Vision Quest by Terry Davis Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Vision Quest
Book Review: If you loved the movie..don't buy this book!
Summary: 2 Stars
My husband is perhaps the biggest fan of the movie Vision Quest. He bought this book hoping it would be as good or better and was HORRIBLY disappointed. It was shallow and Godless! You are left feeling disconnected from the main character. You feel like you need a bath after reading it. Seriously, this is not the book you had hoped for if you loved the movie. Save your money on this one.Book Review: Not just for wrestlers
Summary: 5 Stars
As a middle-aged guy who decades ago gobbled up most of Tom Robbins, Carlos Castaneda, Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter Thompson and others who wrote from the time and place that gave birth to classic rock and roll (which defines those authors' collective sensibility as best as I can), I thought that I had run out of books that could return me to that source. Therefore, I was delighted to stumble upon Vision Quest (first published in 1979) at this point in my life. It transported my spirit back in time and restored in me some fresh understanding, idealism and hope. Author Terry Davis put it best: "There are periods in our lives, I think, when we're almost invincible, and then other periods when we're vulnerable as birds' eggs. I wrote Vision Quest about one of those invincible times."
The book is inspiring, hilarious, connected, grounded, and philosophical without being dogmatic. The characters became the friends of my youth. While the story centers on and has a special appeal for wrestlers, it's about more than wrestling. It's about everything. I highly recommend it.
Book Review: Perfect Ending to a Durned Good Read
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: This remarkable book helped make me a writer.
Summary: 5 Stars
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
Book Review: Vision Quest a must read.
Summary: 5 Stars
Simple. This book is a modern american classic. Well written, reads very quickly. I have read and re-read this book. Excellent read. Highly recommned.
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