Machine Dreams

Paperback, 352 pages

Published 1984

Vintage Contemporaries (1999)

Callil-Toibin 200 Best Novels (1950-1999)

In her highly acclaimed debut novel, the bestselling author of Shelter introduces the Hampsons, an ordinary, small-town American family profoundly affected by the extraordinary events of history. Here is a stunning chronicle that begins with the Depression and ends with the Vietnam War, revealed in the thoughts, dreams, and memories of each family member. Mitch struggles to earn a living as Jeans becomes the main breadwinner, working to coplete college and raise the family. While the couple fight to keep their marriage intact, their daughter Danner and son Billy forge a sibling bond of uncommon strength. When Billy goes off to Vietnam, Danner becomes the sole bond linking her family, whose dissolution mirrors the fractured state of America in the 1960s.

Deeply felt and vividly imagined, this lyrical novel,by a master of contemporary fiction, is "among the wisest of a generation to grapple with a war that maimed us all" (The Village Voice)

"A beautifully patterned novel . . . an enduring literary achievement . . . astonishing."—The New York Times

"Machine Dreams, in its wisdom and its compassionate, utterly unsentimental rendering of the American condition, will rank as one of the great books of [the] decade. Jayne Anne Phillips is a blessing."—Robert Stone

"An intensely Ameican, beautifully written first novel. . . . It carries the strength of myth, and yet is utterly of our times."—The Wall Street Journal