Until They Bring the Streetcars Back

by Stanley Gordon West

Book Overview

1949 St. Paul, MN - that hopeful post-war era where streetcars graced the city, drive-ins bloomed, the internet and shopping centers didn't exist and people hadn't yet fled to the suburbs.

Upon this fertile urban landscape, Stanley West has set his rich, profoundly touching novel, the gripping story of young Cal Gant, who, despite the shelter of his idyllic life, his rollicking friends, and the mesmerizing girl he loves, stumbles onto and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0965624765
• ISBN13: 9780965624763
• Release Date: July 1997
• Publisher: Lexington-Marshall Publishing LLC
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Real Life Thriller

Stanley Gordon West's Until They Bring the Streetcars Book is a great book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I really enjoyed reading this book as I found myself unable to put it down in the suspense of what would occur next. West created such a real life story I find myself relating to it in my everyday life. Set in 1949-50, West does an excellant job of emotionally involving the readers through a rollercoaster of events. Streetcars is an amazing book that taught me many touching life lessons, and I recommend this book to anyone looking for a great read.

Absolutely Amazing

Stanley Gordon West's Until They Bring the Streetcars Back is like nothing I have ever read before. From start to finish it keeps you guessing and inching to read more. Many novels focus on one hardship or conflict, but this one focuses more in depth towards problems existing beyond what is actually occurring. A young, responsible adult in Calvin Gant must find a light at the end of the tunnel for the help of a friend, Gretchen Lutterman. With his personal life to compensate for, Cal sets all that aside for what seems like a neverending nightmare, but after his deliberate attempts and confidence he helps Gretchen through the good and bad. This book caught my attention and touched me like no other book has. There are so many lessons to learn from Cal and what is of real importance in life. If you have not read this book I recommend you do so because it will grab your heart and never let go.

I LOVE THIS BOOK!!

I read this book sophomore year in my English class and now I am 18 and graduated and found myself eager to read it again. I found myself relating to the book and the characters & being unable to put it down. I love Cal's character I related with him in a lot of ways and almost wish he was real and alive now instead of the 50's. Stanley Gordon West did and amazing job bringing the life of a 18 year old boy in the 50's alive. He kept me interested in the story and excited to read and read and read until I was done with the entire book!!! I highly recommend the book "Finding Laura Buggs" it's also another amazing book my Stanley Gordon West!! I met Mr. West not only is he an amazing author, but an great guy!! So to sum up I loved the book. It was such an great book it put me out of words which is hard to do. I connected with the book on a level that I can't explain. I recommend the book highly and strongly believe you'll enjoy it!!!

A must read for all ages!

Great storytelling! A wonderful,special, lovely book! A friend told me I had to read it and I took his advice. Wow! I read it in two sittings, the last keeping me up past 2 am to finish it. I didn't want it to end. I suggested that my seventeen-year-old son read it--my son who never reads a book. He started it during commercials on TV and then I noticed he wasn't watching TV any longer. He disappeared for two days. I think it was the only two days in his life he hasn't watched TV. Then we debated who loved the book the most. I'm forty-three and I won, I think. He's out looking for other books by Stanley West. While reading "Streetcars" I caught myself laughing out loud and found myself choking up with joy or sorrow. This book goes on a shelf with a few other books I intend to cherish and reread sometime in the future. I wish I could give it ten stars. It touches the deepest human emotions and looks at life with an unblinking eye. I found myself in it; in the characters, people you come to know and love and hate to say good-bye to. I recommend "Streetcars" to everyone. You feel better about yourself and life for having read it.

Memorable characters make this a great, moving read.

I stumbled across this book while in a bookstore in Minnesota (the author is from Minnesota) and I like to look at local authors in hopes of discovering the odd gem of a book. "Until the Streetcars Come Back" fit the mold exactly. The setting--Calvin Gant is a high-school senior in St. Paul in 1949-50) is nicely off-beat, but what really makes the story go is the conflicting emotions of a young boy who has the usual high school desires (win the big game, get the girl of his dreams to notice him, impress his buddies) and yet realizes, upon meeting a girl who is both an outcast at school and being physically and emotionally abused at home, that he is probably the only one who can help her. It comes down to being the story of a boy who doesn't always know exactly WHAT to do, but recognizes a responsibility when it is thrust upon him and refuses to abandon it no matter how it affects his own life. One of the hallmarks of a good read is that you hate to say goodbye to the characters at book's end, and this was the case here for me. I even re-read parts of the book to "revisit" them. I haven't done that in a long time. A classic? Probably not, but it you want to relive some of the silliness of your high school years and meet a really memorable cast of characters, including a good old-fashioned hero, check this one out