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Great dream of heaven
First published 2002 · 224 pages
A wry, melancholic exploration of the American West, fractured masculinity, and the quiet desperation of modern life.
What it feels like
This collection of short stories offers a steady, observational journey through the fractured landscape of the American West and the quiet desperation of modern domesticity. The mood is deeply restless and nostalgic, steeped in a yearning for a frontier that has long since vanished. Readers will find themselves immersed in a wry, sometimes grim atmosphere where the comic misunderstandings between men and women often give way to profound moments of grief and regret. The prose is distinctly American, sharply capturing the tension of suburban alienation and the deep gulfs separating men from their true selves. It is a perfect read for those who savor character-driven fiction that dissects masculinity, aging, and the fading myths of the American dream with unflinching honesty.
- Mood
- restless
- nostalgic
- tense
- elegiac
- Tone
- wry
- melancholic
- observational
- grim
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- masculine identity · lost frontiers · aging and regret · miscommunication · suburban alienation
- The writing
- Distinctly American and sharply observational, capturing the gritty reality of both the fading West and modern suburbia.
- The arc
- Moves from a restless yearning for a bygone era to a stark, sometimes comic confrontation with modern alienation and personal grief.
- Who it's for
- Readers who appreciate character-driven short stories that explore the complexities of masculinity, aging, and the fading myth of the West.
Content notes
- gun violence
- animal distress
- grief
- domestic tension
About the book
"In these eighteen stories, Sam Shepard taps the same wellsprings that have made him one of our most acclaimed - and distinctly American - playwrights: sex and regret, the yearning for a frontier that has been subdivided out of existence, the comic gulf of misapprehension between men and women, and the even deeper gulf that separates men from their true selves.".
"A fascinated boy watches the grim contest between a "remedy man" - a fixer of bad horses - and a spectacularly bad-tempered stallion, a contest that mirrors the boy's own struggle with his father. A suburban husband starts his afternoon shopping for basil for a party and ends it holding one of the guests at gunpoint in the basement.
Two old men, who have lived together companionably since their wives died or left them and their children scattered to "silicon computer hell," are brought to grief by a waitress at the local Denny's."--BOOK JACKET.
Description from Open Library.
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