However, it disturbs me yet again that I had not heard of this author prior to reading the book and now he has passed away (2014). It had been part of her Book Club reading and she had rejoiced in the lightness and loveliness of the novel. So it was with gay abandon that when she recommended Our Souls at Night, by Kent Haruf, I dashed out and bought it that day. Why are the subjects of so many books on such heavy subjects? Nothing to cheer me up. It was heavy reading about a heavy subject that dragged me down into despair. The title is so appropriate, as it all starts with Our Souls at Night when life seems loneliest.My friend and I were out a few months ago and we were both discussing, or dare I say whingeing, about the depressing and desolate book we had just read. The cover is so very soft with its greige wall and the haziness between it and Addie’s solid, dark, old-fashioned headboard. Bill Martin owns a picnic-ky sort of property with a creek. Dee Roberts, a former student, plays on the softball team. Linda Rogers and Julie Newcomb are some of Holly’s tattling friends. Gorland had sold his insurance office and clients to Carl. Dorlan Becker used to own the men’s store. Ruth Joyce is an eighty-two-year-old neighbor who lives in between Addie and Louis. Louis Waters loved to write poetry and had taught high school English. Beverly, a hairdresser, is Gene’s unhappy wife. Gene is her closed-off son with an unfinished furniture store. Carl is her deceased (estranged) husband he’d sold all kinds of insurance when he was alive. ![]() The seventy-year-old Addie Moore had retired from her job as a clerk for the town. That bring them joy until family steps in. They’re both in the same situation: widowed and lonely. The StoryĪddie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. I’m not sure I’d’ve read it, if I’d known how it would end. It’s real life with ordinary people in empty houses with lonely nights. Benediction (Plainsong, 3)? It’s even cuter with the follow-up on the next page when Addie poses a question about some author writing a book about them. I suspect that “last book about Holt County” and the play is a reference to one of Haruf’s books. I do have to agree with Addie about church! Ooh, it made me furious when Ruth told Jamie the story behind the picture. And then to want to close him off as well… She simply had no purpose other than being a housewife and taking care of their daughter. It’s sad about Louis wanting to write his poetry, having purpose, and his wife being so closed-off. I hope she leaves all her money to Jamie! Jerk. Then to come out with this attitude? I should think he’d be happy that his mother was happy! That she is willing to help him with his son and his life. And who is he to talk, anyway? He’s dumping his kid on his mother because he’s got his own problems with his wife and his business. He’s such a judgmental creep, shoving his issues onto his mother. It was all just instinct and the patterns we’d grown up with.” ![]() ![]() “…we didn’t know anything in our twenties when we were first married. On the whole, their lives were normal including those few blips, those tragedies that can hit anyone - Connie’s death and Carl’s reaction to it and Louis’ affair. It’s a sweet and very sad story about normal - old - people who want companionship. In 2015, Our Souls at Night was nominated for the GoodReads Choice Award for Fiction. Explore it on Goodreads or AmazonĪ standalone novel about life in a small town amongst the elderly in Holt, Colorado. Our Souls at Night by Kent Harufįiction in Hardcover edition that was published by Alfred A. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review.
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