago, and the times, including the World's Fair, and social climate are well described and a nice backdrop for the story. Overall, this is an enjoyable and engaging read.
November 23, 2010
This is a story about one man's quest to find as many Big Little books that he can find. The book starts out when Michael Halligan, the main character is a young boy and his mother is still alive. Before his mother's death she takes him to the World's Fair in Chicago where he sees a show put on by Buck Rogers one of his heroes and he passes out the Big Little book about the World's Fair. His mother takes him away before he can get a copy of the book and dies shortly afterward when she tries to abort her unborn child at home unsuccessfully. Michael starts to write to a sales and marketing person at the publishing house where the Big Little books are published. This is when he starts his collection of Big Little books. After his mother's death he is raised by his gangster father, Paddy Halligan until he runs away to live with his mother's sister Mae who is an alcoholic. After graduating from high school he enrolls in junior college for accounting and then gets a job after graduation. He gets married, loses a child and then gets divorced. By the end of the book he discovers that the book collection isn't as important as the memories that the books bring back for him.
June 6, 2009
I really enjoyed this book. It takes part in the (dirtiest) suburbs of Chicago and partly in Chicago proper, and it demonstrates a vibrant juxtaposition between fantastical dreams and the gritty reality. I relate with the protagonist because he is not a glorified hero, or an unrealistic winner, or even exceptionally admirable; he is a product of his surroundings. Even behind his sordid night time hobbies, he is still seen as a child within, lost before he even got started. Seemingly, he excelled only at rapidly producing insurmountable summations as a child (he could tell you how many days you had been alive just by knowing your birthday, mentally, in a matter of minutes), and so reverts back to this familiar mastery in summing and detailing those same sordid conquests. I may have been biased because I, as I have been told in the past, romanticize human suffering. In defense, the character in this book exemplifies what it means to persist, the fact that I find wonder in tragedy, could suggest that I find courage in persevering despite that.
December 11, 2008
I'm sorry to say that this book was a disappointment. Lured by the comparison to Kavalier and Clay, I was hoping for a story about the joys of Big Little Books. Instead it was the life story of a miserable man who believed that amassing a collection would somehow restore his life to what it had been before his mother's death. There are a few compelling characters, and I did like the way they drifted in and out of each other's lives. But speaking as a collector, from a family of collectors (my father even collects Big Little Books), I have to say that the author just doesn't seem to understand the passion of collecting, or the joy in the collectibles.
September 13, 2009
I discovered this book via a Facebook Friend, and decided to try it after reading that it was about the Chicago Century of Progress and Big Little Books - both topics that interested me. It ended up being an "all-day-half-the-night-read-in-one-sitting" book for me! As a first novel, I was impressed by the author's talent and writing style. While the theme of the story was a bit darker than what I would usually choose, the author made me feel like I knew each character well, and I could like and/or dislike them at various times throughout their lives. I will be looking for his next novel!
July 27, 2011
Didn't like this book all that much. I didn't feel like any of the characters were particularly redeeming and the central idea of the book--that the main character is happiest when reading these Big Little Books, so he spends his life on a quest to find all of them--just didn't resonate with me. This is definitely a book whose cover description was utterly misleading as far as I was concerned. I just kept waiting for one of the characters to really DO something or SAY something they've kept bottled in for such a long time, but it didn't happen. A bit disappointing.
February 13, 2009
Ranks right up there with the best of Charbon, DeHaven and yes, even Doctorow... The fact that this was Mr. Short's first novel makes it that more impressive... One of the most wonderfully depressing works in recent memory... Had me wallowing in self-pity for days afterwards! A must read for anyone who ever felt even slightly out-of-step with the rest of society...
September 9, 2020
Really strong debut novel, strong because its characters are so human, full of flaws and abilities. I love the way my attitude toward them changes through the story. I go from hating the brutal father to understanding him. When I sometimes get exasperated with one character's passivity, he'll come out with something funny that changes my mind. Highly recommended.
August 18, 2011
I would give this 3.5. Very solid writing, but the review from publishers weekly is accurate in saying that the most interesting character is killed off too early. The ending is terribly depressing and the protagonist is so incredibly flawed that he's hard to root for. Despite these shortcomings, I actually did find the book to be enjoyable.
April 21, 2012
I found this at my beautiful new library. It called to me from the shelves, but I really took it because it was compared to Chanon's kavalier and Clay, which I really loved. I liked it. At times I feel like Short was dark for the sake of it. I mean the baby was horribly deformed- really? That dude didn't have enough going wrong for him?
August 9, 2011
A boy grows up with the dreams of comic book heroes as his home life is something to escape. I like that it's not all sugar coated and not everyone lives happily ever after. Well written but a tough story to read.
June 28, 2008
A very well crafted book. But I found it hard to like the main character.
April 3, 2009
i did enjoy the book for the most part. i was frustrated with all of the alluded to storylines that were never explored.
July 31, 2010
Pretty dreary.
July 25, 2012
It started out better than it ended, dragged on a bit, but all and all was an interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews