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Hard Rain Falling (1964)

by Don Carpenter(Favorite Author)

4.14 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1590173244 (ISBN13: 9781590173244)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

NYRB Classics

review 1: Touches of Genet (gay sex when you're down and out), Carver (Pacific Northwest alcoholism), Dreiser (the brutalities that come with the American class structure, and how its fluidity seems to emphasize your fuckedness), this is more or less what I've come to expect from decent American working-class fiction. Not that that's a bad thing... Nelson Algren, Hubert Selby, John Fante, and the rest, they're all great writers. But I sort of knew the breaks, where the story was going, how rich girl wasn't gonna stick around, how life gives you the runaround, the pool halls, the godforsaken motels. It still was a compelling story, and you feel the appropriate degree of pathos for Jack and Billy, but it was hard not to think of it as a bit of a second pressing of all those other ... moreguys.
review 2: Early on, this had the feel of a dated social commentary that might have once been shocking. Young punks who smoke...and play pool! (We've got trouble right here in River City!) Fortunately, Carpenter explores bigger ideas, and his primary intent is not to shock. Introducing an interracial gay relationship is provocative, of course, but the true focus is to explore and understand concepts of love and human connection in the shadow of societal conformity. To paraphrase Billy, it's about the relationship, not the sex. This is important stuff that resonates today as much, if not more, than when it was first published. less

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