David Lynch and Kristine McKenna, Room to Dream ***

Room to Dream is a "hybrid of biography and memoir" of David Lynch. I love the idea of alternating chapters of traditional biography with chapters of the subject telling stories relating to that period of his or her life. Unfortunately, though, that's not what Room to Dream really is. The biographical chapters are not researched or written to provide insight into Lynch's character; they are fawning collections of admiring quotes. We learn the basic facts about Lynch's life and get anecdotes from various collaborators, but nothing resembling a character portrait.

I would have really liked to know more about how Lynch dealt with a huge studio production (The Elephant Man) after spending years on a passion project with his friends. How was he able to make the adjustment? How did he appear to the professionals used to more experienced directors? I'd also like to know more about the course of his relationships with his wives.

Especially in his later years, when he has an entourage catering to his needs, there are numerous clues to suggest that Lynch can be a difficult and capricious man to deal with, especially for women. (Some of the behind-the-scenes footage on the DVD for Twin Peaks: The Return includes moderately creepy behavior.) I wish the book went beyond Lynch's public persona of a nice Midwestern artist with the restless creativity to create a more nuanced view. You know, like a biography.

Machado de Assis, Dom Casmurro *** 1/2

Dom Casmurro is a (barely) nineteenth century novel (published in 1899) that feels like a twentieth century novel: an unreliable narrator, an ironic tone, and an ambiguous outcome. Our narrator Bentinho starts as a feckless fifteen-year-old boy in love with the girl next store, Capitu. At his birth, his mother promised God that he would become a priest, but Bento wants out of it. He eventually manages to leave the seminary, marry Capitu, and settle down in a home next door to his best friend. At the climax of the story, Bento becomes convinced that he is not his son's father, that Capitu betrayed him with his friend.

Machado de Assis is often called Brazil's greatest writer, and Dom Casmurro is his best known book. Arguments continue to rage about whether Capitu cuckolded Bento. My personal feeling is that she did not. From the very beginning of the book, Bento describes characters who clearly have ulterior motives that he fails to recognize, and just before he begins suspecting Capitu he himself experiences an attraction to his friend's wife. In other words, he's clearly a poor judge of character who only understands (or misunderstands) people's intentions in terms of his own.