Don Carpenter

One of the best books I have read, as a teenager struggling for identity, the catcher in the rye struck a chord with me and in adulthood this book has done the same.

Carpenter makes so many observations, some incredibly humorous others raw, cutting the crap and stripping away the bullshit; leaving you thinking holy shit he's right, he has a damn good point.

It felt like three books in one and he nearly timed the pace of the book to a t, the final third was definitely read with most appetite.… (meer)

To me, this is close to a perfect novel. It's a shame it's not mentioned often among classics of that era. It's incredibly easy to digest while also being absolutely stunning. Those who like A Little Life and works by Cormac McCarthy but like to hop off the beaten path to books not everyone's read will enjoy this immensely.

To quote the Rumpus review: "Hard Rain Falling is populist fiction at its best. It is not just a good novel. It might be the most unheralded important American novel of the 1960s."

(It's been said it's a crime novel; I'll challenge that and say it's not really, and it's much more.)… (meer)

Dura la lluvia que cae es una novela de crimen, castigo y la búsqueda de una redención siempre postergada en la estela de Dostoievski. Épica en su alcance, la historia cubre más de tres décadas, desde los años veinte, más rurales, hasta el San Francisco de los años sesenta. Narra las aventuras de Jack Levitt, un adolescente huérfano, que se las arregla para sobrevivir en hoteles roñosos y salas de billar, y Billy Lancing, un joven de color, fugitivo y chapero en el mundo del billar. Tras el paso de Jack por el reformatorio y el ingreso de Billy a vida de la clase media –se casa, es padre de un hijo, tiene un negocio y una amante– el pasado persigue a ambos personajes, apresados en un destino que los une. Después del reencuentro de los dos en una cárcel de California, sus contrariedades verán un final violento y revelador.… (meer)