Dream State is the story of CeCe, Charlie, and Garrett and the life choices we make, the challenges of marriage, and how our choices impact so many other people. This book is light on plot and heavier on character development, so it is not a quick read but it definitely is a worthy read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. Dream State is available now.

This book starts out with a woman named c. E! L. E! Comes to montana for a wedding to charles. While she was there his best friend g. AR RE T. T. Was supposed to have keep her company. At first She did not like him. But after a while they got used to each other and she felt comfortable with them Charles was a doctor and la and she was becoming a doctor as well. This book kept going back and forth in flashbacks In time. G a r r e t t was taking care of his father because he was a gay man and was dying. You had a trouble Task and his son did too. You'll find out how the story of him and Charles on ski Trip going Down The Mountain. Ali lost one of their friends.. When the?
Wedding was supposed to take place.Everybody got sick. Then things got really crazy in this book.Because she did not marry charles but stayed behind with GAR RE t. T.. They had one child a girl. Charles went through different marriages. And had 2 children. Your daughter fell in love with charles Son name Jasper. He had a heart condition, but he was not a very happy child. Everybody went their own way in this book.But things you could see.I I'll tragedy brought people together. CEL e was not a very happy person.She tried to run a bookstore. Thanks went downhill when she was diagnosed with dementia. It shows how life is funny sometimes.And how can be happy or tragic at the same time.

Dream State by Eric Puchner is a character-driven novel that explores the complexities of human relationships and the cyclical nature of love and betrayal. Set in Montana, the story unfolds over half a century, weaving together the lives of its characters. It's a thought-provoking exploration of the human condition, ideal for fans of literary fiction.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

I came late to the party for this book. Please don't make the same mistake. It's another winner that Oprah decided to pick for her book club. It's a beautifully written book by an author I never expected to capture the moments that he did. The book takes in Montana over a 50 year period from the 90' til 04. The main characters are friends Charlie and Garett and Cece who becomes a wife to Charlie. The book explores everyday life and life choices and how those decisions carry on through our life. You may not have meant them to lead you were you are heading but sometimes life scares you and you make decisons that may not best long term. The book explores having kids and what they mean to our life and how sometimes we aren't best for our children and how doing things wrong can affect their lives. The issues of climate change is also discused in this book because the beauty of Montana is changing and some would say not for the better. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it will be a great summer read as well as a fireplace book or if you are planning a trip to Montana. It;s the first book I've read by this author but really had me going back to see what else he has written. Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday for the ARC.

Dream State is a beautifully written epic character study set in Montana. The character development is outstanding and the setting sublime. It’s a story about friendship, family and difficult decisions.

Settle yourself into a comfortable chair with a beverage, a snack and a copy of this book. Be prepared to get very little else done as you won’t be able to put this book down.

What a fabulous read! I can certainly understand why this was one of Oprah's Book Club picks.
It's a beautifully written story about marriage, long term relationships, and love in all its form. It is character-driven more than plot-driven, and the main characters are so well-defined and so beautifully depicted. You can't help but empathize and, perhaps, sympathize, with what they are going through. Bad things happen to good people and good people do bad, insensitive things sometimes.
I couldn't stop thinking about this story long after I had finished it. Great!

Eric Puchner's DREAM STATE is everything I most enjoy in a novel: believable characters living impossibly difficult choices, family, romance, and most importantly, beautifully written. The hype for this book was extremely high, but the story soared way over expectations. One thing I particularly appreciated was the way the author tied together the themes and events in a satisfying conclusion. I received a copy of this book and these thoughts are my own, unbiased opinions.

Eric Puchner’s Dream State is a beautifully written, character-driven novel that prioritizes atmosphere and emotion over plot. Following the ripple effects of a single decision across generations, the book captures the weight of family history, regret, and the small moments that shape entire lives. Puchner’s prose is exquisite, and his deeply complex characters feel achingly real, making for an immersive and poignant reading experience.

While the novel shines in its introspective exploration of time and consequence, the middle section meanders a bit, occasionally losing momentum. However, the ending more than makes up for it, tying the novel’s themes together in a deeply satisfying way. Dream State is a novel that lingers, inviting readers to reflect on their own past and the invisible threads that connect us all.

3.5 rounded up | Another new release that I enjoyed but didn't love like I wanted to. This felt like three different books to me – the first large chunk where we're with Cece in the days leading up the wedding had me excited and curious for what's to come. The large time jumps left me wanting. I didn't quite understand why both men were so in love with Cece, and why she made the choice she did. But before we had a chance to get those answers, we were thrust years into the future. Character-driven books are some of my favorites (think Claire Lombardo) but in order to buy into the story I need to understand the characters' motivations, their wants, their desires, and I didn't get that here. Some of the underlying themes (climate change, motherhood, loss) aren't fully developed or explored. In many ways this felt like a first or second draft; it needed to be both flushed out and tied together a little more. I liked Puchner's writing and I'll definitely read what he writes next.

Dream State was an excellent read. The writing was propulsive and the character development was rich. I would read more from this author.

This writing was stunning. So beautiful and atmospheric—I loved the nature writing especially. Montana was such a powerful backdrop for this epic family story that asked so many hard questions.

This shunker of a book had me feeling lots of different things, mostly wishing it was a shorter book and only consisted of the first 30%. Almost so much that I was kind of hoping the rest of the book was a dream and it didn't really happen - did anyone else who read this think that??

We start with a wedding in 2004 between Cece and Charlie, officiated by Charlie's best friend Garrett who Cece has never met before. An email Garrett sends to Cece on the morning of the wedding sends all of their lives into havoc, and the rest of the book, spanning decades, is what happens after the email is sent.

I was so taken by Puchner's writing. Some of his sentences are just "stop in your tracks" gorgeous, almost cinematic. But other times I felt the book was a slog and could have been super edited down. Set in Montana, a so-called dream state of it's own, I think the reader also feels like we're in a dream state while reading. It's a lyrical and lovely book, with a page-turning plot for most of it. A lot of topics packed into one book, which isn't always a bad thing, but I almost just wish he focused on the love story and the family dynamics to keep it a bit more lean and mean.

One of Oprah's Book Club picks, this one is heavy on drama and will she won't she. Cece is in love and arrives at her almost in-laws to finish planning the big event. While waiting on the day to arrive, she begins getting to know her fiancé's best friend. As the days wear on, she begins to question what she wants. Which path will she choose?

@doubledaybooks | #gifted In theory 𝗗𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 by Eric Puchner is exactly my kind of book. It’s very literary, character-driven, following three friends with complicated relationships across nearly the entirety of their lives. It also brings in their families, who add another layer of complexity and the Montana setting is beautifully rendered. Adding even more to like, Puchner pushes his story another 20 years beyond today giving us a glimpse of what the world might be like then.⁣
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I fell into this story hard from the very beginning when Cece is in Montana preparing for her upcoming wedding to Charlie. The two have a perfect life planned out. Charlie, who’s still in Los Angeles working as a young doctor, asks his best friend Garrett, who happens to be from Montana, to go see if he can be of any help to CeCe. Thus the stage was set for the three central characters. I loved that first third of the book. I was riveted and anxious to find answers as more and more questions arose. The problem was that many of those answers never really came. Cece held so many, but as a character she was seriously underdeveloped and the questions around her only grew.⁣
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Perhaps because of that, or perhaps because the focus shifted a bit to include the next generation, the second third of the book really bogged down for me. I had to push more than I’d like. The final third I liked, though it was in a bit of a rush to fit all the pieces together. While this was mostly accomplished, the key pieces around Cece left me with a not quite complete puzzle and we all know how frustrating that can be. I keep asking myself why Puchner made the choice to hold back such vital elements of Cece, while at the same time making her fairly unlikeable. To be honest, I truly can’t understand why, but it definitely took away from the overall story for me. I don’t like being left perplexed! ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫✨

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. #sponsored

I found this book hard to get into. It didn't catch me at the beginning. The writing was fine, and the plot okay, just not really amazing. Perhaps I was not in the mood for this kind of romance. "As Cece spends time with Garrett, his gruff mask slips, and she grows increasingly uncertain about her future. And why does Garrett, after meeting Cece, begin to feel, well, human again?"

I love a character-driven story. I also love multigenerational family sagas and flawed characters. This one checks all the boxes. It's by no means a feel-good story, but I was fully immersed in these characters and their lives, and couldn't put the book down. A satisfying reading experience!

𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐯𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬.

I am one of those readers who doesn’t care if a famous person loves a book, it doesn’t make me buy a novel, nor after reading it change how I digest and feel about the tale. In the case of Dream State, the hype is warranted, which always surprises me. CeCe is getting married to Charlie Margolis, at the place she loves more than any other on earth, his family’s summer home in Salish, Montana. Charlie remains in LA, his work as a cardiac anesthesiologist keeps him far too busy for wedding planning, and the details are left to CeCe to tend to while she is in Salish. Charlie turns to his best friend from college, Garrett Meek to check in on CeCe and help with anything she may need. Garrett’s life has gone off the rails since a tragic death, and he is working in Montana as a baggage handler at the airport, a far cry from the future he was soaring into during college. He is not the same carefree guy and even wonders why he agreed to any of this. Upon meeting Garrett, CeCe is surprised by his appearance, nothing like her handsome, brilliant, optimistic Charlie, Garrett is gruff in manner and untidy in appearance, dressed like a mechanic. Having been told he was “having a bit of a hard time”, it certainly shows. She wonders what it is about this morose man that inspired Charlie in asking him to officiate their upcoming nuptials. When they go on a hike together, CeCe gets a chance to know him better and learns she and Garrett aren’t so different, both having dropped out of college. CeCe isn’t sure what to do with her life, beyond wearing the title of doctor’s wife, feeling she has something to offer the world, but unable to discover just what that is. Garrett’s future is paused, spent working and caring for his dying father, resolved to want for nothing, punishing himself after tragedy but CeCe makes him yearn to reach for a sun that could burn him up. Garrett is better with wild animals; Charlie saves human beings, but both adore CeCe.

When the wedding party and guests fall ill, loyalties are tested, hearts are ripped open, and CeCe makes a big life-altering decision. Is it the right one? Is there such a thing when it comes to the future, to love? What makes this novel hook the reader isn’t the heat of temptation nor the twist of fate that occurs, it is the fractures in our relationships, the fact that every choice brings with it pleasure and pain, success and failure. There isn’t a perfect choice, you can’t live your life without sacrifice, and loss, all things cost us just as much as we gain from our courage, we lose too. Each character struggles with regret, shame, betrayal, and is haunted by what if. Feelings aren’t so easily buried, you can forgive, but forgetting is a beast.

It is when children enter the story that Charlie, CeCe, and Garrett are dissected with precision, offering clarity. They are challenged by more than their conflicted feelings. In fact, this is where the tale sunk its claws in me and took a more profound direction. You can be successful and still be touched by tragedy. Love isn’t a guarantee of unending bliss either. Children have their own minds, their own demons to face down. These are people pulled in many directions, making mistakes, hurting those they love best, unsure of themselves and each other. They are each helpless in being anything but themselves, even if that creates more chaos, isn’t that life? Yet, there is tenderness in unexpected places.

Yes, read it. How strange the human heart is.

Published February 18, 2025

Doubleday Books

This was a very depressing read. Although charting was lovely the story was a tale of sad and desperate people that only put me in a bad mood. I can’t recommend.

O can see why reviews are split- you have to be a certain type of reader to love Dream State. I found it to be deeply moving. The non-linear plotting made it even more interesting. You really have to be a fan of character driven stories. I found it to be a very touching look at how a group of college friends grow after a tragic accident.

Eric Puchner’s Dream State has an appealing cover and synopsis, but the unlikable characters and depressing climate change pages were disappointing. Despite being an Oprah recommendation, it failed to meet my expectations.