Hard Times: Introduction to the Novel by Jack Random

Hard Times tells the story of a man who loses his job and his home in a global economic crisis. Swallowing his pride his family is forced to move in with his wife’s elderly mother. When other family members join them there is neither enough room nor food. Stone faces a dilemma: Would the family be better off without him? His decision to leave leads him to a life on the road where he learns about himself and his fellow beings.

He joins a community under a local bridge and learns that people are not always what they seem. He learns about loyalty and companionship from an abandoned dog. He witnesses the dark side of human nature at a local farm where the boss exploits and abuses his workers. He discovers the virtues of honest labor and the resilience of hard working people under the most trying conditions. He finds a home for him and his family in a community of university students dedicated to creating a self-reliant and earth friendly society.

Stone envisions an alliance of communities trading goods and services, exchanging ideas, and committed to the greater good.

Borrowing conceptually from Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Aldous Huxley’s Island, Hard Times is about hope and overcoming hardship.