"Ragged Company" is a novel about four homeless people in an unnamed Canadian city who win the lottery. The plot moves at a slow pace and the focus is more on revealing the backstories of the characters and how they are affected by their change in circumstances. The city and the time period are left unspecified, but one can guess that it is probably set in the 1980s based on the movies the characters watch. 

Movies play a significant role in this book, with the four homeless people - Digger, Timber, Double Dick, and One For The Dead - taking refuge in a movie theater during a cold spell. It is through the movies that they meet Granite, a former journalist with his own tortured past. They continue to bond over movies throughout the book, even after their lives change because of their lottery win. 

While there are many references to movies, they are direct rather than being allusions or parallels. Unfortunately, the language used in the book is overwrought or overly "poetical" at times, stretching things out rather than getting to the point. However, the chapters are fairly short, and the switch in viewpoints keeps things interesting. I also appreciated getting viewpoints into the lives of street people or "rounders," as they call themselves in "Ragged Company." Overall, I would recommend this book, but not strongly.