Plainsong

Rating:
Summary: plain but not simple
Review: I enjoyed this book more than expected. The story was a little slow in the beginning, but the characters begin to come together fairly quickly. Although there are no quotations marks, the book is an easy read. It also holds your attention throughout and leaves you feeling good. I would recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Believe the hype
Review: What a nice experience. Here is a book that has been so lauded by critics that by the time I got around to reading it, I was expecting to be at least somewhat disappointed, figuring there was no way it could live up to all the hype it has received. How nice to be wrong! Kent Haruf really hit the ball out of the park with this one. It is hard to argue with the ultimate moral of the novel, that in a too often unkind world, people can always find at least some semblance of happiness by being kind to one another and caring for others in their community. But the danger in writing a novel with a message like this is that it leaves open so many opportunities for oversentimentality and sappiness. Haruf miraculously was able to avoid both, while still remaining a highly optimistic, if also realistic (in realizing that bad people don't always change or go away) novel. The only small criticism I have of "Plainsong" is that some of the plot points, such as a high school teacher being pressured into passing a star athlete, were somewhat cliche (didn't I see an episode of "Eight is Enough" with that same plotline over 20 years ago?). This is a very small complaint though, as the strength of "Plainsong" is not the originality of particular plotlines, but in seeing the characters learn to be good to each other and create their own extended families. It has been a long time since I've read a novel that was so genuinely uplifting, without ever feeling the least bit cheesy or unrealistic.

Rating:
Summary: A Plains Song
Review: I liked this book very much. I felt it described people as they are, not as someone else thinks they ought to be. I have often been in small towns like Holt, so it was very familar. I have felt the emotions of the characters in my experience -- they were not a surprise, but they were almost inevitable. People don't act the way you think they should; they don't always use logic; they are the way are they are. I felt this book could well have been a true story, though if not true, it reads as though it were a report on human behavior.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting snapshot of rural life
Review: "Plainsong" is an unusual book in that you really feel like you have walked into a small town for a brief stay, in the middle of the characters' daily lives. It is clear that significant events have occured and relationships have developed prior to your arrival, yet you are never sure exactly what those events were, or how the relationships formed. Similarly, at the end of the book, not all of the loose ends were cleanly and neatly wrapped up. As a result, it is like viewing a snapshot, or at least a video excerpt, of the characters' lives.

The book describes events in the lives of several people in a small town which appear, at the outset, mostly unrelated. However, these stories end up woven together, as the characters lives eventually overlap. The main characters are a teacher and his two young sons, a fellow teacher who takes a young pregnant girl under her wing, two elderly bachelor ranchers, and a school troublemaker.

I agree with other readers that there are some distractions in the book, primarily the author's affected failure to use quotation marks around spoken words. There was no need for this unusual writing style; I, too, found that I had to reread certain paragraphs to figure out what was said and what was not. However, after a while this becomes less difficult.

Otherwise, the book is well written and seems to be a realistic description of the ebbs and flows of a small Plains' town.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully crafted storytelling
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It starts slowly with disconnected stories. As it builds character development and speed, the stories become intertwined. I like stories like this anyway, but this is better than most. The descriptions of the plains, weather, and other sensations are real. The characters are people you want to take home with you. A good read.

Rating:
Summary: Plainsong
Review: Kent Haruf writes clear, concise, readable prose, and he has a good ear for dialogue. These are laudable attributes for a novelist. Plainsong is not, however, a laudable novel.

Plainsong is about a school teacher who's wife has withdrawn into herself and subsequently moves away; the school teacher's two boys, 9 and 10, who apparently dont't actually need parenting, as their father is busy creating subplots to fill out the book; a high-school student who is kicked out of her house by her mother after she becomes (oh the horror!) pregnant; two old fart brothers with hearts of gold doing the bachelor farmer thing 17 miles out of town; and the plucky but irresistable female school teacher (doesn't EVERY novel have one of these) with eyes for the school teacher now this his wife has finally cracked up big-time.

Read along as the author steers this wonderful menagarie of offbeat characters toward the novel's exciting conclusion, a shared dinner at the farm.

Plot points to question. First of all, the end of the book--these characters are never all in the same place enjoying each other's company, but then, with no plot device to drive it, at the end of the book, they are. Why does the female school teacher even know the two reclusive, odd-ball farmers that live 17 miles out of town and only wear funny hats when they come into town? And why would she decide the giving the pregnant girl to these two old guys to care for would be a good idea? And, as a sidebar, who the hell is taking care of her aging father that she lives with whenever she's away? Her father is clearly suffering from senile dementia.

Why does the man with the two boys automatically get invited into bed whenever he shows up at the door of any woman in town?

Most of the subplots have nothing to do with the pace, tone, or plot of this novel. They apparently exist so the book will have enough pages to qualify as a novel rather than a short story.

A good novel can be like an onion, with layers upon layers waiting to be peeled away to finally reveal the author's intentions. Plainsong is basically a reconstructed onion peel with nothing inside for the reader to discover.

To save typesetting costs, all quotation marks have been removed from the dialogue. If the author had just taken it a step further and removed capitalization and punctuation, ee cummings would be rolling over in his grave.

This is a well-written, miserably bad little book. I am baffled by its positive reviews here. Come on people, let's get past the author's skill as a wordsmith and recognize Plainsong's considerable shortcomings.

Rating:
Summary: Plainsong
Review: Yes, Plainsong is written simply (no quotes around the words that are spoken, some run-on paragraphs, but these are evident immediately and set the writing style of the book). It is a "quick read". Why? I am not sure, because it is very descriptive, verbal, you are there, personal, yet it flows so well... You clearly and quickly understand where you are, who you are with, and what is going on (to a limited extent, only because you have not lived there through the duration). You learn of the situation and circumstances and want to go on with these people. You are with them - you know them... They may err in the eyes of human culture and rules, yet they do or don't (I have my opinion, but...). They go by their guts, their ideas, and ideals of rights. (Does it sound like our current elections!) This is a plain book, a simple book, a story that is basic. What is right for one person is their right (are we not a free country?) - not the right of others to judge (this is difficult for all) and rule ( elections again)!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and deep simplicity
Review: Very starkly written, "Plainsong" was a quick but deep read. Its simplicity of style gives the reader the opportunity to emotionally participate in the lives of the characters. Haruf doesn't give anything away cheaply or lavishly, but allows an opening for the reader to crawl into the story.

Two main story lines play out and connect in the end.

In the first, Tom Guthrie is a man who would be attractive to any sensitive woman -- a schoolteacher who loves his sons and faces single-parenting with determination. His wife, who is "not a strong woman", also loves the boys, but she is rendered useless to them by depression. The children are as stoic as their father, needing love and a woman in their lives, but they put up a tough front about it.

In perhaps the most touching part of the book, the boys, Ike and Bobby, befriend an elderly lady on their paper route. They find in her a woman who will bake a batch of homemade cookies. She finds in them a brief opportunity to enjoy little boys again (her only son was killed in WWII) before her death. Such simple gifts to salve over deep needs.

In the second story line, Victoria Roubideaux is a pregnant unwed teenager, fatherless herself, with a mother too damaged by life to love or help her daughter. Left on the streets, Victoria turns to Maggie Jones, one of her schoolteachers. Maggie hooks Victoria up with two old bachelor brothers who have withdrawn from life to their ranch. They give Victoria a home and the male influence she lacks and she gives them an interest in something beyond cattle and the female influence that they lack.

It's a book of lonely misfits reaching out to each other. But in these misfits, we find elements of ourselves. We have compassion for them, wish to reach out to them, and cheer them on.

Rating:
Summary: Nice piece, but has problems
Review: First, the lack of quotation marks was distracting to me and I don't understand it. Most of the time it didn't matter but a few times I had to go back to discern who was saying what and what was narration as opposed to dialogue.

Second, some of the plot was downright unbelievable. Most notably, how could this supposedly sweet Victoria never even bother to call or get some message to the McPherons? And then after she pulled a stunt like that they open right back up to her.

Perhaps for my taste the novel would have been much more interesting if it examined one or two of the eight or so main characters. I never really grew to care much about any of them, with perhaps the exception of the young boys.

Rating:
Summary: Plainsong - the song of middle America
Review: I found travel through this book to be difficult without the familiar sign posts of quotation marks! I'm not at all sure what this new "format" is supposed to accomplish, but this is the second book I've read that did not use quotation marks and I find it disconcerting. It was as if I kept passing beautiful landscapes or scenic rest areas and had to stop and go back to really enjoy the views. It seemed to me to be a waste of energy and a source of frustration just like driving in an unfamiliar town where the street signs are obliterated or missing. Still, once used to the terrain, I was able to appreciate the marvelous scenes unfolding in Holt. The people became real and their stories were that of middle American life. Their problems, concerns, and interactions were familiar, not fake or contrived. Heroes lost fights, good people made mistakes and normally thoughtful, caring people did thoughtless, careless things. The values of individuals and the community can be discerned as we watch Ike and Bobby grow up. We see the work ethic as they deliver papers before school and their father takes over for them when they are out of town. We learn of human values of compassion as the McPheron brothers take in Victoria Roubideaux and give her a safe environment in which to live. We are witness to living, loving, and dying and the manner in which these rites of passage are received by the new friends in Holt. Plainsong is the song of middle America. It is told in engaging detail, helping us feel at home in Holt. The characters are revealed to us over time, and eventually, we know just about the whole community. No wonder this was a New Yorker Book Award finalist. Well worth the read.