Room to Dream

The extraordinary, highly anticipated memoir from visionary filmmaker David Lynch. In this memoir, David Lynch, co-creator of Twin Peaks and writer and director of groundbreaking films like Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, opens up about a lifetime of extraordinary creativity, the friendships he has made along the way and the struggles he has faced—sometimes successful, sometimes not—to bring his projects to fruition. Part memoir, part biography, Room to Dream interweaves Lynch’s own reflections on his life with the story of those times, as told by Kristine McKenna, drawing from extensive and explosive interviews with ninety of Lynch’s friends, family members, actors, agents, musicians and collaborators. Lynch responds to each recollection and reveals the inner story of the life behind the art. David Lynch advanced to the front ranks of international cinema in 1977 with the release of his first film, the startlingly original Eraserhead. Since then, Lynch has been nominated for three Best Director Academy Awards, for The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive; awarded the Palme d’Or, for Wild at Heart; and established himself as an artist of tremendous range and wit. In 1990, Twin Peaks mania swept the world when his groundbreaking television series premiered. A new season of Twin Peaks aired in 2017 to widespread acclaim. Kristine McKenna is a widely published critic and journalist who wrote for the Los Angeles Times from 1977 to 1998. Her profiles and criticism have appeared in Artforum, the New York Times, Artnews, Vanity Fair, the Washington Post and Rolling Stone. ‘Offers countless new stories, even for Lynch fanatics...All is told with Lynch’s considerable charm.’ Australian Financial Review ‘...the blending of biography and memoir into a kind of biographical duet turns the whole project on its head, makes it different, stranger, more alive...Exactly what Lynch always does in his art.’ LA Times ‘[A] cubist portrait of the artist, body and mind on separate tracks...Room to Dream offers countless new stories, even for Lynch fanatics.’ Washington Post ‘What makes this book endearing is its chatty, calm...anti-Hollywood attitude...and matter-of-fact defiance of reality.’ San Francisco Chronicle ‘The book doesn’t give us one focused view of Lynch, but a double vision, as though two similar but not quite exact portraits of the man have been projected onto one another...There is value, joy, and beauty in staying with Lynch and his cohorts for these 500-plus pages.’ Los Angeles Times ‘Intimate and honest...McKenna’s interviewees unfailingly describe Lynch's charisma and warmth, and his methodical but instinctive dedication to craft.’ NPR ‘Insightful, well-researched...The book abounds in great stories and terrific movie trivia that will sate Lynch fans for years to come.’ Kirkus Reviews ‘If you expected a David Lynch biography to be just like any other biography, you've never seen a David Lynch movie...Fascinating.’ New York Times ‘David Lynch’s memoir illuminates the origins of his art...the humour and eccentricity of Mr Lynch’s own reminiscences and observations are the book’s main pleasure.’ Economist ‘Lynch is the master of the perverse, the unsettling and the plain bonkers.’ Sunday Times ‘A fascinating look into an endlessly imaginative and alarming man.’ Otago Daily Times ‘[A] memorable portrait of one of cinema’s great auteurs...It provides a remarkable insight into Lynch’s intense commitment to the “art life”.’ Guardian