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The Time It Never Rained (Mass Market Paperback)

by Elmer Kelton (Author)
Key Phrases: netwire fence, sacking frame, burning pear, Mister Charlie, Charlie Flagg, Page Mauldin (more...)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

List Price: $6.99
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The Time It Never Rained + The Good Old Boys + The Day the Cowboys Quit
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Editorial Reviews

Review
"Elmer Kelton does not write Westerns. He writes fine novels set in the West. Here a reader meets flesh-and-blood people of an earlier time, in a story that will grab you and hold you from the first to the last page." -Dee Brown, author of the New York Times bestseller Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
-- Review --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Review

“Elmer Kelton does not write Westerns.  He writes fine novels set in the West. Here a reader meets flesh-and-blood people of an earlier time, in a story that will grab and hold you from the first to the last page.”—Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee on The Time It Never Rained

"The Time It Never Rained is not just one of the best novels ever written by a Texan. It is one of the treasures of American literature..." -- John Erickson, author of The Devil in Texas and the "Hank the Cowdog" series

"...one of the dozen or so best novels written by an American in this century." --- Jon Tuska, editor of The American West in Fiction on The Time It Never Rained



See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (April 1, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0765360586
  • ISBN-13: 978-0765360588
  • Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #104,197 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Drought, civilization and compromise, June 9, 2004
By Jack Purcell (Placitas, NM USA) - See all my reviews
This book is unlike any of Kelton's other works. The time setting is the 1950s and the seven-year drought we experienced during those years. The plot/theme is the end of the era of independence and freedom among cow men ... the time when they told themselves the drought forced them to sell themselves to the government to receive hay in return for their souls and their pasts.

I think of this book as a companion read to Abbey's, Brave Cowboy and McMurtry's, Hud (the book). All three writers were capturing a time and an attitude representing an end of an era when ranchers continued to curse the government out of habit while accepting welfare money as gracefully as the city poor they despised for doing so.

Kelton's book is as good as the other two, maybe better.

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Lot More Than A Western!, July 31, 2005
By Howard L. Dixon (Hopewell, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
Elmer Kelton was rightfully honored with a number of awards for this thoughtful piece of work originally published in 1973. While it is about ranchers trying to survive in one of those long droughts that seem to come more and more frequent to the West and particularly the Southwest it is much more than a story of survival. The nearest community in the book is called Rio Seco and while it only exists in our mind's eye Kelton describes it well enough that it could be one of thousands such communities scattered across Texas and the West. What came to my mind as he described it is the movie from a number of years ago called, "The Last Picture Show". The book is a beautiful study of evolving and conflicting cultures on so many levels. Kelton does a fine job of laying out the past and showing the future of changes between Angelo and Hispanic to include the continuing question of undocumented immigrants. Another is the "old school" way of looking at things rather than the new way. One of the focal points of the book is the role that government aid plays in changing groups such as ranchers forever. The "hero" (and I'm sure he never considered himself a hero of any kind) of the book, Charlie Flagg refuses the aid and thereby creates tension for himself and others around him. What's amazing, and something to which I consider an honor, is that I was reared in a time and community to have known men just like Charlie Flagg. This book has been re-published several times and I can understand why. Really much of what you read in "The Time It Never Rained" is timeless while other parts provide a beautiful look to the middle of the last century in Texas. While it's considered a western it's far from a "shoot'em up". Other of his books go there but that's for another review.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars No one today writes better or writes better stories., November 21, 1998
By A Customer
Beyond the quality of Kelton's stories, especially this one, is the quality of his characters. His leading character, an individualistic, independent, honest and brave rancher, is one of the most admirable people I have ever read about. This was the first Kelton book I read, and I became a Kelton addict. I have read and re-read this, and highly recommend it. Excellent!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is about YOUR grandfather
Just finished the print edition, great read - got to the last 50 pages and couldn't put it down till I'd finished it. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Michael A. Jones

5.0 out of 5 stars READ THIS BOOK! Perhaps a good book for a book club?
This is a beautifully told story about west Texas during the 1950's that examines several topics that are incredibly relevant for American in 2009. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Barrett M. Denum

5.0 out of 5 stars The Time It Never Rained
I have read Elmer Kelton for years. He is outstanding fully developing the characters and the geographic setting, especially for those that do not know the country of which he... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Ben Turner Jr.

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Kelton's Top 5 Books
As we're headed into what nobody seems to want to call a recession, might be wise to turn to Kelton, McMurtry, B. Read more
Published 8 months ago by J. Collette

5.0 out of 5 stars Embarrassed
My face is a bit red. Matter of fact, I'm almost embarrassed to admit this. I am a lover of Western novels, but had never heard of Elmer Kelton. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Charles E. Hoke

5.0 out of 5 stars First timer but live there
This is the first Kelton book I have read and the first fiction novel that I have read in decades. I felt like it was real to life and forgot it was fiction. Read more
Published on January 4, 2006 by Coyote Ridge

5.0 out of 5 stars The Time It Never Rained
Being a Texan in Texas during the drought Elmer Kelton describes in The Time It Never Rained, he seems to write about it first hand. Read more
Published on March 19, 2005 by Shannon H. Geddie

5.0 out of 5 stars One of our countries best books
Great book! Kelton shows us Charlie Flagg's country. You'll like it
Published on December 27, 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the best from the very best.
This book is, to me, the jewel in the crown of that outstanding body of work that convinced the Western Writers of America that Elmer Kelton should be disignated the best Western... Read more
Published on July 20, 1998 by David Paul Frizell (Dpfrizell@...

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone interested in "Western" life.
Anyone who has seen and felt the vastness of west Texas will want to read this book. Kelton's characters and settings are remarkable and genuine. Read more
Published on March 9, 1998

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