Plainsong

Rating:
Summary: A well-crafted addition to modern western fiction
Review: This third novel from Haruf further establishes his place among the preeminent writers of western American fiction. I enjoy reading Haruf in much the same way I enjoy Wallace Stegner, for his depth of feeling for the land and the people who inhabit the places of his stories.

This very understated but elegant novel, set in a small ranching town in the flatlands of eastern Colorado, is really several related stories intertwined and associated by a common bond of a struggle against the unsettling fates of life and a communal effort to achieve a common grace and compassion.

In this story we come to know and quickly care about a string of characters-from a pregnant teenager, to the teacher who is raising his two sons alone after his wife deserts the family, to the two ranching brothers whose lives take on a new and deeper meaning in a most unexpected turn of events.

This is a story worth reading and worth learning from. You will find yourself crying and rooting for its protagonists, and thinking about its players and meaning for days after finishing the novel.

Rating:
Summary: Simply excellent
Review: Plainsong, by Kent Haruf is one of the most satisfying reads in years. It seems an oxymoron to expect that a novel titled "Plainsong" and written in a style to mimic the "unadorned melody" found in the early Christian church, should provide so much depth. The novel is simple to read. And yet, it is in the simple characterizations that seems accurate to small time people they portray and the seemingly accurate dialects that Haruf patterns in the speech of these characters, which makes the reader feel the lives and experiences of the characters that people this book.

A girl pregnant; a teacher who rises to the ocassion to help her; the McPherons', seemingly incapapable of providing the support they do or of growing as human beings, which they do. Ike and Bob, good kids, growing up on the best that small town life can give them. Guthrie, a teacher, unsentimentalized in Haruf's portrayal, doing the best he can as a single parent. There is some sterotyping here, but through his method of presenting the small town of Holt throught the lives of ten or twelve characters, Haruf appears to capture the unsimpleness and complicated issues of living life in a small town.

I did not want this novel to end. The way it did end may have opened the door for a sequel. I hope so.

Rating:
Summary: Tedious!
Review: I keep thinking I a missing something, because so many people loved this book, but to me, the story just fell flat. The ending just didn't make sense. For every plot point that was wrapped up, there was a plot point left unresolved.

Heartwarming?? Cozy?? No, this book was more about the cruelty of life, but the characters seem to run and hide from their problems instead of confront and conquer them.

I know, I know I "get" the "plainsong" idea. Simple, unadorned, but this book just got to be flat out boring!

Rating:
Summary: "plain" is right
Review: Sometimes simplicity can be more beautiful than complexity, when all the excess details are stripped away and you have the unadorned essence of a thing. I feel like this is what the author was trying to do in Plainsong, but unfortunately it didn't work. It turned out to be a drab, uninteresting portrait of life in Anytown, USA. Reading Plainsong, I got the feeling that I had read it before. The scenes and people were all standard and predictable. The characters and their conflicts seemed one-dimensional, cut out for their roles in a novel (the teenage girl with the abusive boyfriend, the single dad trying to raise two innocent boys, the heart-of-gold neighbor, the crusty old farmers...) The result was that I had lost interest in them after their first introduction, because they were so plain and familiar, almost cliche. I don't need a novel to be full of excitement and bizarre plot twists, which is why I thought I'd like an understated, quiet book like this. But Plainsong had nothing original or interesting to say about its characters' plain, ordinary lives. It was like a black & white photograph of the great plains - if it's done right it can be beautiful in its simplicity, but if it's not done well, it's just a gray snapshot of a flat landscape. Plainsong was the latter for me.

Rating:
Summary: Strong characterization, spare writing
Review: Having wanted to read Plainsong for some time, I began it with high expectation (another reviwer of Peace Like a River, which I gave 5 stars, suggested I get the "real goods" with Plainsong ... so I thought, "okay, time to read Plainsong").

This book's strength lies in characterization, with each chapter devoted to one or two of its characters: Guthrie, father of two mature and responsible young boys; Ella, his wife who cannot rise from bed (depression, we suspect, perhaps from a marriage gone dry); Ike and Bobby, the two sons; Victoria Roubideaux, a 17-year-old high school girl who finds herself prematurely pregnant to an unlikable young man from another town; the McPheron brothers, two kindly prairie farmers who know little about anything but farming, but whose fundamental wisdom will see them through anything life presents (as we see); Maggie Jones, a teacher like Guthrie at the high school in Holt who's tenderhearted and loving spirit provides a grounding to others, especially to Victoria and Guthrie.

This is the simple rendering of the book, the life and inter-connectedness of eight characters in a Colorado prairie town. Like the apparent simplicity of prairie life, the challenges and conflicts unfold simply, told in caring but dispassionate prose, somewhat like a story by Chekhov.

Maggie Jones's basic goodness holds the important relationships together, first taking Victoria in for a while (who had been told to leave home by an unforgiving mother -- true to plains thinking and religious eccentricity), and later asking that the McPheron brothers open their home to Victoria, as unlikely as it seems initially. (We, the reader, watch with relish as the brothers learn, haltingly, to give her the comfort, security and love she needs to come to a healthy delivery). Maggie also embraces Guthrie -- tenderly, teasingly, and lovingly -- admiting a long-standing interest and offering the comfort he needs after his ill wife leaves to live with her sister in Denver.

Otherwise, the book presents what it says, a "plain song" --plain and unadorned -- about the lives of small-town folk (insert "plain's" folk) -- simple lives, complex issues (as with people anywhere), who build meaning in the middle of nowhere. In a way, it's a Seinfeld rendering in a different setting, but as true to its characters and milieu as any episode of Seinfeld. Nothing much seems to happen to characters as eccentric and endearing as Seinfeld's -- except life in all its humanness and aberration.

So ... this is a fine book, and deserved to be a finalist for the National Book Award, no argument here. It has an enduring feel and pace and delivery. Is it a stronger performance than Peace Like a River? Not in my estimation. Is it more enduring than Peace. Who knows? We, readers everywhere, through the timeless stream of analysis and comparison, will determine that. Without question, both are compelling novels, though each comes to its strength by different styles. Without belaboring my point, Peace engaged me more, as a reader and as a critic. My hope is this: a Pulitzer Prize or National Book Award for Peace Like a River.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Story
Review: I loved this book because the author had the grace and the courage to write about plain people who were lovely on the inside. It sounds corny, but it was a love story between different types of people. I thought that this book was going to be very depressing when I first began reading. I left the book and returned to it a couple of months later. It turned out to be a total joy to read. Haruf writes about what is in someone's heart. He understands desolation, loneliness, and need. He also understands dignity, honor, and loyalty to family. His characters are real and beautiful.

Rating:
Summary: choppy
Review: The story was choppy and hard to follow. I had to put the book down after 10 pages. The writing style reminded me of the camera work on NYPDBlue, too keen to show the reader everything at once rather than what is pertinent.

Rating:
Summary: Plainsong
Review: As part of a book club, I read this book. The point of my joining the bookclub was to read books I might normally not have picked up on my own, as I am open to reading about new ideas and subjects everyday. A friend of mine and I both read this book and the next time we met , the looks on our faces said it all. WHAT A WASTE OF GOOD PAPER! I see that the book has now been made into a movie and I told my friend such. All she could say is 'NOOOOO!' My favorite part of the book was 'blah blah blahblahblah, BLAH?' Oh, wait that wasn't part of it but the whole book sure READ like that.

Rating:
Summary: An honest perspective
Review: I read this book at my wife's insistence since I grew up in a small Colorado town. Kent Haruf's book is simple, yet has an interesting, cast of eight characters in a Colorado prairie town. The town is plain, but like any simple story from a small town life has it's challenges and conflicts.
The book's finds its strength in it's characters. And each chapter focuses on one or two of them. Guthrie is the father of two responsible young boys, Ike and Bobby. Ella, his wife, is so depressed she can not get out of bed. I liked the McPheron brothers who are two kind, yet simple farmers from the prairie are a real treat. They aren't the greatest at agriculture, but wise beyond measure and added some wisdom and levity to the story. Maggie Jones is a teacher, like Guthrie, at the high school in Holt who holds relationships together. Maggie Jones provides a real plain, loving and honesty in her being. While this book was in the running for a National Book Award, it has the feel of a third disinterested third party telling the story. While this wasn't the very best book I've read in my lifetime, there was a lot for me to connect with.

Rating:
Summary: Such a Heartwarming Tale
Review: I have had this book sitting on my bookshelf for over 2 years. After just reading it, I'm kicking myself for not reading it earlier. I'm not usually a fan of male authors but Kent Haruf has *made me a believer*.

From beginning to end, this book just oozed a wonderful comfy and cozy feel! I could almost feel the warmth in each and every word. The characters were all far from perfect but they were people that were easy to enjoy sitting down with everyday. They didn't live the perfect lives ~ none of them. But, they were strong enough charachters to make the most of what they had. To me, those are the characters that jump right out of a book.

Thank you, Kent Haruf, for writing such a touching novel that will remain in my mind for years to come!