The Man Whose Dreams Came True is a novel published by Julian Symons in 1968, and although it is a Forgotten Book, it should not be. I borrowed a copy from the local library not long after it came out, having recently discovered Symons,and I thought it was terrific. I still do. Symons' cynical wit is much in evidence, and the plot is wonderfully twisty and ironic. As with its immediate predecessor, The Man Who Killed Himself, Symons was working very much in the tradition of Anthony Berkeley/Francis Iles, while producing a novel that was distinctive and thoroughly entertaining.
Tony Jones is a good-looking but feckless young man who has plenty of ambitions, but neither the money nor the character - it seems - to realise them. When we are introduced to him, he is working for a crusty old general as his secretary, and indulging in a variety of petty fiddles as well as an affair with a local girl who is - like several characters in the book - not all that she seems.
Things don't work out for Tony in this job, and he soon drifts into an affair with an older woman, before a new job, working for the wealthy husband of a sexy woman, seems to offer him that long-awaited chance to make his dreams come true. There are numerous excellent plot complications, and plenty of surprises before Tony finds his destiny.
This is a very readable story, which stands up well nearly fifty years after it was written. Yes, the price of a flight to Venezuela has changed, and so have some of the other specifics in the storyline, but Symons describes human folly with cool insight as well as humour. Returning to this book so long after I first read it, I definitely was not disappointed, and if you track it down, I don't think you will be, either.
I'd rate this one highly among the Symons books.
ReplyDeleteTwenty years ago I had a Penguin omnibus edition containing the three 'The Man Who ...' books. After reading the fantastic 'The Man Who Killed Himself' I unfortunately skipped over 'The Man Whose Dreams Came True' and read 'The Man Who Lost His Wife' ... a big mistake! I was so disappointed by that one that I got rid of the book before reading 'The Man Whose Dreams Came True'. When I finally read it a couple of years ago, I was amazed how good it was.
Thanks, Ted, we are of the same mind. I will review 'Lost His Wife' in due course, but it is not in the same league, is it?
ReplyDeleteAlways amazed that the same author who writes lasting treasures can sign off on a stinker. Overdue bills, maybe?
ReplyDeleteCould be, Matthew. And Julian Symons certainly produced one or two non-fiction books mainly for the money - nothing wrong with that, of course. But in fact my guess is that The Man Who Lost His Wife was actually a big disappointment because he was trying to write a high calibre mainstream literary novel, and got it rather badly wrong. The ambition was, I think, praiseworthy, it's the execution that went awry.
ReplyDeleteI read a very clever novel by Symons some years ago: I think it was The Plot Against Roger Rider. I agree that he was an uneven writer, but he could be very good.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Chrissie, that's a very good one indeed, with a great twist. I've read it twice and would be happy to do so again. More Symons before long!
ReplyDeleteOther of my favourite Symons books are 'The Colour of Murder' and 'The End of Solomon Grundy'. I wrote an article on Symons back in 1991 for Book and Magazine Collector, and he took the time to provide answers to a whole list of questions I sent him. He was also kind enough (notwithstanding the slightly warts and all nature of the article) to send me a thank-you gift of an inscribed, limited edition copy of his 'The Mystique of the Detective Story'. Martyn
ReplyDeleteThanks for this, Martyn. A nice story, and rather typical of the man, I hope to find your article about him one of these days. I agree about those two books, especially Solomon Grundy.
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