All Hat : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully Flawed Characters, Horses, And Hats
Review: Ray Dokes has just returned from two years in prison, and is trying to stay out of trouble. He finds some work as a roofer, bunks with his old friend and mentor, Pete Culpepper, tries to patch things up with his old flame, Etta. The scene is a rural community in decline, a community of failing farms and horse-racing, dominated by Stanton Stables. And the heir to Stanton Stables is Sonny, a man of greed and entitlement and a bullying temperament, who is Ray Dokes' nemesis.

There is no finely crafted plot here. The characters try to survive and get ahead, engage in harebrained schemes, drink far too much, do some really bad things, and plot against Sonny. So what will happen? Will Sonny get what he so richly deserves? Will Etta lose her farm to the Stanton Empire? Will Ray go back to prison? You will have to read the book to find out. The beauty of this novel is in the characters. Canadian author Brad Smith is a genius at characterization. He creates a whole community of flawed but real people-losers, down-and-outers, and survivors-and one great villain-out of simple materials-gestures, turns of speech, and-most of all-hats. Horses, too, every one of them a real personage. Every one of these characters becomes real, complex and likeable in spite of their shortcomings. Even Sonny gets a little sympathy, but not much.

The bleak atmosphere of a declining farm community is beautifully evoked. The sadness of broken relationships and lost opportunities is deeply moving. Yet life goes on, somehow, and no one can say what the future will bring. All Hat is a must read. I cannot recommend it too highly. Reveiwed by Louis N. Gruber.