Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Brad Smith, All Hat (Henry Holt, 2003)
I've always rather thought of Henry Holt as a textbook publisher, but somewhere along the line they started publishing fiction. Every once in a while they pop up with a truly notable book, such as Bruce Olds' Raising Holy Hell or Kathe Koja's Kink. Well, now you can add Brad Smith's All Hat to the list.
All Hat is a story about progress, when it comes right down to it. On the surface, it's about Ray Dokes, a Canadian cowboy who gets out of jail after doing two years of a five-year bit for assault (justified, of course, because Dokes is the story's protagonist). He gets out, of course, just as things are about to change in the three-miles-west-of-nothing where he and his acquaintances reside. Sonny Stanton, the guy Dokes assaulted, has been buying up all the area's farms, save that of Homer Parr, an old man with Alzheimer's whose daughter, Dokes' former girlfriend, won't sell. Stanton also has a horse good enough to go to the Breeders' Cup Classic, handled by a sour old trainer, a flashy good-for-nothing roustabout, and a quiet, industrious boy whom everyone thinks is a tad slow. There's also Dokes' sister, who sits and paints the same landscape over and over; Pete, Dokes' friend, boarder, and sometime employer, who wants nothing more than to go back to Texas; Chrissie, the loudmouthed but pretty jock who rides Pete's remaining thoroughbred in training; and a cast of minor characters just as full of vinegar. All of this, of course, has to change in any novel that's really about progress (well, with the quizzical exception of a few characters who seem incapable of changing; there's an interesting trend in who changes and who doesn't, but I don't want to spoil your fun).
This is a fun little novel that got mostly overlooked when it originally came out. (It was recommended to me through the fraternity of racing fans, and god bless 'em, they were right.) Should be easily found in paperback these days; give it a look. A quick read that's laugh-out-loud funny in a few spots. *** ½
Click Here to see more reviews about: All Hat: A Novel
0 comments:
Post a Comment