"julie closed her eyes and trailed her arm out the open window and let the wind bend her fingers back, dipped her arm like a dolphin’s nose through the headwind, like she was a mermaid, swimming in a dream."

The Dream Of Doctor Bantam is the somewhat-enigmatic title of the debut novel by Jeanne Thornton. Initially it’s hard to determine to what the title might refer. It seems to suggest something archaic or scientific – two descriptors which could not be more inappropriate for the first chapter of this story.Full review at http://www.neonmagazine.co.uk/?p=2188.

http://therumpus.net/2012/11/horn-rev...

GRANTED, I'M BIASED.

Wow, and hot damn! I suppose it's fitting that I came to this novel, Jeanne's debut, eight years late as it is full of time-related pseudo-philosophy -- but alas I am timebound, and it bothers me that I did not read this earlier. A wacky cult; a coffeeshop; a seventeen-year-old baby dyke grieving the loss of her older sister; Austin, TX in the early Oughts-- but this lazy indexing doesn't quite get at the novel's energies -- it's really Julie (aforementioned young queer) and her hardened charism...

I won this book in the Giveaway. Let me just say I am SO thrilled to have the opportunity not only to read this book, but to own it also. This is definitely the kind of book that stays with you well after you have finished reading it. There are many things I'd love to say about this book, but I found that talking about this book is hard to do without giving away spoilers. A few things that i WILL say though...I found my heart breaking for Tabitha, as she was struggling to find "her place" in th

I will admit that I am not writing this review immediately after I read it. A few months have past. With that being said, the first adjective that came to my mind when I started this review was gritty. This book is about a teenage girl's struggle after her sister's death. Having suffered the death of a sibling myself, I struggled with this book in some respects - not because of any issues I had with the story itself but because of the emotions that it brought up for me. That is part of the reaso...

Better in the blurb/imagination than in real. I kept getting dissociated reading this and it was more the book than my life, although Patrice and Julie's relationship was very reminiscent of my first (abusive) relationship when I was a teenager. I don't know, it just felt a bit flat. I had a soft spot for Julie, her dialogue made me laugh more than once, but I couldn't really bond with her, or anyone, and even tarot coming up repeatedly didn't really save this for me.

Oh my goodness, I loved this book so much-it is the most real thing that I have ever read. Don't be expecting some pretty little fairy tale here, this book is about a relationship that is all too real and all too relevant in our society. Please, read this!

Another author who thinks it's clever not to use speech marks. I can't imagine why anyone would think that incorrect punctuation would improve a book. Sounded like a good story but the lack of speech marks made it unreadable for me.

Thornton's prose is luxurious and meditative; she is excellent at creating spaces, both internally and externally, and this grounds the reader with the characters in their physical and emotional environment. This alone makes the book a worthwhile read: it's very much a book that you inhabit, that makes you feel present and far away all at once.Admittedly, Julie drove me nuts as a person - she is often cruel, even with her best of intentions. But Julie is, in many ways, the Nick Carraway to Patri...

An operatic, intensely surprising, and deliciously weird ode to dealing with grief in all the wrong ways, Thornton’s debut novel follows wise-ass Julie Thatch, a seventeen-year-old girl determined not to acknowledge how devastated she is by her older sister’s suicide. Instead, she falls head over heels for Patrice, the deeply troubled devotee of a Scientology-esque cult. Thornton tackles her themes head-on with an ear finely tuned to the morbidly funny, and what could easily turn into a maudlin

"There are few things more exciting than when a book has a truly lasting effect on you, leaving you feeling unsettled or overjoyed. Jeanne Thornton‘s début novel The Dream of Doctor Bantam is a book that does just that.Set in a dystopian society uncomfortably similar to our own, 17-year-old Julie Thatch is struggling to cope with with the death of her sister and role model Tabitha, her depressed and loveless mother and her own sexuality." (Excerpt from full review at For Books' Sake.)

Enjoyable read. The main character was really well-fleshed out and I really liked seeing her journey, finding myself cringing as she made bad decisions. But with the exception of maybe Ira, I wasn't invested in the other characters. Especially Patrice. She fell completely flat for me, which is a problem since the romance element seemed so important to the novel as a whole.

A wonderfully sad read. A coming of age story that intertwines the helplessness of caring for someone who needs what you can't give, time travel, and loss. Really loved this book.

This is one of the most engaging novels I have read in a long time. The backdrop of the book is almost surrealist, but the characters nevertheless have the weight of real people. It manages to be a book about queer identities without boring the reader with a lengthy explanation of queer identities. And the subject matter is not overly earnest - the characters are allowed to be both obnoxious and likeable at the same time, and invite the reader to imagine who they will become as they age.[SLIGHTL...

I don't even know what to rate it...I loved it, but I can't explain why. It was confusing, but made perfect sense. I hated all of the characters at points, but by the end I liked them all. It irritated me, but I was hooked and upset that it ended! I want to know where Julie went.

Eileen Myles says, " It's all punk heart, messily thudding."So duh of course I want it.

I loved this fucking book.

Two things immediately drew me to The Dream of Doctor Bantam: badass cover art and a glowing blurb from Eileen Myles. Can I mention that she was my professor in college again without being obnoxious? Jeanne Thornton tells the story of Julie, a seventeen year old with largely absent parents navigating life after her sister, Tabitha, committed suicide by running as fast as she could into an oncoming car. Her primary hangout is Retrograde, a coffee shop next door to a facility rumored to be a cult....