Sweet Shattered Dreams

by Stanley Gordon West

After squandering a life bright with promise, Sonny Hollister, a renowned folk singer, finds himself down and out and running for his life.  Then, Just when he's convinced his life has passed him by, Sonny, by a stroke of fate, is given a second chance at living.  Can he get it right?  Will he be able to evade the grinding loneliness that stalks him?   Will he find a way to overcome the unbearable regret that haunts him?  Will he ever risk loving again, to find someone with no good-byes in her heart?  And, most of all, will he become the man he always could have been? (West, Stanley)

Genres: Fiction

355 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2005

About the author

Stanley Gordon West was born in 1932 and attended St. Paul Central High School in Minnesota. He lived in Bozeman, Montana for several years, and now resides in Shakopee, MN. All of his novels are popular book club selections: Blind Your Ponies, two other novels set in the same time and place as Until They Bring the Streetcars Back - Finding Laura Buggs and Growing an Inch - and his most recent, Sweet, Shattered Dreams. His novel Amos was made into a CBS Movie of the Week starring Kirk Douglas that stirred national controversy over abuse of the aged in America. When Kirk Douglas testified before Congress and wrote in the New York Times on the issue, he pointed out that animals had been protected by law for one hundred years before children or the aged. While Amos focused on elder abuse, Until They Bring the Streetcars Back explores the other vulnerable end of the age spectrum.

Reviews

[Rhonda Spilde · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. I enjoyed West's style of writing. The plot is something different from what I've read before. However, I felt like there was a depth lacking in character development. It is possible that I lost all empathy for Sonny when he (at age 43) falls in love with a 22 year old. And then she, of course, falls in love with him. Please. That is the exact age of my daughter and her father. That's just gross. So West lost me halfway through the book.

[Carolynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really sweet, a Western of sorts. Felt nostalgic to me as a child of the 70's. Highly recommend to my friends who loved Lonesome Dove, were raised in the 70's to a soundtrack of Gordon Lightfoot.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Stanley Gordon West shows what can happen when one is given a second chance at life. Some interesting characters (thinking mainly of Jesse and Hezekiah - the young and the old) although they - and the story - kind of fell into a cliche. The story was just okay.

[Bonnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

(Spoilers ahead, not like it matters). I bought this book because it was about a location I love and had a super cool cover. But you know what they say, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Although this book has an okay plot, and the first couple chapters are entertaining, don’t waste your time. The only reason I finished this book is so I could write one of those interesting and scathing reviews you find on here sometimes, and so it would count towards my reading goal of the year (even though I don’t really want it on my read list). This book has innumerable flaws including being filled with sexism and misogyny. For example, when a woman is raped, the main character “felt wounded, violated, as if that psycho had invaded his personal ground and family.” HE felt like that?! And then it starts suggesting he’s becoming attracted to the lady’s daughter, not reminding you how old she is until a bit later. She was 22 but he was 43 and that’s just creepy. Somehow they both fall in love with each other. The somewhat spicy scenes are old fashioned and gross tbh, using words like “they bred in a frenzy.” Each new spicy scene left me crinkling my nose and muttering “ew” to myself. There’s multiple rape/assault scenes in this book and so it should have a trigger warning, but that would be far too advanced for such a backwards writer. The audacity of the author’s male entitlement comes out in sentences like, “He’d saved his unsullied girl from ravishment, and he swelled with a clean, self-satisfying pride…” what about her feelings after being assaulted?? Apparently those don’t matter since it’s only the main character - a man - who matters. The main character isn’t even loveable. Sure, he’s had some hardship, but instead of it making him better, he’s still a dramatic, sniveling man whom everything is about himself and who maintains a “poor pitiful me” attitude throughout all of his so-called character development. Like get over yourself, dude. His character development is him barely beating alcoholism and drug addiction by becoming a workout maniac and that’s about all I can find. To add insult to injury, there is also racism masked as inclusivity. Referring to how a Native American sleeps in the barn, they say “we’re running a zoo around here.” When the main character died at the end, I was actually relieved. Finally, the long winded book can end, and the young 22 year old that he’s “in love with” can go start a life with someone younger and better…hopefully. This book inches on and on at such a slow pace, you’d wish the main character would have died halfway through the book to put both him and the reader out of their misery. It also is spotted with random anecdotes that do not further the plot and are just used for long, extended metaphors. Speaking of metaphors, this author sure knows how to write a dramatic metaphor, again, and again, and again until you wish someone would put YOU out of your misery. This ranks in the top 3 worst books I’ve ever read. I should have known better when the very back of the book itself had a typo saying that this book is “a tale so grippng.” It also says that the story “remains with readers long after they’ve turned the last page.” Yikes, I hope not. Maybe you can’t judge a book by its cover, but maybe you should judge it by its back…?

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story. Sonny has achieved fame and fortune only to succumb to alcohol, drugs and gambling. When he is on the run because of a large gambling debt and having spent himself into poverty, he finds himself with a second chance when the world thinks he has been killed in an accident. Losing himself on a ranch in Montana, he remakes himself with clean living. He is afraid of being recognized and being found and killed by the man who has a contract on him. He gains fame again as people idolize him as a past folk singer. What does he do with all the money his former manager is now putting aside for him? He uses it to help those around him with whom he is developing a real relationship. The people in the story are so ordinary, yet they meet life with bravery and kindness. The characters and the setting are beautifully described, and the story is engrossing. What will happen if the world out there learns the truth? Can he really rebuild himself with this second chance?

[Doris Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is hard to imagine what I would do with my life if I had a second chance. That was what faced Sonny Hollister, well-liked singer, who in recent years had been in a downward spiral. He moved to Montana with the help of his agent, Corkey Sullivan, who offered him a cabin. Sonny decided to change his lifestyle and make something of himself physically. He dramatically lost weight, did away with the booze and set about changing his values even. Along the way he meant some great friends, Jesse. Hezekiah, Sally, and Hannah. They became his life. But could he go back to his singing. He missed it terribly.

[Megan V · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really just not the book for me. Was recommended by my grandma and it kind of just comes off as a boring biography (which is not what it is but that's what it's like). Couple climactic chapters, then the last couple chapters are interesting-ish but it felt like it was a rush to end. Then boom, over.

The reason I didn't give it one star is because it's written well and the characters are fun and personable/rememberable, and honestly it's just not my type of book... But it wasn't awful. Just boring.

[Lois Jennings · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I loved the characters and the setting. It's about second chances. Most of us can use a second chance somewhere on the road of life. While I understand why the story ended as it did, I must say that it was not what I expected (or wanted as a fan of the characters.) I ranted for awhile.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

SGW books always get a 5 rating from me but I couldn’t get past the ick factor of the the main character falling in love with the much younger daughter of the woman he was sleeping with! Take that part out and I loved it just as much as the rest of his books.

[Nelsene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Stanley Gordon West's books, some more than others. This one was pretty hokey, but a good read, nonetheless.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh Stanley: you sure know how to write a sweet story that tugs at everyone’s soul.

[Doranne Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet Shattered Dreams is an outstanding novel! I like it as well as Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer. Stanley Gordon West writes so beautifully and shares deep themes.

[Bill Reynolds]

very good book

[Fran Combs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got halfway through and quit. Storyline got a bit weird for me.

[Dale · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like SGW. He's not going to win the Nobel or anything, but he creates characters that leap off the page and are best described by the cliche "salt of the Earth." This, however, was not his best effort. It pretty stock SGW stuff until it sidetracked into a really weird relationship between the main character and the daughter of the woman with whom the main character was sleeping. Left a bad taste in my mouth.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to shake this author and tell him "You need to write more books!" This book does not measure up to "Blind Your Ponies" - but then, few books can. He develops interesting, appealing characters, and knows how to grab the reader's emotions, but some areas of the book are sparse and the plot is a bit formulaic.

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

June 2024: I just reread this book, and upped it to 5 stars. I’d forgotten how it ended, and the emotions I’d felt. Amazingly talented author. I’ve read all his books, three of them twice.

June 2018: Excellent! A man is given a 2nd chance at life, a very different life from his previous one. I found this book absolutely delightful. Stanley Gordon West is one of my favorite authors.

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Stanley Gordon West. I went into this book not expecting to be so entertained but he did not let me down...The characters in this book were to love! It takes place in Montana,one of my favorite places and has a very intersting concept for the plot. I hated for it to end.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a disappointment after reading "Until They Bring the Streetcars Back." Perhaps "Sweet Shattered Dreams" was written with the hopes of a movie being made from the book -- it had too many odd conversations and spikes of drama that moved the plot without developing the characters.

[Errin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't get the Hannah part...

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bummer...his other book, "Blind Your Ponies" was one of my favorites.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

A famous singer tries to disappear in middle America, hoping to find a life where he is no longer defined by his celebrity. Beautifully written.

[Slyv · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absorbing story, and the ending is realistic. Excellent writer.

[Carroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing.

[LuAnn Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Really good writing as always. Loved some of the characters, especially the neighbor. Could relate as a farm girl. Had trouble getting past the discomfort of the age difference in the romance.

[Margaret]

Loved it.

[Bridget]

loved it. page turner. good emotion.