The Time It Never Rained

"Drought, prolonged drought, has always been a problem out West. Never has a rancher had enough water for his animals or his crops. And Charlie Flagg, a determined, old, maybe even angry man, fought to the bitter end. He would not give up. He was determined to hold out until the rains came again. This is his story of how he survived while the dry, dry, times continued to blister the land. This book demonstrates the drive and determination of the human spirit to hold on and hold out until times get better. A real good presentation of that. Elmer Kelton was so good at portraying the average individual all of us have met."

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.

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. I remember the deluge that ended the drought, and it was the experience I remember. I worked at the San Angelo Standard-Times while Mr. Kelton did, and his day to day newspaper work was a preview to his books to come. He has West Texas nailed down to a T, and I love all his books. But this one especially strikes home.

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.

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!

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 writer of all time. The author's obvious gut-level understanding of West Texas, the people who live here, and the lifestyle forced on its inhabitants by the vagaries of Mother Nature join to make this his finest contribution to literature to date. Mr. Kelton is without peer in his ability to develop characters so vividly that each reader truly feels that he/she has met them and known them for years. His descriptions of places and situations are so realistic and detailed that, with only a little imagination, a clear picture forms in the mind's eye of the reader. There is no doubt that Mr. Kelton has experienced more than one West Texas drouth. It is equally obvious that he has closely observed the drastic changes that befall the reigon, its people, and their livestock when these natural disa! sters occurr. A must for Kelton's fans, and for his fans-to-be who love stories based in the lore of the West, but have not yet experienced the rich satisfaction that can result only from reading the works of this master story weaver.