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...)

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)

Customer Reviews

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 review is from: The Time It Never Rained (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

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)

This review is from: The Time It Never Rained (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

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

This review is from: The Time It Never Rained (Chisholm Trail Series ; No. 2) (Paperback)

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!