Rain Or Shine

by Cyra McFadden

Chronicles the author's early life as the daughter of a rodeo announcer and a trick rider, whose tumultuous free-spirited relationship is set against the gritty backdrop of the Western rodeo circuit, despite marriage and divorce

Genres: Biography, Memoir, Nonfiction

249 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 1986

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her father, Cy Taillon, was the adored king of the rodeo
announcers - so handsome that he doubled for Robert Taylor
when he found himself in Hollywood and her mother was Pat,
a mercurial, vain vaudeville dancer who needed desperately
to break away from her poultry farming family. Meeting
when Cy was announcing the 1931 Montana State Fair and Pat
was part of the featured entertainment they married after
a whirlwind 24 hour courtship and spent the next 10 years
in a nightmarish cycle of dizzying highs and death defying
lows. They made Scott and Zelda look like the original stay
at homes as they matched each other in alcoholic recklessness,
promiscuity and maddening impulsiveness.
This is a really readable memoir as their daughter Cyra retraces
her past as "unofficial" mascot of the rodeo circuit and whether
the Cy she remembered - his flair, his showmanship and his
voice "like runnin' molasses" was real. His later years were
spent as a staunch and unbending disciplinarian who scorned
alcohol and worshipped his second, steadier wife Dorothy.
Cyra was born in 1939 (one of the photo's dates seem to dispute
this) and there are some indelible memories of home being a
roomy, classy Packard - even when it was ankle deep in hamburger
wrappers!! But the sad thing was that Cyra's birth signalled the
beginning of the end of the volatile twosome's marriage. Within
two weeks of the divorce headstrong Pat was already married to
Roy who had carried a torch for her for years and was as uptight
and conventional as Cy was soon to become. There are some funny
little stories about Roy's health conscious ways, his vegetarianism
and his mania for keeping the body healthy!!
This little book was short listed for the Pulitzer Prize and is
also Cyra's story as she eventually comes to terms with her
mother's mental illness, suddenly being supplanted in her father's
affections by a young, attractive stepmother and the relentless
conventionality of her father in his older years. Also playing
a big part in the book is Aunt Ila Mae, always there to "point
the finger" at Pat in their early years but eventually becoming
a support and showing some insights into Pat's volatile behaviour
in the last few pages.
A terrific book you will not limit to one reading.

[Michael Patton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is far from the story of my parents and my childhood. And yet, because the author captures a certain time in America and the mindset of that time, I recognize something of my own experience in hers.

[Glen Helfand · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this in a little free library up in a small town, one that didn't host rodeos, but wasn't far from livestock. McFadden, as I recalled, had a written a satire of Marin County back in the day. I hadn't read that, but it held some place in my imagination as a takedown of California suburbia, a theme I appreciate. I didn't realize she'd written a memoir, or one that it had been nominated for a Pulitzer. (And it turns out that the writer died just a few months ago.) Rain or Shine was surprisingly satisfying, a family saga with colorful settings and big personalities. McFadden's father was a rodeo announcer, her mother a showgirl, the pair marrying young and living a wild life on the road, sleeping in a fancy car they couldn't afford with young Cyra sleeping in the back seat nestled in her toys and clothes. Itinerant and dysfunctional, this was a family that didn't stick together in a conventional way. The couple splits, the daughter caught in the crossfire, and ending up with her mother who is emotionally caged- psychologically imprisoned by a jealous hoarder of a husband, the complete opposite of her charismatic rodeo star. This is a story of how big personalities loom large in a child's eyes, and how they make good stories but not necessarily good role models. McFadden admits to her flaws, but focuses primarily on her father, Cy, who did manage to pull his life together (though was also a bigot and harsh). The whole has an 80s panache, like a modern western starring Harry Dean Stanton. Bright colors obscured by ranch dust.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and very informative account of McFadden's unusual family/upbringing, with the focus being her father, Cy Taillon, "the Dean of Rodeo Announcers."

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read my review at my blog.

[Mary Chambers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book takes place in alot of places, but mostly in Missoula, MT, where I used to live. It is an interesting story about rodeo families.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great memoir of growing up in the midst of the tempestuous relationship between the author's hard-living, rodeo announcer father and her frustrated, former-showgirl mother.