"The Good Old Boys" is about Hewey Calloway, a drifting cowboy and his horse Biscuit. Elmer Kelton has the type nailed down. Responsibility and good judgement are not Hewey's strong suits, but honesty and sincerity are.
Hewey, who doesn't carry a gun because it might lead to violence, wanders back to his brother's hard scrabble ranch in West Texas after being gone for two years. During that time, no one in the family knew where Hewey was, if he was dead or alive. When Hewey arrives, they are relieved to see him, but not particularly glad. Things go down hill and up hill from there. As Hewey's misadventures unfold, the reader meets Snort Yarnell, Boy Rasmussen and a host of other characters. Readers attracted to "characters" will meet some of fiction's best. I grew up around many characters and have always loved the humanity of the most reprobate of individuals. Each person has a certain dignity although it can hard to find.
Hewey eventually meets Spring Renfro, the local school marm. Sparks fly between them and carry the better part of the plot until the end of the book. The only unrealistic aspect of the book may be what Spring sees in Hewey, but then I don't know what most women see in most men. We are a pitiful lot.
There is a humor that exists among cowboys. "The Good Old Boys" is full of this cowboy humor. It also touches the heart. For all of his weakness, Hewey is a good man. He is reminiscent of Augustus McRae from "Lonesome Dove," or a Steinbeck character from "Cannery Row." "The Good Old Boys" belongs with those books and perhaps exceeds them. It is one of the best works of fiction to come out of the 20th century. Elmer Kelton has written "When the Cowboys Quit," and "The Time It Never Rained." They are excellent books. Kelton has narrow following now, but will one day be recognized as one of the fine writers of his time.
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