The serendipity of discovering a book never ceases to amaze
me. All my adult life I have been networked to fans of crime
fiction, but recently a man walked into my library who knew I
had written Read 'Em Their Writes. He handed me this title
and told me he thought it was one of the best crime novels he
had ever read.
I have to agree. Even more remarkable, it is Don Carpenter's
first novel.
Hard Rain Falling is told in five parts. The first
exposition, a very short prologue, details the birth of Jack
Levitt in Eastern Oregon. Jack is born to people with limited
parenting skills, ending up an orphan. In the second part,
Jack has moved to Portland and it is 1949. He is struggling
to exist, spending time with small hustles and living out of
a pool hall. When an African-American pool hustler named
Billy Lancing comes to Portland, Billy's story takes over the
narrative. By part three, Jack is in San Francisco, where
through a series of unfortunate incidents, he ends up in San
Quentin, only to find Billy as his cellmate. While the two
develop their relationship in prison, the novel takes time to
show Billy's path to his incarceration. Part four is devoted
to Jack's life outside of San Quentin, when he decides to
raise a family. Part five is the coda on the story.
To say more about the plot is pointless as what carries this
book is a relentless debate on the merits of an unimaginable
number of human scenarios. Mostly told through reminiscences,
the book allows characters to tell their stories while
revealing the conditions that created the conflicts that
plague them and the belief systems that led the character to
make the choices that they made. These remarkable revelations
reveal the true nature of love, the relationship between men
and women, the need for homosexuality, the purpose of
incarceration, the yearning for parents and the desire to be
one, the causes behind crime and the hopelessness of growing
up disenfranchised in America.
Don Carpenter was born in 1931 in Berkeley, California. His
family moved to Portland where he graduated from high school.
After service in the Air Force during the Korean War, he
earned a B.S. from Portland State College. After earning a
M.A. from San Francisco State College, he taught English. For
awhile, he was happily married and raised two daughters.
After the publication of his first novel, he moved to Mill
Valley, California, and became a full time writer. But
divorce separated him from his family. He also spent years
contributing to various projects in Hollywood with his
greatest success being the cult film Payday (1973) starring
Rip Torn. In addition to Hard Rain Falling, he wrote, Blade
of Light (1967), The Murder of the Frogs and Other Stories
(1969), Getting Off (1971), The True Life Story of Jody
McKeegan (1975), A Couple of Comedians (1979),
Turnaround
(1981), The Class of '49 (1985), The Dispossessed (1986), and
From A Distant Place (1988). Ill, but still writing, he
committed suicide by gunshot in 1995. More can be learned
about this remarkable writer at http://www.doncarpenterpage.com
<http://www.doncarpenterpage.com/>
.
The words tour de force comes to mind. It certainly will fit
any critic's definition of noir.
Here is The Big Disappointment: Currently, none of Don
Carpenter's novels are in print. A search of WorldCat reveals
only 231 copies available and the American Book Exchange
lists only 28 used copies for sale. Sadly, just like the
character of Jack Levitt, this novel has no future, unless
someone gets this work back in print.
Best, Gary Warren Niebuhr
piesbook@execpc.com http://my.execpc.com/~piesbook/piescatalog.html
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