A Book of Dreams

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Before I say more about the book itself I feel it is important to include some background on Wilhelm Reich, as the book can be a bit confusing if you aren't already aware of some of the details of his fascinating life. From the late 40s through to the mid-50s Reich was under investigation by the American Food and Drug Administration for providing an unauthorised form of treatment - the accumulators.

In doing so I was surprised to learn that the song was actually based off of a memoir written by a man named Peter Reich about his childhood and experiences with his father, psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. Reich, in his books, had pointed out that mental illness was the norm and not the exception in our society and that the very structure of our civilisation is sick. I agree with what I originally said in that Peter struggled to process his unconventional childhood.In some ways this book reminds me of The Glass Castle in that much of it is in the voice and point of view of a young child relating the imaginative way they coped with a father who lived outside of the norm.

I felt compelled to read this when I became obsessed with the song “Cloudbusting” by the Staves, a cover of a song Kate Bush wrote about this book. Peter Reich regales us with tales from his childhood spent largely with his doctor/psychologist/scientist/inventor/eccentric father Wilhelm Reich.He is well-known for his theories regarding the Orgone Energy and for starting the health fad surrounding accumulators. Wilhelm Reich can divide opinions, and Peter moves away from the controversy with this honest telling of his family, whereby we meet Wilhelm as a father, rather than a scientist/doctor/con man etc. The difference, of course, is that Jeannette Walls' father was an alcoholic and Peter Reich's father was a famous psychiatrist being harassed for his unorthodox discoveries. Reich also believed that human energy (orgasmic energy, in particular) could help control the weather. Seems to lay bear the dangers of taking advantage (even if unknowingly) of a supple mind like that of a child's.

Although the exact science of the Accumulator was disputed (and is now considered pseudoscience), it became a hit among many, who claimed that it gave them a boost in energy as well as sexual vigor. Unfortunately, Wilhelm Reich felt a bit more like a flat-earther and I found all of the moments which I think were meant to be moving, all v cheesy and overdone. Fantastic book about one of the most misunderstood persons in history, as well as the victim of one of the worst examples of censorship in the United States. And in the end, the book gave me the same unfinished and sad feeling as the song: that Peter can never fully get past the yearning for the magical ideals he lived in childhood, or let go of his need for the closeness he had for his father, both of which are irretrievably gone.Peter Reich is the only son of Wilhelm Reich, a famously strange pseudo-science philosopher active in the mid-20th century. Already regarded as a modern classic, A Book of Dreams is not only a beautifully written narrative of a remarkable friendship and collaboration, but a loving son's heartfelt tribute to a loving father.