A Child's Night Dream

Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: Not pleasant to read. I caught myself involutarily cringing as my brain tried in vain to understand the author's motivations. There is some really good imagery in some places, so if you're a poet who enjoys grandiloquent writing, here you go. Not a compelling story at any rate.

Rating:
Summary: Off-Beat Aspirations
Review: They say if you stare into a mirror long enough, you'll see the face of your own mother or father. But what if you saw Mother/Father/eagles in Mexican mountains/Godeath with sun in your eyes/"Ghost of a panther's soul"?

A CHILD'S NIGHT DREAM is the first novel written by celebrated screenwriter/director/producer Oliver Stone, winner of three Oscars (for the screenplay of MIDNIGHT EXPRESS and as director of PLATOON and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY), and whose films have earned 37 Academy Award nominations. First embarked on when Stone was 19, the novel lay becalmed inside a shoebox for 30 years until Stone took a deep breath and set sail once more. Graciously, he's invited us along as fellow voyagers, or voyeurs.

A CHILD'S NIGHT DREAM is the autobiographical/fictional story of young William Oliver Stone, whose neglectful haut monde mother made him a haunting promise one night long ago. A promise Stone must prove or dispel or run from or embed like a Cambodian dagger in his own flesh.

Torn between his estranged parents, Stone lives in two worlds. The world of "Oliver" is warm, carnal. Lust replaces love, and his mother has the "...face of a growling meateater. Wolfess." The world of "William" is cold, rigid, rigor mortis. Money replaces love, and his father unerringly hammers a stake through his son's heart, "You can't be an individual in this world..."

Rejecting both worlds, Stone volunteers for combat in Vietnam and enters the Inferno. Raw, visceral, shot through wih madness, it's a microcosmic version of the film PLATOON, with fascinating additions -- the ghosts of French soldiers, Indians taking scalps, and Stone experiencing his own death.

But reality is shape-shifting, and when Stone discovers he's alive, he embarks on a sea voyage. And what a voyage this proves to be -- mano a mano confrontations, a devastating hurricane, a man lost overboard, and Stone's terror when his "own devil voice" calls to him from the impenetrable depths. It's a masterfully told tale that lashes us with all the fury of a storm at sea.

Stone's odyssey leads us through dark bordellos, a murderous rainy afternoon in France, and an erotic encounter with an angel. Ultimately we find ourselves in a cheap Mexican hotel room where Stone confronts the ashes of a book, a mirror, a dream.

A CHILD'S NIGHT DREAM is an extraordinary novel -- poetic, painful, elemental, pounding to the demented rhythms of the sea and a young man's blood. In Stone's hands, language itself becomes an adventure, and images can be cool, mystical, silvered to the back of a mirror -- or hot, panting beasts rampaging through the jungle.

And who will ever forget the courage and tragedy of this Boy/Poet who strips himself naked, shivering outside the garden like a lost cherub?

A CHILD'S NIGHT DREAM is an intensely moving experience. Even if we tie the heart in a double sailor's knot for safety, Stone will unravel it. And if we've managed to hold them back, Stone's Epilogue, written at age 50, finally releases them -- "long tears like boats sailing from the ports of [our] eyes."

Rating:
Summary: A book by a self important Studio Hack
Review: This book is simply unreadable. Basically if you go on a street corner and listen to a homeless person rant, tape the rant, then put it to paper, you will come out with a very similiar book. Stone is not talented enough to write a book with a real story or plot, so instead he just puts his ramblings to page and hopes there will be enough shallow people who mistake it for genius since it is wierd. Kind of like those abstract painters who can be outpainted by an ape.

Rating:
Summary: A book by a self important Studio Hack
Review: This book is simply unreadable. Basically if you go on a street corner and listen to a homeless person rant, tape the rant, then put it to paper, you will come out with a very similiar book. Stone is not talented enough to write a book with a real story or plot, so instead he just puts his ramblings to page and hopes there will be enough shallow people who mistake it for genius since it is wierd. Kind of like those abstract painters who can be outpainted by an ape.

Rating:
Summary: Deserves at Least 3 1/2 Stars
Review: This book is underrated and underappreciated. It's quality is uneven and inconsistent, but I think worth reading for the good parts. It is pretty clear that Vietnam represents an overwhelming catharsis or abreaction for his character, even to the point of a certain amount of mythologizing. For any reader not expecting a large dose, be prepared. Overall, this novel deserves merit for not keeping to the beaten path.

Rating:
Summary: A hauntingly beautiful novel -- poetic and revealing
Review: _________________________________________________________________

They say if you stare into a mirror long enough, you'll see the face of your own mother or father. But what if you saw Mother/Father/eagles in Mexican mountains/Godeath with sun in your eyes/"Ghost of a panther's soul"?

A CHILD'S NIGHT DREAM is the first novel written by celebrated screenwriter/director/producer Oliver Stone, winner of three Oscars (for the screenplay of MIDNIGHT EXPRESS and as director of PLATOON and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY), and whose films have earned 37 Academy Award nominations. First embarked on when Stone was 19, the novel lay becalmed inside a shoebox for 30 years until Stone took a deep breath and set sail once more. Graciously, he's invited us along as fellow voyagers, or voyeurs.

A CHILD'S NIGHT DREAM is the autobiographical/fictional story of young William Oliver Stone, whose neglectful haut monde mother made him a haunting promise one night long ago. A promise Stone must prove or dispel or run from or embed like a Cambodian dagger in his own flesh.

Torn between his estranged parents, Stone lives in two worlds. The world of "Oliver" is warm, carnal. Lust replaces love, and his mother has the "...face of a growling meateater. Wolfess." The world of "William" is cold, rigid, rigor mortis. Money replaces love, and his father unerringly hammers a stake through his son's heart, "You can't be an individual in this world..."

Rejecting both worlds, Stone volunteers for combat in Vietnam and enters the Inferno. Raw, visceral, shot through wih madness, it's a microcosmic version of the film PLATOON, with fascinating additions -- the ghosts of French soldiers, Indians taking scalps, and Stone experiencing his own death.

But reality is shape-shifting, and when Stone discovers he's alive, he embarks on a sea voyage. And what a voyage this proves to be -- mano a mano confrontations, a devastating hurricane, a man lost overboard, and Stone's terror when his "own devil voice" calls to him from the impenetrable depths. It's a masterfully told tale that lashes us with all the fury of a storm at sea.

Stone's odyssey leads us through dark bordellos, a murderous rainy afternoon in France, and an erotic encounter with an angel. Ultimately we find ourselves in a cheap Mexican hotel room where Stone confronts the ashes of a book, a mirror, a dream.

A CHILD'S NIGHT DREAM is an extraordinary novel -- poetic, painful, elemental, pounding to the demented rhythms of the sea and a young man's blood. In Stone's hands, language itself becomes an adventure, and images can be cool, mystical, silvered to the back of a mirror -- or hot, panting beasts rampaging through the jungle.

And who will ever forget the courage and tragedy of this Boy/Poet who strips himself naked, shivering outside the garden like a lost cherub?

A CHILD'S NIGHT DREAM is an intensely moving experience. Even if we tie the heart in a double sailor's knot for safety, Stone will unravel it. And if we've managed to hold them back, Stone's Epilogue, written at age 50, finally releases them -- "long tears like boats sailing from the ports of [our] eyes."