Blind Your Ponies

✍ Scribed by Stanley Gordon West

• Book ID: 100271553
• Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
• Year: 2001;2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 316 KB
• Edition: 1st ed
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN: 1616200359

✦ Synopsis

Hope is hard to come by in the hard-luck town of Willow Creek. Sam Pickett and five young men are about to change that.

Sam Pickett never expected to settle in this dried-up shell of a town on the western edge of the world. He's come here to hide from the violence and madness that have shattered his life, but what he finds is what he least expects. There's a spirit that endures in Willow Cree, Montana. It seems that every inhabitant of this forgotten outpost has a story, a reason for taking a detour to this place--or a reason for staying.

As the coach of the hapless high school basketball team (zero wins, ninety-three losses), Sam can't help but be moved by the bravery he witnesses in the everyday lives of people--including his own young players--bearing their sorrows and broken dreams. How do they carry on, believing in a future that seems to be based on the flimsiest of promises? Drawing on the strength of the boys on the team, sharing the hope they display despite insurmountable odds, Sam finally begins to see a future worth living.

Author Stanley Gordon West has filled the town of Willow Creek with characters so vividly cast that they become real as relatives, and their stories--so full of humor and passion, loss and determination--illuminate a path into the human heart.

From Publishers Weekly

In this originally self-published hit, the small town of Willow Creek, Mont., is the place where dreams go to die. English teacher and basketball coach Sam Pickett hasn't won a game in five seasons and decides to quit coaching, but he changes his mind after getting a look at the 6-ft.-11 Norwegian exchange student, Olaf Gustafson. Sam's other recruits include Tom Stonebreaker, whose drunken father would rather see him working the family farm, and Peter Strong, who moves in with his hippie grandmother after his parents' divorce and would rather be back home in Minnesota with his girlfriend. As the team coalesces around Olaf and begins winning games, their march toward the state tournament inspires Willow Creek and ignites a touching romance between Sam and his assistant coach. If the novel is a little too long, its sentiments worn too shamelessly on its sleeve, and its symbolism a little too obvious (Sam dubs the team bus "Rozinante" in honor of Don Quixote's steed), this uplifting story about the triumph of human decency is sure to be enjoyed by those who fondly recall another David vs. Goliath roundball yarn--Hoosiers. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

With 93 consecutive losses behind him, Sam Pickett, high-school basketball coach in tiny Willow Creek, Montana, sees the stars align for him as a new season starts. Added to two returning seniors and a benchwarmer sophomore are a transfer junior with a sweet outside shot, a 6-foot-11-inch totally inexperienced Norwegian exchange student, and a short but speedy freshman. With the help of teacher Diana Murphy and townspeople including an obese cafeteria worker and a one-handed grandmother who scrimmage with the team, Sam hones the players skills and preaches teamwork and determination. Ending the losing streak at 97 lifts spirits throughout the town, many of whose residents have suffered lossesof a spouse, a child, a true loveor endured wrenching hardships, and the team is just beginning. This previously self-published best-seller is too long, too overt in its analogies, too repetitious in its theme, and often too melodramatic and flowery. Yet, as it celebrates the indomitable spirit of Don Quixote, this fervent feel-good fairy tale of a novel is likely to warm all but the most cynical hearts. --Michele Leber

Library : Romance
Formats : EPUB
ISBN : 1565129849