Veteran New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast's graphic memoir I Must Be Dreaming is a laugh-out-loud funny tour through her dream journal, as well as a brief introduction to dream theory. Chast (Going into Town; Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?; What I Hate: From A to Z) characterizes dreams as "free entertainment" and "a nightly reminder of the mystery of consciousness." They follow different logic and use language in surprising ways, she notes. She depicts recurring dream incidents that will resonate with many readers: being lost in a foreign city; finding herself alone at a party with no one to talk to; noticing with alarm that her everyday New York City haunts look unfamiliar. Food is another general category with unexpected manifestations, such as using frozen peas as ear plugs. Tooth problems are common, whether in nightmares tinged with body horror or in pleasingly bizarre situations: in one dream, Henry Kissinger exits her dentist's office as Chast arrives, and then she is suddenly transplanted to Tel Aviv.
The book delightfully captures the randomness of dream topics and dialogues. The handwriting font and full-color illustrations are vibrant and lend a congenial intimacy. Chast dips into ancient understandings of dreams and Freud and Jung's contributions to dream theory (Freud called dreams "day residue") but doesn't get too technical. She prefers to retain the sense of the "miraculous" as she asks herself whether dreaming of watching a Chris Rock-narrated documentary or of being wrapped in hot towels is a sign of a reality one is trying to ignore, a message from ancestors, or a link to the collective unconscious. --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader and blogger at Bookish Beck