He died in 399, in May or June, having drunk the cup of hemlock prescribed for him at his last trial.

This book is a straight re-telling of the history of Socrates’ time. It is not a light read, but neither is it as intimidating as some of the historic tomes I’ve slogged through. Ms. Hughes, as mentioned, has a light touch and a rather lyric hand with her material.

I have just two caveats regarding this book. The first is that I wish she had had a more attentive proof reader who might have corrected some of her more egregious errors of grammar, which include sentences that lack a subject or have only an implied predicate, not to mention odd placement (or lack thereof) of commas. The second has to do with an occasional, excessively sentimental bit of hyperbole, as in:  “Socrates suffocated to death when the poppies in the city would have been blood-red. The dying democracy had ensured that one of the tallest of all Athenian poppies was cut down.” Somehow the analogy would be over the top even if the physical description of Socrates given by others hadn’t been that he was short and rather homely.

But such a minor gaffe in a story rich in detail and depth may be forgiven. Socrates himself might have laughed at being referred to as “the tallest of all Athenian poppies,” but he would doubtless have forgiven someone so dedicated to the search for the truth of his life.

— ©2012 Julia Sneden for SeniorWomen.com

TRAIN DREAMS

By Denis Johnson © 2002

Published by Picador; 2012, 116 pp.

Photograph from Wikimedia Commons:  Steam locomotives of the Chicago & North Western Railway in the roundhouse at the Chicago, Illinois rail yards. Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration — Office of War Information Collection

It’s surprising how often a novella or short story carries more freight of meaning than the longest epic or novel. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson is a book like that. Ten years ago it won a number of awards from The New York Times, The Economist, The New Yorker, and NPR. Layered like the skin of an onion, it invites rereading and interpretations.

Readers of “literary” fiction often find themselves outside the best-seller camp as with this story. Jeannette Haien’s the All of It is another example. Perhaps one of the reasons these novels become so memorable and remain so long in print is the possibility of divergent insights they provide.

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