I’m not sure how this book landed on my TBR. I read a lot of running books so it’s not surprising that I found it there. I love hearing about the mental and physical work that runners put in to excel in their sport. Something that’s so simple in theory becomes so complicated the more you work at it and I find that fascinating.
Cover image via Amazon
Running is a Kind of Dreaming by J.M. Thompson
Summary from Amazon:
“Voluntary or involuntary?” asked the nurse who admitted J. M. Thompson to a San Francisco psychiatric hospital in January 2005. Following years of depression, ineffective medication, and therapy that went nowhere, Thompson feared he was falling into an inescapable darkness. He decided that death was his only exit route from the torture of his mind. After a suicide attempt, he spent weeks confined on the psych ward, feeling scared, alone, and trapped. One afternoon during an exercise break he experienced a sudden urge. “Run, I thought. Run before it’s too late and you’re stuck down there. Right now. Run. ”
The impulse that starts with sprints across a hospital rooftop turns into all night runs in the mountains. Through motion and immersion in the beauty of nature, Thompson finds a way out of the hell of depression and drug addiction. Step by step, mile by mile, his body and mind heal. In this lyrical, vulnerable, and breathtaking memoir, J. M. Thompson, now a successful psychologist, retraces the path that led him from despair to wellness, detailing the chilling childhood trauma that caused his depression, and the unorthodox treatment that saved him. Running Is a Kind of Dreaming is a luminous literary testament to the universal human capacity to recover from our deepest wounds.
I think I read this at just the right time in my life. I’m dealing with a recent trauma that seemed to come out of no where and has me a little lost in my life. I’m getting help for it, but it’s been hard to describe the feelings that come with it to almost anyone. The way Thompson describes his trauma and how his mind has dealt with it hit home in a way nothing else has. I’ll attribute it to his profession as a psychologist along with his experiences that have allowed him to put into words feelings I’ve struggled to categorize. Never mind that I wanted to read this because it’s a running book. This is also a book about trauma, depression, and anxiety that I really needed in this season of my life.
Thompson was very honest in how he portrayed himself. He admits to a lot of flaws and struggles that led him to where he is in his life. He’s critical of his parents as well, talking about how their struggles shaped his childhood and his memories of his early life. However, his wife, Miriam, and brother, Sebastian, receive almost flawless portrayals. While I understand they’re not the focuses of the book and compared to Thompson’s struggles, they likely didn’t have many or any incidents that impacted the narrative, it’s still a bit hard to see them as such perfect people against the backdrop of Thompson’s struggles.
Thompson was a great character to root for. The story opens up with him at an ultra with Miriam so you know they’re going to stay together. The story becomes a question of how he’ll get from his lowest lows to that point. There aren’t many other people in Thompson’s story that get much face time so I’ll bet most people who read this are cheering him on.
I recently experienced trauma so there was a lot of this story that I related to. One line about how your entire past and future collapses into that moment of trauma really hit me. It was a really powerful description and put into words feelings that I’ve had but not been able to articulate well.
J.M. Thompson Image via Harper Collins
I’ve loved watching documentaries about ultra marathons so I enjoyed how Thompson centered his journey around the Tahoe 200. The amount of preparation and support it takes to do a 200 is insane and he talked about what it took for him to get there. That premise is what got me into the book before I connected so much with Thompson on elements of his mental health journey.
It felt to me like there was a traumatic incident in Thompson’s past that he never fully described or processed. I kept waiting for there to be a revelation about something that happened and how it had shifted his worldview, but it seemed to be a series of events that snowballed after an unnamed impetus that we never got clarity on. Maybe I missed something. It felt like I was left out of a crucial moment.
The audiobook was narrated by Samuel Roukin. At first, I didn’t realize Thompson was English and he was talking about living in San Francisco so I thought an English narrator was an odd choice, but quickly realized I didn’t have the backstory yet. Roukin’s narration was good for this story which was very much a single point of view. There were some other voices needed for Thompson’s wife and mother, but the vast majority of the text was in his own thoughts.
Mental health is a journey and it’s seldom easy. Thompson had a lot of moments that pushed him to fight harder than he probably ever thought he’d need to. He was strong and leaned on those around him when he needed to. I thought his story was strong and I appreciated how honest he was about his own mental health. I think it is important to talk about when we’re not strong and how we can get help. It might help others realize they need help, too, and help them find a way to get it.
Writer’s Takeaway: I liked how Thompson focused his story around a single event, coming back to the Tahoe 200 and talking about the personal history he was thinking of while running it. Running (and my preferred sport, swimming) can allow you to zone out of the present and repetitive motions to think about your past. This was a great frame for Thompson to use and talk about the journey he’d been on.
I read this book at a good time in my life and felt impacted by it. Four out of Five Stars.
Until next time, write on.
You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Related Post:
Running Is a Kind of Dreaming by J.M. Thompson | Bullet Point Reading
Taking On a World of Words 