Book Review... By Jack Bollan

— Prejudice and Forgiveness —

Other Dreams by author Nicholas Ifkovits is good. Very good. He doesn't try to be funny; he doesn't try to be clever; Nor is Other Dreams intended to simply entertain, although it is immensely entertaining. It is a serious novel about prejudice, and demonstrates that prejudice is the result of ignorance, conceit, misunderstanding, and refusing to see the obvious when it is not convenient or fun to do so.

The story is told in 226 pages of prose as sizzling and captivating as that of pop-authors like Grisham and Crichton. But Ifkovits includes something that is woefully lacking in the works of these better known authors. He includes insight into the nature of real people and the real world.

A master of captivating and believable dialogue, Ifkovits exploits this talent effectively in Other Dreams. We find no extraneous detail. The prose is extremely economical. Although Ifkovits proved capable of ornate detail in his novel, Cloud Drops, such scenes are omitted from Other Dreams so that the subject under study, the human spirit, remains clearly in focus.

The book is prefaced with an ominous quote from Isaiah, provocatively revealing where the book will take us. The quote tells of a "city that becomes like a harlot." Harlot, Illinois, is the fictional town in which Other Dreams is set in contemporary times.

The book opens as three adolescents steal eggs from protagonist Taterhead Ellis' delivery truck. Taterhead has had his nickname for so long that no one remembers where it came from. The son of an alcoholic father and long-suffering mother, he is considered mentally slow....

Catching the young thieves in the act, Taterhead chases them down and in a scuffle, accidentally rips 13-year-old Erica Erickson's shirt, exposing her breasts. The thieves, exploiting existing prejudices and misconceptions, concoct a story claiming Tater tried luring them into a sexual liaison.

The kids' story is so transparent that every adult should see through it at a glance. But few do, because it accurately conforms to what they want to believe.

Everyone from small town America will recognize one or more of the bad guys. For instance there's heroic Bullets O'Brien, whose fame is based on a lie and a few good seasons of basketball. This pretentious hero loses his soul in due couse, for he alone knows the kids' story is pure fiction but does nothing about it.

A scene in which two boys engage in mutual masturbation is among the most compact and honest statements about human sexuality that I have ever seen in literature. Ifkovits effectively contrasts the innocence of the boys' actions with the perverse sexual exploitation of them by Bullets.

Ifkovits expects his readers to be disgusted but mature enough to understand what is implied by the spiritual breakdown of the pedophile. The kids are angelic by comparison, and we understand that they will grow beyond the event, whereas Bullets will continue to spiral ever deeper into a hell of his own making.

One noteworthy subplot has Tater driving to Rockford, Illinois, each day to sell his goods. There he meets folks like himself who entertain modest "other dreams" while selling produce from a pickup at the roadside.

Ifkovits paints Tater's friends from Rockford with black skin to remind us that blacks constantly suffer the random prejudice now afflicting Tater. But their meager circumstances contrast sharply with their opulent souls. Unlike the people of Harlot, their spirits are whole.

A word of caution: Allow youself plenty of time when you pick this novel up, because once you do you won't want to put it down.

— And from thousands of fans, a few selected notes —

Wow! I finished reading Other Dreams last night at 2:00 a.m. and thoroughly enjoyed the book. It became more and more suspenseful the further I read. This novel is very good literature that shows just what we humans are capable of; hate. Yours was the first book I ever bought in my life, and it was a good choice!                               — Sam Diers / Denver, Colorado

I really enjoyed Other Dreams! I could not wait until the next chapter to see what other injustice would befall poor old Tater and pal Gaitlin. I am glad to see you expose the prejudice and cancer of jumped conclusions that can inundate a "presumed innocent" so swiftly. The scary thing is that this could still happen (and I'm sure it does on a daily basis) in today's age of enlightened investigation. An excellent read!                               — Bill Perry / Phoenix, Arizona

You asked if I would like to buy your book. I said I read so slowly that I just can't get into books. You told me I would not be able to put this book down. Well, I went out of town last weekend and started reading Other Dreams. You were right. This book is just great! I have never gotten into a book like that before and just had to finish it. Glad you talked me into it!                               — Phyllis Arenson / Mission, Kansas

I started reading Other Dreams last night, woke up this morning and finished it. Glad I wandered into the bookstore. Sometimes the most enjoyable experiences are those that surprise us, and that's just what your book was. A pleasant surprise.                               — Jeff Ball / Denver, Colorado