Dream City [Hardcover]

Brendan Short (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2009

Set in Depression-era Chicago, Dream City is an exhilarating debut novel about a young boy’s obsession with comic book heroes and his lifelong attempt to both recapture and escape his childhood.

Six-year-old Michael Halligan longs to be a hero. Submerging himself in 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 the winter of 1934. Michael is left in the custody of his gangster father, Paddy, and he tragically loses his faith in the power of good over evil.

So begins Michael’s obsessive quest through the city and suburbs of Chicago to recover the purity and comfort that defined his boyhood. As 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.

A dazzling tale 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?

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Short's sprawling and mostly successful debut novel packs in 72 years of one family's troubles. In Depression-era Chicago, six-year-old Michael Halligan relishes the times his mother, Elizabeth, reads to him from the funny pages, full of heroes he imagines coming to his rescue. His hired thug father, Paddy, dreams of owning a gas station outside of the city even if, in the meantime, one of the people he has to take care of is his deadbeat father. Elizabeth, meanwhile, dreams of running away from her family with the leader of a cultish religious group. A pregnancy threatens to interfere with her plans, and she opts for an abortion that leads to her death and robs the novel of its most complex character. With Elizabeth out of the way, the narrative falls on an adult Michael, who, when not cataloguing in his journal his many nights spent with prostitutes, goes to some fairly outrageous lengths to collect every Big Little Book—a series of pulpy books starring characters from the funnies—he can find. Short doesn't bring much new to the family saga potluck, but a bevy of eccentric characters and some tense moments should keep readers in the fold. (Sept.)
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Review

"An impressively mature first effort... complex and compelling. The moral dilemmas that can complicate family commitment are presented very clearly here. Highly recommended." -- Library Journal

"Terrific... Accomplished..." -- Austin American-Statesman

"One of the most impressive first novels I've ever encountered... beautiful... harrowing... Dream City does exactly what the best novels are supposed to do, change the reader in a way he or she never expected." -- Flagpole Magazine


"Ambitious... It's rare that a novel can affect and haunt the reader to a marked degree, but this one does. Short 'Dream's big. He's one to watch." -- Oklahoma Gazette

"A powerful first novel... set in a faithfully re-created Depression-era Chicago." -- Chicago Magazine

Product Details

• Hardcover: 375 pages
• Publisher: MacAdam Cage; 1 edition (February 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596923180
• ISBN-13: 978-1596923188
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,695,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brendan Short is the author of the novel "Dream City," which has been called "powerful" (Chicago Magazine), "terrific" (Austin American-Statesman), "complex" (San Francisco Chronicle) and "an impressively mature first effort...Highly recommended" (Library Journal). According to 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. His stories and poems have appeared in several literary journals, including The Literary Review and River Styx. A former writer-in-residence at St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., he currently lives in the Chicago area. Please visit his website, www.brendanshort.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a story!, April 5, 2009

By 

Dr. Neil L. Holman (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dream City (Hardcover)

This is one book you cannot judge by its cover, which suggests a flippant, breezy read. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a grim story of innocence denied, of mostly idealistic lives interrupted by rough reality. It is very much a Chicago novel, filled with characters pursuing dreams that are pretty much unfulfilled. It is very skillfully written; I recommend it highly.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Worthy Read That Makes You Think, December 29, 2008

By 

Geoff Livingston "GL" (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dream City (Hardcover)

I just finished reading Brendan Short's Dream City, a first novel from a young aspiring author. IT was an excellent foray into the world of collecting things that are old, from our past. But really the book spoke to me on many levels about the relationships that fathers and sons have. From Paddy and Michael to Oswald and Junior, we see pain and growth, success and failure and how the trials and tribulations of life affect us all.

It was excellent, and made me want to hug my Dad when I see him later today. Life is short, so love those who are closest to you. The items we cling to in memory mean little to the precious moments we can truly have every day.

I highly recommend Dream City, not just for entertainment purposes, but as a piece of literature that will make you think.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You can tell a book by it's cover!!!, November 24, 2008

By 

Robert Catania (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dream City (Hardcover)

I spotted Dream City in the local bookstore and was taken by the striking cover and loved the look sans jacket. The story line got my attention and the book delivered in a big way. I loved the move through the decades of Michael's life and the family interactions and consequences of all the family dynamics. This was a non-stop read and while Chabon is clearly the master in this type of story telling, I think Brendan Short shows huge potential in that style. Anyone who collects with a passion will understand and love this book.