Overview

Broken Land Dreams, with its fragments of dreams, poems, lyrics, reflections, and social commentary, defies a conventional linear narrative. Part I is the background in which Jacob Traum, a grumpy, Brooklyn, retired high school social worker and meditating lefty boomer, first tells us his wife Maya has left him and warns him he needs to recover from himself. He describes the puzzling and socially unjust things he broods and dreams about that contribute to his grumpiness and emotional absence. In Part II, which is most of the book, the surreal story begins. Jacob, with the help of his dreamt-up, gender-fluid, hired power with superpowers from the future, Xen Kohen, embarks on a Dante-esque, pandemic-era personal journey. In Hell Inc. he is confronted by, then manages to escape three right-wing rats, leaders of the Ratocracy conspiracy-Ratty Ghouliani, Ayn Ratnd, and Pete the New York Pizza Rat. The rats seek revenge by infesting his former high school with Ratocratic values and plan to take over Brooklyn. With the help of his Park Slope (Purgatory) men's group, the Brooklyn Codgers, and his former high school students' socially conscious meditation group, the BK Dream Team, newly imbued with their own superhero powers, Jacob must face himself as well as the Ratocrats in a final showdown to reach Heaven (the Brooklyn Botanic Garden), save Brooklyn, and earn back Maya. In our post-pandemic and Trump-redux era, this re-telling of Dante's cosmic journey of self-discovery will appeal to many of us facing an uncertain future and to those who appreciate a fable in which truth, love, and Brooklyn-style dreams triumph over meanness, greed, and fake news-and New York rats.

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Reviews

""In Broken Land Dreams, a fantastical, Whitmanesque hymn to Brooklyn, the Fertile Crescent of American culture and diversity, David Forbes takes us on a wild journey through the rapids of our times-past, present and future-and the hellscapes and celestial realms that call to us. Like Coney Island's Cyclone, the book is meant to be experienced several times, not just for the library of quotations, the surreal imaginings, and the Utopian vision of a different world, but also for its wisdom and joy. Not only we Brooklyn Codgers but also spiritual seekers of all ages will laugh, applaud, and be amazed as they take this literary roller coaster ride through Forbes' cosmic vision."" -Peter Taubman, Emeritus Professor, Brooklyn College, author, Teaching By Numbers ""'A brooding, grumpy, white male lefty boomer from the 60's'"" has given us a joyful and anarchic journey-a bit of Dante's Divine Comedy-of despair, defeat, and ultimate redemption. David Forbes' Broken Land Dreams is a love letter to Brooklyn, its complex inhabitants, its crown jewel, The Botanic Garden, and to the political left with all its strengths and absurdities, written with passion, rage, humor, understanding, self-deprecation, clever punning, anguish, and ultimately hope. In these very harrowing times, Forbes providesa riotous magic realist story replete with extraordinary erudition and comical references. Reading this may get us through our dark days as we plan for a more hopeful future."" -Barbara Winslow, founder and Director, The Shirley Chisholm Project of Brooklyn Women's Activism ""Broken Land Dreams, David Forbes' brilliant and entertaining first novel...is part political rant, part plea for social justice, and part love song to a more egalitarian Brooklyn. It's also a call to action. Moreover, because Forbes weaves both magical realism and quotes from an array of literary, political, and philosophical luminaries into the text, he has crafted something that defies easy categorization. Suffice it to say, it's an engaging and provocative read."" Eleanor Bader, The Turned Page Review ""What stands out most in Broken Land Dreams is its hope, especially regarding politics... This is exemplified through [Forbes'] faith in younger people, as it's the high school characters that help [the protagonist] Traum restore Brooklyn from the Ratocracy... Alongside its academic roots, unique style, and sense of hope, Broken Land Dreams highlights Forbes' love for his adopted home of Brooklyn...'"" Ava Sharahy, ""A Surreal Brooklyn Story That Covers Politics, Loneliness And Super Heroes."" BKReader

Author Information

David Forbes is an emeritus professor, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York and author of Mindfulness and Its Discontents: Education, Self, and Social Transformation. He taught school counseling at Brooklyn College for nineteen years. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Iris Lopez, a professor at CIty College/CUNY.

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