All Hat

by Brad Smith

Book Overview

Just out of prison for attacking the man who assaulted his sister, Ray Dokes heads back to the small town where he was raised. Vowing to lie low, he moves in with Pete Culpepper, a Texas cowboy who... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805072179
• ISBN13: 9780805072174
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

'All' in good fun.

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

Beautifully Flawed Characters, Horses, And Hats

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.