In Search of the Return
Courting the Magic of the Dreamscape
A man draws meaning from his dreams in his search for purpose and love in the contemplative novel In Search of the Return.
In Joshua Raymond’s philosophical novel In Search of the Return, a lonely man searches for the meaning of life and love.
When Walker was in law school, he went to Cape Town to meet with a mysterious council. After his heart was broken by beautiful Alizée, he retreated to his parents’ house and lost a sense of direction. In his dreams, though, he still travels to ancient forests and has philosophical conversations, pontificating about love and reality. When he’s awake, he tries to take what he has learned from his dream realm into his real life. In time, Walker grows to understand his true purpose and restructures his approaches to love.
Its progression nonlinear, the book combines elements of fantasy and romance, dipping between Walker’s law school adventures in Cape Town, his struggles after losing Alizée, and other moments from his life. However, each scene’s connection to the next is loose, and the book’s transitions are often abrupt. For example, Walker connects with an ancient man in a forest dreamscape, and they discuss love and reproduction; in the next scene, Walker learns to fly a plane despite no former allusions to aviation. Though Walker’s personal evolution is the goal, his progress becomes complicated to track.
Walker is prone to long internal ramblings about life and death; he emphasizes words like “Truth” and “Grace” within them until his thoughts resemble sermons. The provocative notion that evil is the mere absence of good arises too. But in his effort to find meaning, Walker sometimes obscures simple ideas behind convoluted language. Further, some topics recur with diminishing returns, as with Walker’s thoughts on how humans are prone to compartmentalization. He is a disorganized guide through complex topics, and his own story is lost amid his philosophizing.
The cast beyond Walker is not fleshed out beyond their roles in his musings; they seem present only to have dialectics with him. Even Alizée is not characterized beyond the effect she had on Walker, minimizing the outside impact of her absence. Another love interest appears later; established as ethereal, she complements Walker without leaving a distinct impression of her own. Still, Walker’s search for love culminates in a somewhat satisfying manner.
In Search of the Return is a wandering novel in which a man muses on his relationships to love, loss, and life.
Reviewed by
Leah Block
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
