Hard Rain Falling
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4.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A hardboiled novel about life in the American underground, from the pool halls of Portland to the cells of San Quentin. Simply one of the finest books ever written about being down on your luck.
Don Carpenter’s Hard Rain Falling is a tough-as-nails account of being down and out, but never down for good—a Dostoyevskian tale of crime, punishment, and the pursuit of an ever-elusive redemption. The novel follows the adventures of Jack Levitt, an orphaned teenager living off his wits in the fleabag hotels and seedy pool halls of Portland, Oregon. Jack befriends Billy Lancing, a young black runaway and pool hustler extraordinaire. A heist gone wrong gets Jack sent to reform school, from which he emerges embittered by abuse and solitary confinement. In the meantime Billy has joined the middle class—married, fathered a son, acquired a business and a mistress. But neither Jack nor Billy can escape their troubled pasts, and they will meet again in San Quentin before their strange double drama comes to a violent and revelatory end.
Customer Reviews
A classic
4.5 stars
Author
American. Grew up in Berkeley and lived all over the Pacific Northwest. Best friend of novelist Richard Brautigan (Trout Fishing in America), who took his own life at 49. Carpenter eventually emulated him at aged 64. This is Mr Carpenter's first and best known work and a favourite of novelists and screenwriter George Pelecanos, who wrote the introduction to the reissue.
Plot
Orphaned teenage Jack lives in fleabag hotels and haunts pool halls in 1940s Portland Oregon where he hooks up with like-minded individuals, ends up in reform school after a failed heist, gets out again to find his one time partner in crime has gone legit (married with a kid, a business, and a mistress). Stuff happens, much of it violent. Liberal quantities of whisky are consumed. The lads meet up again in San Quentin. Jack undergoes redemption once he gets out.
Narrative
Third person. Moves gradually from the 1940 to the 1960s.
Characters
Jack and Billy are so well drawn they make you cry. The supporting cast is entirely convincing.
Prose
Hard boiled, evocative, heart rending.
Bottom line
A Dostoyevskian tale well told. If you've ever wondered where the counter culture movement of the sixties came from, look no further. Many of the ideas explored seem familiar, largely because they have rehashed in other forms by other writers. A classic.