Vision Quest

This book not only helped me become a writer, it confirmed that there are folks out there working in each moment to be the best people they can be. I've carried the protagonist, Louden Swain, with me every day of my life since I read VISION QUEST in late 1979. And I'm glad for it. When I came to VISION QUEST in my mid-twenties, I was striving to connect with a life I could care about. I was not a reader, other than the few older novels I was required to read in freshman comp. and American lit. classes. For me, VISION QUEST was revelatory in teaching me that American literature was not something of the past: it didn't die with the likes of Fitzgerald and Steinbeck and Hemingway. Even more important (more enriching) to me, it showed that it was possible to write books and stories that would be accessible and relevant to (and resonant in) many people's lives who would not otherwise be interested in reading. What's more, VISION QUEST helped me recognize and honor the connections between my life and those of others around me. You can't ask for more than that from a book. And it's not something you often find. For these reasons and others, VISION QUEST is a novel to honor and to celebrate. The life that Louden Swain lives in this book was something I could indeed recognize as A LIFE! Louden was awake and alive to the possibilities. This was a theme I was (and remain) passionate about pursuing in my own life and work. I hope that I've done an OK job of making that happen. Davis Miller, author of THE TAO OF MUHAMMAD ALI: A FATHERS AND SONS MEMOIR and THE TAO OF BRUCE LEE: A MARTIAL ARTS MEMOIR

This is one of the most real-world inspiring and beautifully understated pieces of fiction that I have read. The protagonist, Louden Swain, is a 17-and 18-year-old who is doing his very best to become the best (the most alive, capable) person he can figure out how to become. It's durned good to see such a life as Louden's promoted in a fine piece of writing instead of the maladjusts we often find in contemporary, "cool" literature. Although Vision Quest is listed as a young adult title, the writing transcends that genre. This is not so much a book for adolescent readers (although they'll likely enjoy it) as it is a fun read for adults who powerfully connect with good novels. The ending: it's downright perfect. The wrestling match between Louden and his opponent is not the point of the story. The journey of becoming is what matters here.

"Vision Quest", like "The Catcher in the Rye", is a novel about adolescence, in the hero Louden Swain's own words, about the "short time he's got left to be a kid." He's a high-school wrestler who's dropping weight for a match with the state champion but also someone who tries to fill his life with things to do. He reads Kurt Vonnegut novels and med. school textbooks and gets pissed off when the colleges he visits only ever let him talk to the jocks and coaches, rather than the professors he's read about. Looking at "Vision Quest" now, I realise it is a much funnier book than I supposed when I first read it twenty years ago. Then I was about the same age as Louden and the things he said seemed to make perfect sense. Nowadays, I can appreciate Davis's irony and the perceptiveness with which he makes Louden very much a teenager in his understanding and world-view. My favorite Louden comment is his straight-faced philosophising that, "having a girlfriend is not all fun and games. There's responsibility in it too." I think the reason VQ is enjoyable and bears re-reading even now, is that it does so many different things very well. Davis covers male bonding, boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, parent-child dynamics and student-teacher struggles. He also captures Louden's dual-nature, as he switches from moments of seriousness, squinting into an uncertain and potentially dangerous future, with Louden's sudden reversals into kiddish playfulness, as he stuffs his team-mate's mouthguard down his shorts. As well as capturing the atmosphere of the wrestling-room, literature is also a recurring theme. We are told about the novels Louden reads, his English class assignments and his graduation thesis. There is even an analysis of James Agee's "Knoxville Summer 1915". This is is done so seamlessly and with such relish that it made me want to run out and buy these books too. For me, this a rare example of a completely successful novel. It has not dated (except for a kind of 1960s wonder over racial equality) and Davis has a sharp ear for the dialog, name-calling and absurdity of teenagers. It takes wrestling as a starting-point but is startling in its lack of violence or agression. Rather, it is tender, humorous and poignant, gaining its power from the clarity and truth of its depiction of adolescent life. Terry Davis succeeds in making us care about Louden and Carla, who end up seeming much more than mere fictional characters. Novelists of any stature can hope for little more.

This is one of the most real-world inspiring and beautifully understated pieces of fiction that I have read. The protagonist, Louden Swain, is a 17-and 18-year-old who is doing his very best to become the best (the most alive, capable) person he can figure out how to become. It's durned good to see such a life as Louden's promoted in a fine piece of writing instead of the maladjusts we often find in contemporary, "cool" literature. Although Vision Quest is listed as a young adult title, the writing transcends that genre. This is not so much a book for adolescent readers (although they'll likely enjoy it) as it is a fun read for adults who powerfully connect with good novels. The ending: it's downright perfect. The wrestling match between Louden and his opponent is not the point of the story. The journey of becoming is what matters here.

Seventeen years ago, as a junior going through a rather undistinguished high school wrestling career and frustrating first relationship with a member of the opposite sex, this book really hit home with me. The story was much more complex than the movie, as were the characters. It was about more than wrestling, it was about the insecurities, fears and hang-ups of a young man trying to find his place in the world. It wasn't just about Loudon's relationships with Carla and Kuch, it was about his whole world. His family, his friends, his teachers. It's a cliche, but it's true. It made me laugh and it made me cry. It still does.