Customer Reviews

Vision Quest: A Wrestling Story

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I grew up without a knowledge of amateur wrestling, but after getting into the realm of takedowns, granby rolls and near-fall points, I read where Vision Quest, the book, was re-released.

We've all seen the movie, questioning the takedown at the beginning of the big match with Shute, but this book is so much more detailed than the Matthew Modine hollywood production.

While the movie was scaled down and PG, the book is a bit more "adult" but still any wrestler will appreciate the detail of travelling to matches, unfortunate weight cutting, and dealing with girls during the season.

I got the book from Amazon.com on a Friday afternoon, and started reading it immediately. I finished the 194 page book in no time.

As soon as I'd finished it, I've already got a line of wrestlers here at school waiting to read it.

I HIGHLY recommend reading this fictional story of Louden Swain...

When Terry Davis first released VISION QUEST -- the story of high school wrestler Louden Swain's personal search for strength and understanding -- it was heralded as an exceptional book by John Irving, the American Library Association, Publisher's Weekly and the American Book Award committee (now known as the National Book Awards). Seeing the original Viking edition go out of print, was like losing an old friend. But Eastern Washington University Press resurrected Davis's debut novel in March of 2002, and that's good news for readers everywhere. Is it still a good and meaningful book after two decades? Absolutely. Louden's need for clarity and personal revelation is universal. It whispers to every man's journey into self-discovery. And Davis's ability to deliver the tenderness and brutality of truth masked as fiction is without parallel. Read VISION QUEST. It is a timeless novel that deserves a second shot at immortality.

This is one of the most real-world inspiring and beautifully understated pieces of fiction that I have read. The protagonist, Louden Swain, is a 17-and 18-year-old who is doing his very best to become the best (the most alive, capable) person he can figure out how to become. It's durned good to see such a life as Louden's promoted in a fine piece of writing instead of the maladjusts we often find in contemporary, "cool" literature. Although Vision Quest is listed as a young adult title, the writing transcends that genre. This is not so much a book for adolescent readers (although they'll likely enjoy it) as it is a fun read for adults who powerfully connect with good novels. The ending: it's downright perfect. The wrestling match between Louden and his opponent is not the point of the story. The journey of becoming is what matters here.

This book not only helped me become a writer, it confirmed that there are folks out there working in each moment to be the best people they can be. I've carried the protagonist, Louden Swain, with me every day of my life since I read VISION QUEST in late 1979. And I'm glad for it.

When I came to VISION QUEST in my mid-twenties, I was striving to connect with a life I could care about. I was not a reader, other than the few older novels I was required to read in freshman comp. and American lit. classes. For me, VISION QUEST was revelatory in teaching me that American literature was not something of the past: it didn't die with the likes of Fitzgerald and Steinbeck and Hemingway. Even more important (more enriching) to me, it showed that it was possible to write books and stories that would be accessible and relevant to (and resonant in) many people's lives who would not otherwise be interested in reading. What's more, VISION QUEST helped me recognize and honor the connections between my life and those of others around me. You can't ask for more than that from a book.

And it's not something you often find. For these reasons and others, VISION QUEST is a novel to honor and to celebrate.

The life that Louden Swain lives in this book was something I could indeed recognize as A LIFE! Louden was awake and alive to the possibilities. This was a theme I was (and remain) passionate about pursuing in my own life and work. I hope that I've done an OK job of making that happen.

Davis Miller, author of THE TAO OF MUHAMMAD ALI: A FATHERS AND SONS MEMOIR and THE TAO OF BRUCE LEE: A MARTIAL ARTS MEMOIR

"Vision Quest", like "The Catcher in the Rye", is a novel about adolescence, in the hero Louden Swain's own words, about the "short time he's got left to be a kid."

He's a high-school wrestler who's dropping weight for a match with the state champion but also someone who tries to fill his life with things to do. He reads Kurt Vonnegut novels and med. school textbooks and gets pissed off when the colleges he visits only ever let him talk to the jocks and coaches, rather than the professors he's read about.

Looking at "Vision Quest" now, I realise it is a much funnier book than I supposed when I first read it twenty years ago. Then I was about the same age as Louden and the things he said seemed to make perfect sense. Nowadays, I can appreciate Davis's irony and the perceptiveness with which he makes Louden very much a teenager in his understanding and world-view. My favorite Louden comment is his straight-faced philosophising that, "having a girlfriend is not all fun and games. There's responsibility in it too."

I think the reason VQ is enjoyable and bears re-reading even now, is that it does so many different things very well. Davis covers male bonding, boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, parent-child dynamics and student-teacher struggles. He also captures Louden's dual-nature, as he switches from moments of seriousness, squinting into an uncertain and potentially dangerous future, with Louden's sudden reversals into kiddish playfulness, as he stuffs his team-mate's mouthguard down his shorts.

As well as capturing the atmosphere of the wrestling-room, literature is also a recurring theme. We are told about the novels Louden reads, his English class assignments and his graduation thesis. There is even an analysis of James Agee's "Knoxville Summer 1915". This is is done so seamlessly and with such relish that it made me want to run out and buy these books too.

For me, this a rare example of a completely successful novel. It has not dated (except for a kind of 1960s wonder over racial equality) and Davis has a sharp ear for the dialog, name-calling and absurdity of teenagers. It takes wrestling as a starting-point but is startling in its lack of violence or agression. Rather, it is tender, humorous and poignant, gaining its power from the clarity and truth of its depiction of adolescent life. Terry Davis succeeds in making us care about Louden and Carla, who end up seeming much more than mere fictional characters. Novelists of any stature can hope for little more.

This book not only made me a writer, it confirmed that there are folks out there working in each moment to be the best people they can be. I've carried the protagonist, Louden Swain, with me every day of my life since I read VISION QUEST in late 1979. And I'm glad for it.

When I came to VISION QUEST in my mid-twenties, I was striving to connect with a life I could care about. I was not a reader, other than the few older novels I was required to read in freshman comp. and American lit. classes. For me, VISION QUEST was revelatory in teaching me that American literature was not something of the past: it didn't die with the likes of Fitzgerald and Steinbeck and Hemingway. Even more important (more enriching) to me, it showed that it was possible to write books and stories that would be accessible and relevant to (and resonant in) many people's lives who would not otherwise be interested in reading. What's more, VISION QUEST helped me recognize and honor the connections between my life and those of others around me. You can't ask for more than that from a book.

And it's not something you often find. For these reasons and others, VISION QUEST is a novel to honor and to celebrate.

The life that Louden Swain was living in this book was something I could indeed recognize as A LIFE! Louden was awake and alive to the possibilities. This was a theme I was (and remain) passionate about pursuing in my own life and work. I hope that I've done an OK job of making that happen....

This book not only made me a writer, it confirmed that there are folks out there working in each moment to be the best people they can be. I've carried the protagonist, Louden Swain, with me every day of my life since I read VISION QUEST in late 1979. And I'm glad for it.

When I came to VISION QUEST in my mid-twenties, I was striving to connect with a life I could care about. I was not a reader, other than the few older novels I was required to read in freshman comp. and American lit. classes. For me, VISION QUEST was revelatory in teaching me that American literature was not something of the past: it didn't die with the likes of Fitzgerald and Steinbeck and Hemingway. Even more important (more enriching) to me, it showed that it was possible to write books and stories that would be accessible and relevant to (and resonant in) many people's lives who would not otherwise be interested in reading. What's more, VISION QUEST helped me recognize and honor the connections between my life and those of others around me. You can't ask for more than that from a book.

And it's not something you often find. For these reasons and others, VISION QUEST is a novel to honor and to celebrate.

The life that Louden Swain was living in this book was something I could indeed recognize as A LIFE! Louden was awake and alive to the possibilities. This was a theme I was (and remain) passionate about pursuing in my own life and work. I hope that I've done an OK job of making that happen...

Louden Swain is a wrestler's wrestler
but he has a problem in form of a up and coming
match with the state champ ,Shoot, a real teratoid!
Oh and by the way... he has to diet down to 147 lb.
to wrestle shoot. Unlike the movie of the same
,name the book has a reality to it.
I 've known guys like this at
my high school. They were doing homework in one
hand and squeezing a handgripper in the other!
Louden is totally dedicated to preparing for his
meeting with shoot.
Able to do mountains of push ups 100 at
at a time and sit-ups to infinity! Carla
adds to the mix ,first as house guest then
as .....well read the book and find out.
The only dark spot in the book is
that it ends with the start of the swain - shoot
matchup. You never see who won the match!!
But you know that win or loss swain would
treat these two imposters the same.
A good book for adolescent sports nut, or
any aged sports nut!

"Vision Quest" is a book that I waited three months to read. While the book was better than the movie, I felt that the wrestling aspect often got lost in the story of Louden growing up. Plus, at times, the constant refrences to the river seemed to drag down the flow of the story. I liked the novel very much, and will undoubtably give it to me children to read, if I ever have any. "Vision Quest" is a book that is less about wrestling, and more about life. For that reason, I would reccomend this novel to any reader. Note:If given the choice between the order in which to experience both the movie and the book, I think it would be more benefitial to read the book first. However, that is just an opinion. Enjoy!!!

I had seen the movie first, after hearing about this movie for a few years and having a interest in amatuer wrestling and even taking part in amatuer wrestling as a high schooler. I have to say the book is better then the movie, but I did really also enjoy the film.

So if you have a interest in wrestling and well written and interesting characters take a look at this book!