Rating: 
Summary: Frighteningly dull and boring
Review: This book was extreamly boring and it blabbed on for 250 some pages about these boring, flat characters which I didn't care about and only to end with some dumb philisophical ending saying, "We all killed Martin Luther King". If you want to read something good about Martin Luther King, read a non - fiction, because this was just a pile of trash. After all, I don't think many people want to read a book with some man (Chaym) that has fecal problems and buys japanese porn. My entire college class couldn't stand this book, so I doubt very many people can.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally a great read!
Review: This is easily one of the most overlooked books I have ever read. Rich dialogue, interesting characters, poetic moments tie this story into a wonderful tale. The title can be read as MLK himself, as Bishop & his lust for Amy & wish for more self-confidence (i.e.- not so introverted & forgettable in the face, although when the character states this it is not drowned in sentiment) and the decoy Smith with his self-obsession to be like MLK. This is a rather quick read- very tight with little fat. Things happen quickly, and the observations Bishop make are unique, as well as the thoughts filling the mind of MLK. Some complaints about the end, re: "we all killed him"- Johnson isn't at all preachy, and again is only a defacto comment & not drenched in sentiment. There is no "Hurrah!" moment- & this is what makes it realistic & probably why Johnson is such an overlooked writer. Also there are some wonderfully musical lines that would make for good poetry. Highly recommended if you want a deep, reflective story & not a condescending epic.
Rating: 
Summary: Literary fiction at a high level
Review: When you approach a new piece of fiction by Charles Johnson, you should be ready with all your gifts of intellect and insight. You can be assured that Mr. Johnson will typically bring those gifts of his to the event. Dreamer is characteristic of much that readers have come to expect of Mr. Johnson. For example, all of the book's major characters are quite well versed both in the eastern and western philosophic and religious traditions. He characteristically manipulates reality that way, much as one might bend light with a prism-and with the same kind of pleasurable, revealing results. On the other hand, there is much in Dreamer that is new for Charles Johnson, and, thus, for his readers. In Oxherding Tale and Middle Passage, he demonstrated an ability to combine and to jump across genres. It is not surprising, then, that Dreamer tends to defy categorization. Although it is fiction set within a (relatively) recent historical context, and although the figure of Martin Luther King, Jr., is at its thematic center, the book is not merely fictionalized biography. Rather than a book "about" Dr. King, this is a novel suffused by his presence--despite the fact that other characters have more time "on stage." The image of such a well-known figure looming over the story presents both potential opportunities and pitfalls for the author. Johnson's use of interior monologue to take us into the mind of a monumental figure is absolutely deft. Without a living Dr, King to consult, it would seem nearly impossible for anyone else to report what it was like to be the individual at the center of that whirlwind--but Johnson has done just that for us, and done it brilliantly. Historical figures, particularly martyred ones, tend to become, at best, abstractions or, at worst, icons. Johnson rescues King from either of those types of benign neglect and shows him rather as a human whose accomplishments came at the great expense of personal sacrifice. Before his life is lost he has tragically lost almost all time, not only personal time with his family but also time alone to think, to feel, and to continue his own intellectual and spiritual development. The counterpoint to King is Chaym Smith, a look-alike who resents and admires King, and who trains to become the dreamer's double. As does Lucifer in Paradise Lost, he at times threatens to steal the entire show. Yet Johnson does not take the easy route of making Smith a polar opposite of King. Smith too has gifts, and insights, and aspirations. Instead of being a pole apart, Smith is more like a brother who, by virtue of differing gifts and circumstances, careens along a different path through the universe. Structurally, neither King nor Smith can be the sustained voice that both frames and caries the novel from beginning to end. That voice belongs to Mathew Bishop, a Nick Caraway style narrator and a worker within the Movement who is all too aware of the margin by which he falls short when he compares himself to Dr. King. Yet Bishop himself has gifts and insights. At the end of the story he is close to the realization that all men and women fall short of an idealized vision of themselves, while at the same time they move inexorably in that direction as long as they keep that selfsame dream alive. This is not a perfect book, but it is a fine one from a member of that small circle of writers potentially capable of delivering a 10+. At times Johnson uses the device of sections of exposition, set apart in italics, to provide background and to prepare the story for its next move forward. The device works well enough, although occasionally, perhaps because Johnson obviously enjoys research, it risks the peril of stopping too long to tell us too much. But there is such skill in Charles Johnson's craftsmanship, such daring in his willingness each time out to do work that is difficult and important, and such obvious sincerity and empathy in the homage that is Dreamer, it seems almost off-point to notice slight imperfections. Rather, we appreciate the gift we are given here--fiction that achieves the elusive goal of Greek tragedy, showing others to us in a way that enables us to better understand, and to improve, ourselves.
Rating:
Summary: Unique and compelling insight
Review: While so many are willing to cast aside the struggles of the civil rights era as yesterdays news, Johnson tackles them head on. At its heart Dreamer is a valid book about M.L.King, whose worth comes from its peeling of King like an onion to expose the many layers and come close to the truth that doesn't appear every Feburary. Smith and Bishop are extremely developed characters who only deepen the books probing of King. A worthy read for a fan of fine lit. or American History.
Rating:
Summary: A surprisingly fresh look at a familiar icon
Review: You know a movie's a hit when the audience remains sitting while the credits roll. A great novel affects me the same way. I'm silently awed by the gift of a powerful story. Charles Johnson has written such a strong tale. His "hero," Chaym Smith, is an embittered, tattered, unemployed, former mental patient and drunk. He has one gift and one curse. He's brilliant, with a "photographic memory," and he looks exactly like Martin Luther King. Having thoroughly ruined his own life, he volunteers to serve as a double for King. If he dies substituting for the man he honors, at least his life will have meant something. King reluctantly agrees, and two young workers take Smith to the country to train him in King's body language and speech patterns. Smith is a quick learner, but a frightening debater. He insists equality is impossible. Even in the beginning, God preferred Abel to Cain (a variation of his first name) for unexplained reasons. Still, he'll risk his life for his Abel. Quoting extensively from King's speeches and colleagues' remembrances, Johnson shows how King's thought was moving beyond the narrow goal of racial equality to the basic Christian concept of self-sacrificing love for all. King wants to lead his people further than white suburbia, to the real Promised Land. Like Christ and Gandhi, his heroes, his prophetic message will generate violence. Especially in the passages written from King's point of view, Johnson, a National Book Award winner, shows the incredible pressures on a man whose words can provoke riots but not understanding. No matter how familiar the subject seems before you begin reading, this novel will haunt you. Kathleen T. Choi, HAWAII CATHOLIC HERALD
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