Wow! Sad! I really liked this book, but the ending was sad and the introduction (it came at the end--haha) was really, really sad. The conclusion Peter Straub gleans from the book is that the Endless "are merely mythic patterns, and as such do not have the authority to interfere in human lives." Having read so far ahead at this point, I have realized that is Brief Lives that sets up this simple fact as Dream's hamartia (not hubris--people are always getting these confused). Dream's whole existence is based on his responsibility, for the dreamworld, for the dreamers, for the dreams and nightmares. He justifies his actions according to the rules he has created or inherited and set up as his purpose in life. And in many ways he needs Delirium to show him this truth, both literally and figuratively. The character Delirium with her childlike innocence can ask questions and make statements that Dream's rather left brained mind cannot fathom. She tries to lead him to a greater freedom by leaving his beaten path. There is definitely something to be said about the fact that Dream apologizes to Delirium on at least two occassions in this book, but he never manages to apologize for what he needs to apologize for.
The plot of this book is quite unified and quite simple. Delirium decides she needs a change, so she goes to ask her siblings if they will help her seek Destruction, the prodigal brother. Destiny and Desire flat out refuse. Despair refuses slightly more gently. Death manages somehow not to get involved (she does have a job to do), and Dream ends up being the only of the Endless who is willing at all to help Delirium. The quest is multifaceted. Dream needs to get out of his morose mood; another lover has left him in mourning for his humanity (he cannot keep a lover because no woman (or man) can compete with his sense of responsibility as a quasi-god). As the story progresses he is also seeking some closure to the deaths the beginning of the quest incurs. Again he feels beholden to the mortals he has hurt. Finally the quest brings him back to unfinished business with his son Orpheus who he abandoned earlier in life. Orpheus manages to barter his death (which he has been seeking for a thousand years) for information about where Destruction is. Delirium gains Destruction's dog, Barnabus, and Dream returns to his castle to brood over his son's death.
The story is very circular. It begins with Orpheus's guardian's cheerful acceptance and Dream's brooding, and it ends the same way. The highlight seems to be on the two different mindsets. When Dream returns to the Dreaming, he tells Lucien, "For the rest of today I will be retiring to my quarters. I do not wish to be disturbed." While he is dying, Andros muses, "It is going to be a beautiful day." Andros appreciates and accepts his brief life, while Dream has spent the majority of his (much less) brief life feeling sorry for himself. Dream is an interesting character. He always tries to do the right thing. Whenever one of his siblings tells him he has made a mistake, he sets off to correct it. But he never seems to get the point that the real joy comes from treating people (and gods or whatever) the right way the first time. I really like him. I like that he seems to have a sense of honor. When I said he behaves in a godlike fashion, I meant it. He definitely has a code of behavior that surpases that of the mortal world. It just doesn't seem to be enough, and it bothers me that even our gods are saddled with these eternal questions of responsibility to others versus responsibility to self, too much work versus too much play, the constant struggle for balance. Can't life be simple for anyone? It's very frustrating, but it must be a truth. I believe that truth comes from our representations. Truth does come to light with the creation of art. Sometimes though it doesn't make it any easier to swallow.
On a happier note, I adore Delirium. I don't know if she is my favorite character, but I really, really like her. She is so cute about her "milk chocolate people:" "Have you got any little milk chocolate people? About threee inches high? Men AND women? I'd like some of them filled with raspberry cream." And when she drives: "I'm good at this, aren't I? I'm really good. I knew I'd be good at driving. Bzuum. Bzuum. Dream? Look at me! Look at me driving!" And, probably most importantly, she accepts truth in a way that Dream cannot. When they finally find Destruction and he explains that he will not return to his realm and make things as they were before, she simply says, "I thought you would," and it's over. She doesn't beg and she doesn't plead. It's simple for her. Perhaps craziness does make things simple.
I'm finding it harder and harder to write frivilously about these books. Straub says, "If this isn't literature, nothing is," and he nails it. Of course, I am getting further and further from my "near instant reaction too." It's hard to find time to write AND read, but still, the themes are just too weighty. What started out simply has become a quagmire of great ideas, and I suppose that is what literature is: a quagmire of great ideas. Still, I must try (it is my passion after all).
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