Our souls at night book review

It was an evening in May just before full dark. They lived a block apart on Cedar Street in the oldest part of town with elm trees and hackberry and a single maple grown up along the curb back from the sidewalk of the two-story houses.

Our souls at night book review: This posthumously published tale of

It had been warm in the day but it had turned off cool now in the evening. The decision by Addie to flout the opinions of neighbours and friends and pursue an unorthodox friendship and then more with Louis, though the road there is slow and sensitively travelled in ways that will make you hear ache with love for both Addie and Louis and the close bonds they forge, is wondrously nuanced but powerfully moving resulting in the kind of quiet, deep-seated happiness that neither expected to feel again, if ever.

I can only imagine what this story meant to he and his wife. Haruf is a man of few words but managed to stir my emotions is his sparse novel. I easily identified with the characters and rooted for a happy ending. Once again, or rather from the last time, we return to Holt, in another simply told narrative, featuring ordinary people that are doing something less than ordinary.

This is always where Haruf's talents were so admirably displayed. He took the ordinary, the common and made poignant, readable stories. Adele and Lewis, lived in the same town, the same neighborhood for most of their married lives. At the age of seventy both have now lost their spouses. But does, this mean they most join the ranks of the lonely, backward looking, no future to look forward to, or can they do something about it.

Of course small towns are notorious for gossip, some who love to do nothing but criticize and make sure others, close to the couple know exactly what is going on. Loved this story, so much hope, little joys and sorrows shared, just the fact that regardless of age there can be a future, one need not just give up and live only in the past.

Such a powerful message, so tenderly and respectfully rendered. In the last quarter there is a little surprise, a bit of author's whimsy shall we say, but only those familiar with his other books will understand and grin. Both sincere and wonderful this last book, shorter than his othersbut still imparting every day's wisdom and challenges. From the author of the bestselling Clytemnestra comes another intoxicating excursion into ancient history.

When kings fall, queens rise.

Our souls at night book review: A spare yet eloquent, bittersweet yet

About Discuss. Join Member Login Patron Login. Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Most Anticipated Books of ! Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf. Write a Review. Book Summary A spare yet eloquent, bittersweet yet inspiring story of a man and a woman who, in advanced age, come together to wrestle with the events of their lives and their hopes for the imminent future.

Our souls at night book review: Our Souls at Night

Read Full Excerpt. Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers! The questions, discussion topics, and reading list that follow are intended to enhance your reading group's discussion of Our Souls at Nightthe final novel from acclaimed author Kent Haruf Questions and Topics for Discussion What does the title mean?

The novel begins with the word "and": "And then there was the day when Addie Moore made a call on Louis Waters. Kent Haruf was known for using simple, spare language to create stories of great depth. How does the modest action in Our Souls at Night open onto larger insights about getting older? It takes a considerable amount of courage for a woman of Addie's generation to invite a man she hardly knows to sleep in her bed Read More.

The promotional high jinks that announce wholly average books. The tease of adverb-laden blurbs.

Our souls at night book review: This is a book

The authors testifying to their own genius. Then along comes Kent Haruf, an author of singular quietude and grace, who once, in a rare autobiographical essay, wrote of the handful of wisdoms carried forward from his childhood. In wind-swept stories celebrating unlikely heroes, Haruf whispered to us about the ties that bind, the power of sky and the tender trespasses forged between the old and young.

He left his sentences unadorned, his dialogue unmarked, his vocabulary elegantly plain. He made us believe in a place called Holt County, Colo.