9 /10 1 Votes
5/5 Barnes & Noble Publication date 1979 ISBN 978-0-385-73274-1 Country United States of America | 3.9/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 256 pp Originally published 1979 Genre Young adult fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publisher Delacorte Books for Young Readers; New Ed edition (May 2005) Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Followed by If Rock & Roll Were a Machine Nominations National Book Award for First Novel Similar If Rock & Roll Were a Machine, A Long Road Home, The History of the Houston, The Automobile Accident, Roll Tide!: The Alabama | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vision Quest is a young adult novel written by Terry Davis, first published in 1979. In first-person, present-tense narrative, it tells the story of a few months in the life of Louden Swain, a high school wrestler in Spokane, Washington who is cutting weight and working toward the state championships. The book takes its title from the vision quest ritual of some Native American Indian tribes, of going into the wilderness alone to 'discover who you are and who your people are and how you fit into the circle of birth and growth and death and rebirth.' John Irving called it "the truest novel about growing up since The Catcher in the Rye."
Vision Quest was made into a 1985 movie of the same title, starring Matthew Modine and Linda Fiorentino, with a cameo appearance from Madonna as a night-club singer.
The book has been published in many different editions, including re-releases in May 2002 (with a foreword by Chris Crutcher) and May 2005.