Great Dream of Heaven - Sam Shepard

Did I have room in my huge stack of TBR books to squeeze in one more? Nah. Probably not, but when I read Beth Fish's review of this one a few weeks ago, I couldn't resist. I don't have much experience with short stories, but this one seemed like a perfect one to start with. The tipping point with me was when I learned it was written by Sam Shepard. Yes, THAT Sam Shepard. You mean Dolly Parton's adorable husband in Steel Magnolias? The cute country vet that swept Diane Keaton off her feet in my fantasy movie Baby Boom? That would have been all the arm-twisting I needed. But what I didn't appreciate is that this man is an accomplished Pulitzer Prize winner and author of more than 45 plays and story collections. After reading this collection of short stories, now I understand that he is so much more than a handsome actor.
The book consists of 18 stories - some one page in length and others longer - that give us tiny snapshots of people's lives. Poignant, touching, disturbing, or just entertaining, the stories document a conversation, an event, a pivotal moment in an everyman's life. The common thread through all of them is the examination of the complicated and fragile interrelationships between fathers and sons, mother and daughter, man and wife, friends, and even between humans and their own selves.

Certain tales stuck with me in my dreams. In "Blinking Eye", a young woman is making a cross-country trip to deliver her mother's ashes to the family, and attempts to rescue a beautiful, wounded hawk. In "Living the Sign", a wing shack displays a sign that reads "Life is what's happening to you while you're making plans for something else", and a customer seeks out the individual that thoughtfully hung the sign. In "Great Dream of Heaven", two widowers and roommates take pleasure in their daily visit to a local Denny's to see the lovely waitress Faye, until one day one of the men dares to visit Faye on his own and destroys the delicate balance of their lives.

Shepard's prose is spare, but flexible with many voices and variations. He captures the essence of human interaction, and of Americana, and was a pleasure to read.

4.5 out of 5 stars