Plainsong

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Summary: Excellent novel!
Review: Wow! Simple yet absolutely brilliant. I look forward to more novels from Kent Haruf.

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Summary: Pride & Prejudice in small town America
Review: This book is a beautiful albeit raw and rugged account of life in a small Colorado plain's town. Ironically, it's mirrored after the very town I grew up in. Even though now I live in LA, "Plainsong" transports me back to my youth. Kent Haruf taps into the essence of rural life and the people that live out there lives there. The genuineness he captures - whether the folk are "good" or "bad" is very real. And the amazing sense of community is the bond that still binds - even when one moves far away... This book moved me in a way that makes me proud of my roots... "Holt" is my hometown.

Rating:
Summary: A carefully carved jewel
Review: This is plain prose at its best. The characters develop and unfold in clear and precise ways. They are as real as the exquisitely drawn physical environment. Every description is tangible. Your sense of being in this place and of knowing these people is uncanny. Few books in recent years have had such a deep sense of real life to them.

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Summary: Simply wonderful
Review: A entrancing novel, I won't forget it and am now impatiently waiting for Kent Haruf's next book.

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Summary: A novel to share with friends that's a pleasure to read.
Review: The vulnerability of Ike and Bobby Guthrie and Victoria Roubideaux; the decency of the McPheron brothers and Maggie Jones; and Tom Guthrie, whose life seems to be slipping out of control just as he's challenged to hold it together--these are characters you hope for and hope with. The Plainsong orchestrated by Kent Haruf in this novel is a melody of the connections that draw us together for the right reasons, even when life seems poised against us. This is a novel to share with family and friends. I know I won't forget my visit to Holt, Colorado.

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Summary: A most enjoyable read
Review: I forgot about looking for "the plot" while reading this truly enjoyable, well described slice of western country life. These are places I've been and people I've met. This Advance Readers Edition was given to me by my favorite bookseller. I thank them and Mr. Haruf and look forward to reading more of his work!

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Summary: Gave me a feeling of home!
Review: I grew up in a small farming town in Oklahoma which is an awful lot like eastern Colorado. I actually do now live in Fort Collins, Colorado, which Kent Haruf refers to many times in "Eventide" (also excellent). The feel of this book is so familiar, it made me homesick. The characters make me ache they are so real and portray every day life with such truth. I feel for the farmers and the isolation and routine of running a ranch and the fatigue that comes from a hard days' work. I also relate to Victoria's situation of having lost her way and finally finding people who do love her. A most touching book!

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Summary: Great writing, but disappointing
Review: Really this book has four stories in it - some more interesting than the others. Definitely the most interesting story - and the one which keeps you reading - has to be about Victoria Roubidoux, a pregnant teenager who is taken in by two older, uneducated farmers who are also brothers who never married. This, in and of itself, was a leap of faith for me. I found it difficult to believe that two men in their 50s would take in a pregnant teenager who is not a relative and someone whom they'd never met before - especially in a small rural town. In fact, wouldn't a young girl be afraid of living with two single older men?

While Haruf's writing in this book is very good, unfortunately it's the only good part of the book. I was prepared for a brilliant ending which would bring the four stories together, but the ending fell severely short of brilliant. A different ending would've made this an incredible book. Instead, I finished the book and thought to myself, "So?"

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Summary: The "Seinfeld" Of Books
Review: I loved this book, but when my wife asked me what it was about, I replied, "Nothing." And to me, that is what this wonderful book depicts.

Set in the rural town of Holt, Kent Haruf meshes together the stories of a recently separated high school teacher (Tom Guthrie), his hard-working pre-teenage sons (Ike and Bobby), a couple of old-time farmers (Harold and Raymond McPheron), a pregnant high school girl (Victoria Roubideaux, and the other high-shcool teacher that connects them all together (Maggie Jones).

This narrative story builds the character development quite nicely, and allows the reader to feel for the characters. Haruf does a tremendous job of simply describing life (waking up for work, cleaning the house, making oatmeal cookies, etc.). These simple smaller stories bring together all of the characters in one exceptional voice.

This book shows how people can adapt to their lives, and eventually redeem themselves. This book is not about one story. It reminds me of Seinfeld. Everyday life instances captured in the written word, interweaved together. It is fabulous and one terrific ride.

Haruf's language is very crisp and clear, and makes for a real nice and easy read. He is very descriptive in his writing, including one scene involving a horse autopsy that I swear I could actually see it in front of me.

This was a wonderful book, and one that I would clearly recommend to anyone. It deserves more than five stars.

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Summary: A day in the life of a small town
Review: The combination of characters in PLAINSONG are indeed unique. As I started the novel I wondered how they would all mesh. In many ways, this book is a "day in the life" of Holt, Col. The author manages to look at one relatively short period of time, a little less than a year, and show what happened to the characters and how their lives changed. It's a period of change for all of them espcially Victoria and the two young boys, Bobby and Ike. In fact it is a period of change for all of the characters, Tom, Maggie and the two McPherson brothers.

I got the EVENTIDE out of the library. It apparently continues the story. I'm sure that I will read it, but I'm not sure if it had been better to leave the characters were they are at the end of PLAINSONG and let each reader speculate as to what happens to them; how this period of time and the changes they went through effected the rest of thief lives.