I Must Be Dreaming

Hello, everyone! It's me, Swathi Udupa again ;-). I am here with a book review of "I Must Be Dreaming"

I'm a big fan of all kinds of stories, whether they come in the form of comics, books, or webtoons. I just love getting lost in a good tale. Recently, I stumbled upon a book that had me scratching my head at first, wondering what it could be all about. But the author, Roz Chast, managed to grab my attention in no time.

Now, let's talk about dreams for a moment. You know how they can be a real conversation killer? Well, it's not something most people want to chat about. But Roz Chast, the cartoonist, decided to write a whole book about her dreams, and guess what? It's actually pretty awesome.

Chast has this knack for taking the weird and absurd moments in life and turning them into hilarious drawings. She keeps her dream stories short and sweet, which she calls "dream filets," and fills them with her signature characters, like anthropomorphized chickens, grumpy old ladies, and animated veggies.

She starts off by giving you a bunch of reasons why dreaming is cool. It's like free entertainment, you don't need any special gear, and it's a reminder of how mysterious our consciousness is. She even promises not to bore you with REM cycles and sleep biomechanics because, honestly, it's not her jam.

What really fascinates Chast is that her own brain surprises her with its dream creations. She's the one making these dreams, and they still catch her off guard. But here's the kicker: most of her dreams are packed with anxiety, which isn't that surprising, considering she openly admits to being an anxious person.

She shares classic recurring dreams, like the panic of losing stuff or having those bizarre dentistry dreams (there's even one with Henry Kissinger – go figure). Her long-dead parents also make eerie appearances, from skeleton dads to moms wearing meat-printed aprons. And, of course, there's that one dream where she's topless on a bus, and no one seems to care.

But what sets her dreams apart is the punchline. They're often hilarious, like when a mother-figure tells her to buy Google stock in Yiddish or when she starts spewing trinkets and beach glass. A "fancy rich lady" suggests she should sell them on eBay. Classic Chast humor, right?

Cartoon ideas also find their way into her dreams, and while most of them are too goofy to publish, she still kinda likes them. She even imagines podiatrists having strange dreams about bunions. Go figure.

Now, Chast doesn't just leave you with her wacky dreams. She takes you on a quick tour of "Dream-Theory Land." You'll learn about what people from different times and places thought about dreams, from messages from the gods to predicting the future. Freud and Jung are in there too, each with their own take on what dreams mean. Chast breaks it down in a way that's easy to grasp, making the complex theories a little less head-spinning.

And this dream stuff isn't new to Chast. She kept a dream journal as a teenager and picked it up again when her kids moved out. She's particularly interested in the link between dreams and creativity. Instead of sticking to one theory, she suggests a combo-pack of explanations for why we dream and illustrates it with a good ol' pie chart because, in her words, "a book without a pie chart is hardly a book at all."

Book Review - I Must Be Dreaming by Roz Chast

Genre: Comic, Humor, Autobiography, Travel Literature

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This isn't Chast's first rodeo when it comes to turning heavy topics into light-hearted reads. She's tackled mortality and her relationship with her parents in "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?" and annoying life stuff in "What I Hate From A to Z." "I Must Be Dreaming" shows that Chast has a knack for catching her wild dreams and turning them into yet another relatable, charming book.

So, if you've ever wondered what's going on in the mind of a renowned cartoonist when she hits the sack, "I Must Be Dreaming" is your chance to take a hilarious and whimsical peek into the dream district of Roz Chast's brain. Get ready for some wild adventures and a lot of laughs.