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The Time It Never Rained

4.15 of 5 stars 4.15 · rating details · 408 ratings · 76 reviews

To the ranchers and farmers of 1950s Texas, man's biggest enemy is one he can't control. With their entire livelihood pegged on the chance of a wet year or a dry year, drought has the ability to crush their whole enterprise, to determine who stands and who falls, and to take food out of the mouths of the workers and their families. To Charlie Flagg, an honest, decent, and...more

Paperback, 416 pages

Published May 15th 1999 by Forge Books (first published 1973)

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Texas Authors

7th out of 175 books — 73 voters

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Sep 21, 2011 Steven rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book more than all those Louis L'Amour books, including the one I had gone to the Western section to buy when I came out with this one. I don't know if it's Kelton or not, but this was a great book. Great characters, memorable setting and problems. I thought it was well-developed for what is often a formulaic genre.

I enjoyed the main character, particularly his stubborn refusal to buy into a government aid program. His insistence seems to have died with him somewhere decades ago....more

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Feb 27, 2012 Monty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Kelton is one of our best Western writers. He is perhaps better known for his Texas Rangers series, which traces the history of Texas, from the early Republic to the 1880's. Kelton grew up on a ranch in West Texas, and the present work is probably based on many of his childhood experiences in the 1950's and 60's
The main topic of the present work concerns the six-year "drouth" that affected Texas in the 1950's, with lasting consequences for the ranchers, the towns, and the way of life that had e...more

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Jan 12, 2010 Lostinanovel rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 18, 2010 Tressa added it

Elmer Kelton’s The Time it Never Rained

Kelton paints a portrait of the internal struggle to maintain autonomy amid the external challenges of the arid west.

After The Time it Never Rained:

Jeanette Walls’ Half-Broke Horses

The tale of a woman who faces life’s challenges head-on, whether she’s riding her pony solo for several days to her first job or running hootch to support her family during the Great Depression.

Gin Phillips’ The Well and the Mine

This award-winning debut novel takes us from the...more

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Sep 21, 2011 Kw rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm sorry this book and writer aren't more well-known. The story is so real, I could almost feel the dry, scratchy dust and the wind beating on my skin as I read about this 7-year drought. The characters are quite believable, and the story is as old as any - life isn't always (or even often) easy, but it can still be very good. Even good things may be preceded by hardship, but we get through it and go on.
The relationships, ethnic chasms, and the grit of those hard-working Texas farmers and ranc...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Joseph Dorris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: western-way-of-life

An incredibly sobering book. I could never live up to the example of Charlie Flagg, yet his character should give us all something to think about. I think this may have been Kelton's finest writing. He captures in a few words some incredibly deep struggles and realities. He doesn't force the politics of the time (and more overwhelmingly of today) on the reader, but shows the reader through stark reality the unintended consequences of a government's misguided good intentions. It helped me underst...more

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Oct 31, 2009 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars

The setting is a 7 year drought on a West Texas ranch in the 1950's. Kelton grew up on a West Texas ranch in the 20's and 30's and brings the culture and country vividly to life. The main character, Charlie Flagg, is, of course, a rancher of the old libertarian strain and is modeled on Kelton's father. He is a man of principles who won't accept government aid for the drought and, as it turns out, it didn't make any difference anyway. This book was written in 1973 and is sympathetic to illegal al...more

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Jul 24, 2007 David Cox rated it 5 of 5 stars

The greatest American novel no one outside of Texas ever heard of.

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Nov 28, 2012 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

I found this author in the list of the Western Writers of America 24 best western authors. The list is:

Elmer Kelton

Willa Cather

A.B. Guthrie

Louis L'Amour

Dee Brown

Dorothy Johnson

Zane Grey

Owen Wister

Larry McMurtry

Will Henry

Max Evans

Jack Schaefer

Glendon Swarthout

Mari Sandoz

Wallace Stegner

Norman Zollinger

Don Coldsmith

Richard S. Wheeler

Loren D. Estleman

Ernest Haycox

Tony Hillerman

Robert M. Utley

Cormac McCarthy

Benjamin Capps

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Sep 21, 2011 Samuel Snoek-Brown rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. There's certainly something to be said for learning to appreciate an older style of writing. I labored with Dostoyevsky for example; I even had to work at loving Chekhov. But such adjusting periods usually pay off because the literature is so rich and beautiful and, for the writer, informative about the possibilities in craft.

I've labored long and hard with Elmer Kelton's The Time It Never Rained, because it is an historical novel rooted firmly in a particular culture, a particular era, a parti...more There's certainly something to be said for learning to appreciate an older style of writing. I labored with Dostoyevsky for example; I even had to work at loving Chekhov. But such adjusting periods usually pay off because the literature is so rich and beautiful and, for the writer, informative about the possibilities in craft.

I've labored long and hard with Elmer Kelton's The Time It Never Rained, because it is an historical novel rooted firmly in a particular culture, a particular era, a particular economy. It addresses issues of race and class, of politics, of environmentalism. It is a complex novel. But my problem with it is this: it takes too damned long to get itself underway, and the labor doesn't really pay off. Sure, the characters that start out as stolidly stereotypical do eventually develop distinct personalities, individual motives, a life outside the plot. But before Kelton can let these characters live and breathe on their own, he feels the need to utilize them toward some other Purpose, with a capital P: namely, he needs to take the time to explain to us, in textbook detail, the harsh mechanics of ranch life, the prejudices of every class of character, and -- most importantly -- his conservative, anti-government political slant. And he takes forever doing it.

I suppose that, given the beauty of the second half of the book, that wait might seem worth it. But here's my problem: While Elmer Kelton takes somewhere between 120 and 150 pages to set up the socio-economic realities of his novel, Jane Austen managed the same in the very first sentence of Pride and Prejudice. And I think if Kelton had sacrificed his research and his memoirs in favor of tightly crafted storytelling the way Austen did, this would have been a much, much finer novel.

That's not to say it is without beauty. Even early in the novel, Kelton's descriptions of the landscape are among the most beautiful passages I've read: "It was a comforting sight, this country. It was an ageless land where the past was still a living thing and old voices still whispered, where the freshness of the pioneer time had not yet all faded, where a few of the old dreams were not yet dark with tarnish. It had not been so long, really, since feathered Comanches had roamed these hills a-horseback, seeking after game, or occasionally in warpaint seeking honor and booty and blood. Eighty years . . . one man's lifetime." (One feels the lamenting echo of this romance in the latter pages of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, both set and written a generation after Kelton's novel.)

And once he gets the dry technical-manual-like explanations of ranch life out of the way, he winds up writing gloriously punchy, concise sentences about cowboying and sheepherding: "Diego climbed over the fence, rope in his hand, and dropped down inside the corral. He shook out a horse loop, moved carefully toward the colts, swung the rope in a quick figure eight and caught the bay around the neck." This quick, easy passage, letting necessary jargon slip in and out without any passing glance, is a far cry better than the full paragraph some 70 pages earlier in which Kelton carries on about the long historical whys and wherefores of putting a plate and glass in the kitchen sink. (I'm not exaggerating.)

Overall, though, the beautiful pastoral writing and the eventual development of the main characters -- especially Charlie Flagg and his Mexican ranch hand's son Manuel -- can't compete with the pervasive political bias of the novel, which asserts itself in long, awkward treatises and monologues or forced "arguments" between the dogged Flagg and basically everyone else in the book. I don't mind political content in a novel, especially if it serves the story, but in the case of this book, the servitude is reversed. In an afterward to the edition I read, Tarleton State University professor Tom Pilkington remarks that "it would be a mistake, I think, to read into the novel a particular political message -- that all government aid should be sternly and righteously rejected." But that precise message comprises at least half of Charlie Flagg's speech and thoughts in this book, and as Pilkington notes, Charlie Flagg is presented as a "a genuine hero," so his is the voice of the whole novel. And every single character save one who accepts government assistance and offers a counterpoint to Flagg's perspective does so in weak, circular, repetitive illogic, always resorting to either an "everyone else is doing it" or a greedy "get yours while the getting's good" position, and every one of them, by the end of the novel, comes to ruination and in one way or another "concedes" that Flagg was right all along. The lone hold-out, the only character to offer the thinnest attempt at a serious argument against the novel's pervasive anti-government stance, doesn't make his stand until barely 10 pages form the end, and the best he can muster is "the system's broken, but the idea's still good."

So I think it would be foolish to ignore the political message wedged into practically every page of this novel, and because the story and the characters become so servile to that message, it's hard to take this book seriously as a work of fiction.

I should say, though, that the problems with story aside, it's clear that Kelton is a damn fine writer; and in the end, despite Flagg's "heroic" efforts to resist government aid, the novel ends on a note as bleak and unforgiving as any I've seen, which is just the way I like my endings. So I would welcome a chance to read one of his less personal, less politically motived historical Westerns. (less)

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May 27, 2008 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: texas, all-time-favorites

Would it be enough to just tell you to go read this book right now?
In simplest terms, it's the story of a West Texas rancher during the horrendous 1950s drought. Kelton weaves the stories of a stubborn man, a dying town, cattle and sheep and goats, immigration, the economy, governmental meddling, relationships, small town life, and trying to stay alive into one heck of a novel. You can feel the heat and the dust, and your heart aches as the ranch slips away.
This is one of those books that is al...more

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Apr 03, 2010 Wallace Kaufman rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Elmer Kelton is too often pigeon holed as a Western writer, cowboy writer, Texas regional writer. This book should rank with Faulkner's work as the local made universal. It is one of the very best works of fiction from which a reader can gain a valuable and usable insight into the dynamics of humankind and the natural environment. (Entirely unlike the Utopian, romantic, and idealistic stuff of so much environmental writing.) Great story, great insight.

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Jul 02, 2008 Meagan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: western

This is a slow, deliberate book that really lets you get to know its main character, Charlie Flagg. I grew up in the West, and I've met people, both men and women, like Charlie Flagg. They can be infuriating to deal with, but you can't help but respect them. They're stubborn and independent, sometimes they lack the forward thinking that I prize, but they are unfailingly reliable, honest, and hard-working. Charlie Flagg is all these things, and The Time It Never Rained follows him and his Texas r...more

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Apr 30, 2012 David Jr. rated it 5 of 5 stars

A very interesting book. This book tells the story of a massive multi-year drought in south central Texas. The protagonist deals not only with the drought but the Federal Government's interference and exacerbation of the problem, along with immigration problems and a failing family.

We follow the struggles and trials of the great drought and when we novel ends on its pitch-perfect note, we feel like we've lived it.

Very good read!

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Mar 19, 2012 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1950s, fiction, drought, cattle-ranching

This is a sad book. It is the story of a west Texas cattle rancher and his struggles during a six-year drought.

I disliked the style - the use of poor grammar. However, the main character, Charlie Flagg, is a tough, stubborn, opinionated, but kind and absolutely honest and fair-minded rancher who was interesting to read about.

This was a choice for my book club, however I missed the meeting and do not know how the discussion went.

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May 01, 2013 Carole rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great book. Characters are real. Settings are vivid. The plot line is compelling. To think there was a person in such dire circumstances who would stand by his decision to refuse government handouts. I feel like I know this guy and want to go shake his hand.
I loved the author's insight in to race relations. He did a great job of picturing the slow creep of government into the lives of these brave ranchers.

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Jun 03, 2012 Tim rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you want to understand the mentality of long time Texans, especially those of a previous generation and those living west of Ft. Worth, this is a remarkable book about a man of character, determination, and a love for the land. I have read this five or six times and have given it to many people. Kelton is a wonderful writer and this story of a Texas rancher during the drought of the 1950s is among his best.

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May 30, 2012 Edward Waverley marked it as to-read

From the May 2012 issue of "Chronicles: a Magazine of American Culture", John Willson states: "Elmer Kelton drew much inspiration for his novels from work at the J. Evetts Haley Library in Midland, founded by Evetts and named after his first wife, Nita. 'The Time It Never Rained' is one of the greatest of American novels, and I cannot read it without seeing at least something of Evetts in its main character."

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Oct 08, 2011 Sandy Neal rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was already a big fan of Elmer Kelton before reading this book! I could not put this book down. Drouth, West Texas farming or ranching, doing it on your own, government subsidies, the relationship between Mexicans and Anglos and changing mores are all topics of this book. Well-written with Spanish words sprinkled in to show local color. I read it for a book club meeting.

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Aug 07, 2012 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm struggling with my rating on this one. The story itself is very good an captures a time and people in a compelling way. I found the plot a little predictable so this is why it doesn't get a 4. Maybe also because I grew up with people who have lived this way I don't find it remarkable that an author could capture them. Perhaps I should be more impressed with it.

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May 07, 2013 Jerome T. rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book portrays a hero of ordinary life, Charlie Flagg, who resists accepting government assistance during an epic Texas drought. Many times he has to adjust to poverty, but he is determined to remain self-sufficient. His wife struggles to understand him. His grown son takes the easy way out. The world is changing, but Charlie remains stubbornly steadfast.

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Aug 26, 2011 SuzAnne rated it 4 of 5 stars

A thoroughly believable hero, a heart-breaking situation, and a thought-provoking commentary on government "do-good-ism". Charlie Flagg is just an ordinary West Texas rancher, trying to keep on going, during a prolonged Texas drought in 1950's. Can't figure out what page I was reading when I fell in love with the "third crank in Rio Seco".

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Jan 11, 2009 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-long-ago

As I recall, this was a great portrait of drought and how people cope with it. Before our current drought, the worst one in known Texas history was in the mid-1950s. That's when The Time It Never Rained is set. All Texans and most everybody else should read this book. Our climate doesn't seem to be getting any wetter or cooler.

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Oct 02, 2011 Dave rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I find myself annoyed at Elmer Kelton. This is well written, and covers the hardships of West Texas ranching well. Yet the protagonist Charlie Flagg gets into trouble by a six year plus drought, and never gets out. Life my be not be a bowl of cherries, but this is all pitts. When it does start to rain again, the books ends with just one more tragic event that removes practically all hope for the character. Several sub-plots are left unresolved. I wanted to like this book, but Kelton never let hi...more

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Feb 14, 2013 Jeff Dickison rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A good book, but this is not a typical Elmer Kelton western. This book takes place in the 50's in West Texas and concerns what befalls a rancher, his family and his friends during a six-year drought. Unfortunately for me, Kelton stacks the deck too much against the rancher, who apparently never stands a chance.

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Aug 24, 2010 Kerry rated it 5 of 5 stars

listening to this one. I'm not a western fan but this is a great story. am on 4 th cd of 11
Finish and must say I will go on to read more of Kelton. This was a great listen with George Guidall who I just love to listen to. It was a tragic tail but not one that made you want to cry more one that made you want to think and to relish how we got to be a great nation. I would recommend the audio book very highly. it was hard to put down

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Jun 08, 2009 Karen Hankins rated it 5 of 5 stars

First class modern western of what life is like on a West Texas ranch. This is a true classic story of a principled man challenged by nature. Recommend it highly to anyone as it transcends ranching or a typical western. Interesting and heartbreaking that Kelton struggled for so many years to finally get it published!

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Dec 16, 2008 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Elmer Kelton writes about historical farming and ranching in west texas which is part of my ancestral history. He is an exceptional writer that can bring characters and landscape to life. This is my favorite book by him, but you will need to enjoy westerns and cowboy culture to find it as as good as I did.

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Jan 27, 2010 Stephen Barry rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of the best American novels I have ever read.
The story of a Texas rancher during the years of a great drought in the 1950s it tells of a time of changing attitudes and the valiant struggle of one man to remain true to himself in a world that no longer values the code he lives by.

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Apr 16, 2009 Tere rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Tere by: My Dad

Shelves: mooched-from-a-friend

I grew up during the time it never rained in West Texas and have always needed to read this book since we have 6th degree connections with Mr. Kelton. I did not like the ending but other than that I really liked the book. Sadly, West Texas is once again in a time it never rained.

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About Elmer Kelton

Elmer Kelton (1926-2009) was award-winning author of more than forty novels, including The Time It Never Rained, Other Men’s Horses, Texas Standoff and Hard Trail to Follow. He grew up on a ranch near Crane, Texas, and earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas. His first novel, Hot Iron, was published in 1956. Among his awards have been seven Spurs from Western Writers of America and...more

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“I'll be riding rough horses when you are salted away in a box.” — 2 people liked it

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