Room to Dream

By: David Lynch, Kristine McKenna

Narrated by: David Lynch, Kristine McKenna

Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

An unprecedented look into the personal and creative life of the visionary auteur David Lynch, through his own words and those of his closest colleagues, friends, and family - adapted by David Lynch from the print book especially for this audio program.

In this unique hybrid of biography and memoir, David Lynch opens up for the first time about a life lived in pursuit of his singular vision, and the many heartaches and struggles he’s faced to bring his unorthodox projects to fruition. Lynch’s lyrical, intimate, and unfiltered personal reflections riff off biographical sections written by close collaborator Kristine McKenna and based on more than 100 new interviews with surprisingly candid ex-wives, family members, actors, agents, musicians, and colleagues in various fields who all have their own takes on what happened. 

Room to Dream is a landmark book that offers a one-time all-access pass into the life and mind of one of our most enigmatic and utterly original living artists. 

With insights into . . . 

• Eraserhead
• The Elephant Man
• Dune
• Blue Velvet
• Wild at Heart
• Twin Peaks
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
• Lost Highway
• The Straight Story
• Mulholland Drive
• INLAND EMPIRE
• Twin Peaks: The Return

Adapted for audio.

©2018 David Lynch and Kristine McKenna (P)2018 Random House Audio

Room to Dream is peachy keen!

Room to Dream is a great in depth look at a David Lynch and his many works. Despite what professional reviewers and writers have said there is a lot of insight given as to what a lot of his movies are about. I really enjoyed the back and forth style of the book. First you get the conventional biographical chapter, and then Lynch tells you things about that particular time in his own voice. He does get on his soapbox a few too many times regarding transcendental meditation, but he’s so earnest about the good that he believes that it will do in the world that it’s a forgiveable flaw. I discovered a lot of lesser known, but very cool, things that he had created through this book including the videos that he made for his website as well as the album and EP he made with Chrysta Bell. All in all this audiobook is as good as a cup of black coffee and a slice of cherry pie!

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

I thought this was great!

There have been a few books recently which I have had in both physical form, and in audiobook, in which each is different. The fact that David Lynch goes off script occasional really makes this.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

When the Idea Breaks

"Room To Dream" is shared by two readers, David Lynch and Kristine McKenna. The stated goal of this strategy was to develop a kind of tonal narrative where the idiosyncratic world of Lynch could slowly unfold. This was supposedly best accomplished by having McKenna read the fairly standard biographical content, which was then complemented by Lynch's textural storytelling and remembrances.

While initially delighted to hear Lynch recount his adventures as an artist, I sadly witnessed "Room To Dream" collapse under its own weight. Once the joy of hearing Lynch recounting his own life and work fades, this listener found much of the contrasting readers content to be redundant, if just uninteresting.

Also, Lynch's tendency to moralize (concerning his experiences with TM and how the practice can "save the world") was, at times, irritating and juvenile. As a person who practices and believes in the benefits of TM, my patience with finger waggers, even those as gifted as Lynch, apparently runs pretty thin and was the final reason I put this book down.

The hardcore fans should find this read enjoyable enough, but for those of us with a peripheral interest ( I only love two of his films), this book tends to run out of life about halfway in. This is a shame because I thought a subject like Lynch would make for a more interesting and worthwhile autobiography.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Everything I wanted it to be.

I’ve been waiting for this book for many, many years. Insight into the motivations, circumstance and luck that formed David Lynch into the multimedia master that he is. I was riveted and finished it in 2 days.

If you’ve ever wistfully thought about what your life ‘could have been, if only...’ it’s an amazing look at someone who just went ahead and consciously chose the right door every single time. His is also a crazy business model we could all learn from.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Fascinating story

The book might have better with only David speaking...it was sometimes confusing as to whose story was being told and the gender thing was confusing

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Review

l struggled to finish, but its not my usual genre. l did like the story of his growing up part though. just ran long.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

An Abstraction of an Artist's Life

There are many sources both written and visual on the work and life of David Lynch. What value you obtain from this book, I think, is correlative to your familiarity with these other works. There are no great revelations here, and the joy is listening to Lynch himself recant some memories for the listener.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Amazingly sincere and made with love and grace.

Lynch is so captivating in his natural talent for combinimg storytelling along with depicting the mood, in a way that is inspiring, moving and funny at times. This guy is not just an artist at his very core, but also such a cool guy and an inspiring human being. highly recommended!!

Love this book!! A must for any Lynch fan.

I could listen to David Lynch read the phone book and be entertained. Listening to his voice and stories is such a treat. Especially here in the audiobook, he doesn’t read the pages verbatim, he tells it in his own way off the cuff and very sincere, as if you were sitting down next to him over a cup of coffee. This could be considered a companion piece to the actual printed book. The info is in both, but the detail and delivery from Lynch are unique in each.

I’ve read multiple books on Lynch and they are all good, but listening to this one is truly a treat. Enjoy it.

A must for any Lynch fan!

I purchased this book when it was first released but ended up purchasing the audio version as well. I loved to hear David tell the stories and memories in his own words while occasionally going off topic. This was very entertaining, funny at times, and a must for any Lynch fan!