Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter

A raw, gritty glimpse into poverty and a desperate search for identity

Through raw storytelling, terse dialogue, and the callous, hard-nosed character Jack Levitt, Don Carpenter crafts a narrative conveying the pervasive influence of poverty and inequality on one’s life. Caught in the plight of poverty in the 1950-60s, Carpenter thrusts readers into a gritty, unfair world while concurrently exploring man’s will and loneliness in a society that continues to kick him down. Along the fast-paced ride, deeply flawed delinquents draw us in with redeeming actions coating this work in moral ambiguity.

Hard Rain Falling follows a cast of downtrodden characters, primarily Jack Levitt and Billy Lancing. Jack is a bruiser and runaway orphan attempting to get even with life, “He felt a stirring of anger, not at society for failing to have provided him with money; not at himself for his refusal to work; but at the situation itself, for existing.ˮ (pg. 64) This cantankerous attitude repeatedly leads him into misfortunate circumstances such as frequent fights, alcoholism, and eventually prison. It isn’t until Jack becomes cellmates with a former acquaintance, Billy from his old days at the pool halls, that his life reaches an inflection point. Following tragedy and the sacrifice of another’s life for his own, Jack is forced to come to terms with the limits of his control and accept the responsibilities that arise from marriage, fatherhood, and life more broadly.

Carpenter draws in readers with ease through clever, effective turns of phrases like “half the anger cooked out of him by the sunˮ, “hero of a cowardʼs nightmareˮ, but he cements this book’s legacy through his discursive reflections. At various points in the novel, the narrative seemingly breaks away from the scene and ascends to a remarkable level of philosophical discussion on pertinent questions of socio-economical inequality, nature vs. nurture, free will, and love. Unable to maintain control and break out of a downward spiral, Jack states “How do you wake up? It was one thing to know that you had been asleep all your life, but something else to wake up from it, to find out you were really alive and it wasn't anybody's fault but your own. Of course that was the problem.ˮ (pg. 78) It’s in these sections of the book that Carpenter transcends an enjoyable, but nothing extraordinary, crime novel and touches upon something timeless.

For me, the main element holding this book back from becoming a bonafide masterpiece is an unclear or loose plot. The early childhood days set a foundation for our main characters Jack and Billy and give us insight into who these men are; however, the first 80 or so pages have a minimal impact on what makes this novel really work and the ending feels underdeveloped. That being said, this is definitively a character-driven story rather than plot and perhaps Carpenter felt as if he said all that he could through the turbulent life of Jack Levitt.

Carpenter struck magic in this debut novel depicting life in the 1950-60s in a way that is rarely shown today where post-WWII life is usually seen through rose-colored, nostalgic glasses. Readers are given a front row seat to disadvantaged, impoverished society and able to form their own interpretation of inequality, the prison system, and man’s freedom.