The Good Old Boys (Hewey Calloway) [Mass Market Paperback]

Elmer Kelton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hewey Calloway | Publication Date: April 15, 1999

Hewey Calloway has a problem. In his West Texas home of 1906, the land of the way of life that he loves are changing too quickly for his taste.

Hewey dreams of freedom--he wants only to be a footloose horseback cowboy, endlessly wandering the open range. But the open range of his childhood is slowly disappearing: land is being parceled out, and barbed-wire fences are spring up all over. As if that weren't enough, cars and other machines are invading Hewey's simple cowboy life, stinking up the area and threatening to replace horse travel. As Hewey struggles against the relentless stream of "progress", he comes to realize that the simple life of his childhood is gone, that a man can't live a life whose time has passed, and that every choice he makes--even those that lead to happiness--requires a sacrifice.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Good Old Boys is probably the closest I have ever come to writing from sheer inspiration. Hewey Calloway and the other characters took hold of the story like a cold-jawed horse grabbing onto the bit, and about all I could do was hang on for the ride."--Elmer Kelton

"One of the best of a new breed of Western writers who have driven the genre into new territory."--The New York Times

From the Author

"The Good Old Boys is probably the closest I have ever come to writing from sheer inspiration. Hewey Calloway and the other characters took hold of the story like a cold-jawed horse grabbing onto the bit, and about all I could do was hang on for the ride." --Elmer Kelton

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (April 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812575997
• ISBN-13: 978-0812575996
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,146 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elmer Kelton of San Angelo, Texas is a native Texan and author of over 50 Western novels. He has won many awards for his work and has been recognized as the Greatest Western Writer of all time by the Western Writers of America, Inc. He is the author of Forge's Texas Ranger series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Californian loves "The Good Old Boys", September 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Good Old Boys (Hewey Calloway) (Mass Market Paperback)

Elmer Kelton is in top form with "The Good Old Boys," a book I'll always remember for its remarkable characters and unusual story. Hewey Calloway struggles with the arrival of automobiles and technology... not unlike the struggle some of us have today with computers and a changed world.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Character & Depth Far Beyond A Simple "Western", October 11, 2005

By 

Howard L. Dixon (Hopewell, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Good Old Boys (Hewey Calloway) (Mass Market Paperback)

It's rare to see a Western novel with character development of this depth. Kelton found the formula earlier in "The Time It Never Rained" and "The Time The Cowboys Quit" and improved on it even more for this novel. I've always been fascinated about the arrival of the automobile in the early West. Everyone didn't one morning wake up and say, "Let's go buy a car". So the transition yields rich opportunities for story development. Like J. Frank Dobie, Kelton grew up on a ranch and heard many of the old-timers sharing tales of a life long since gone. In this book they're woven into a believable tapestry of hard life in an unforgiving landscape. Kelton does a wonderful job of putting Hewey Calloway in both the past and the present...and what's so believable is that this character sees both as well as the challenges of the future. He just hates to see it come. As the years go on these books will continue to rise to the top as evidence that Westerns are more than shoot-em ups. They are documentaries on a way of life that set standards, which this Country will seldom see again. Kelton says this book nearly wrote itself. Thankfully, he was there to show it the way.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful experience - if you don't place yourself above i, June 29, 2002

By 

Clay Brown (Selah, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Good Old Boys (Hewey Calloway) (Mass Market Paperback)

The Good Old Boys takes the reader into the world of the early century cowboys that lived and worked on their horses. The men who were top in their field only to see their field melting away. I totally enjoyed every page, and when I saw the snobbish review of an elitist reviewer who said "Aficionados of the oat-burner genre will likely find it a notch above the general fare. More literary tastes will find it wanting. It is not nearly as elevated a book either thematically or stylistically as the afterword by Don Graham would suggest." I simply thought that poor person just doesn't understand! This work by Elmer Kelton depicts a time, a place, and a voice that many may not understand, and will not appreciate. I think that poor soul should not be reviewing "oat-burning genre" but those who live near the land will either remember or learn about another time. Seldom do you find such an original and wonderful story as "The Good Old Boys".