Book Review: Until They Bring The Streetcars Back

Would you have the courage to help someone that you barely know, if that meant that your own life could change dramatically? When reading Until They Bring The Streetcars Back by Stanley Gordon West you might think about this more than a few times. In the book, the main character Calvin Gant goes to extreme measures to help out his new friend Gretchen Luttermann.

Calvin met Gretchen in his sixth hour study hall class on what seemed to be a normal day. As Stanley West states Cal Grant could have “been sick that day, or what if my last name was Stubbs or Yarusso and I sat in the back of the auditorium. Or what if I lived in a different neighborhood and went to Marshall or Monroe? (2). Calvin explains meeting Gretchen as “walking through poison ivy-you don’t know you’re in trouble until a few days later” (West 2). Stanley West reveals this is true when Calvin finds out about the dead baby in the freezer of the Luttermann’s home (137).
Everyone in school think Gretchen is crazy and doesn’t talk to her much, but when Calvin hears about the dead baby it leaves him wondering. As he learns more about Gretchen’s horrible father he decides that he wants to help her. The first thing you would think of is to the cops, but this was not possible because he already got out of it once with Gretchen’s older sister. The second place Calvin went for help was to the church. He personally asked his pastor to pay the Luttermanns a visit (West 139). After his pastor meets with them, he comes to Calvin and states that he thinks they are a very nice family. At this point, Calvin realizes that this will be harder than he